Melissa

Prologue

Vera's POV 

I will enrapture you. I will fully capture you. Then I will tear you to pieces.

That's from my mother. It was sort of her life motto; she had it written in her journal, embroidered on her curtains, and finally, as a last wish, engraved in her tombstone.

The words were proven true. The way she tortured me mentally and emotionally, then sweet-talked me into trusting her again. How each of her nine husbands or partners met their demise tragically before she smoothly moved on to the next one. Her seductive charm, way of twisting both her words and yours, her stunning beauty that couldn't possibly be natural yet had no evidence of being artificial. She had everything.

You would trust her, and she would use it against you. Once she had you confused, she'd convince you that it was your fault. None of her so-called lovers suspected any of what she would do to them. She used them, then disposed of them neatly but not as soon as she was bored. Had she ever been caught (which she ensured did not happen), that woman could've talked her way out of any punishment at all, perhaps even be benefitted. She had everything.

And now her everything is mine. 

My mother was beautiful, charming. and cunning ... but beneath all that, she was a monster. A soul darker than a moonless, starless sky. Sadistic, cold-blooded, evilly heartless. 

Which is likely where I get it from.