RUINED ALREADY [18+]

|Thirteen|

So the creep that was featured on Halloween and will be in this chapter was inspired by the photo in the media box.

♦PENELOPE♦

I had often thought that I was destined for chaos. I thought I was supposed to suffer for the sins of someone's past. Probably an ancestor's wickedness. I believed in karma and I was living it.

I was stupid to believe that perhaps the God I'd long stopped believing in was proving himself when he sent Emilio to me. Turned out the devil had done it. Now he and his horde of demons were probably in hell laughing at my demise.

I had not seen Emilio del Guardo in one month. He had taken his fill of me, had his fun, grown bored of me and opened an old round and conveniently dropped off the face of the earth.

I went back to my absolute resolution: men were pigs. Why did I have to fall stupid over a man like that? He lacked any sort of personality, he was angry and rough and snarky. Not to mention how vile the fucker was. I hated him. IT became my fucking mantra. If I ever saw him again I didn't know what I'd do to him.

That morning he had left me with Brad I didn't fully recover. The emotional breakdown that had ensued was enough to send me into a mental institution. Brad had prodded me for information. It was the first time I'd ever seen Brad so angry. He was like a different man. I didn't tell Brad anything, though. I would never share that with anyone. When people got too deep in my mess they always died. Just like Laz and Juan slit his throat right before me. He killed his own cousin because the sick son of a bitch couldn't handle the fact that a man had fallen in love with me despite everything he had done to me.

I hadn't forgiven myself for his death. Funny how life was. The day before he was planning to get me out in the night and the next thing he was dead. I still carried that pain with me after all those years.

After the way Emilio had disgraced me I'd resigned my job at the bar. A professor of mine had gotten me a position as a PA for a young fortune 500 CEO. So far the job was good and my boss Mr Coleman was not what I expected him to be. He wasn't those stuck up suits I'd read about in romance novels. He was formal and stern at times but it was to be expected by him. I worked there in the day and went to school at nights.

Everything felt lighter now and I wanted it to stay that way. The darkness felt as if it gradually melting away until I went home and remembered what happened on that on table.

A shadow loomed over me and I looked up to see Mr Coleman standing over me.

"Aren't you leaving?" he asked.

Jeff Coleman was a fine specimen, I admitted. With dark blonde hair and light green eyes, he was a wet dream come true for most women. He was thirty-six, single and had no children. I'd heard the women in the office talk filthy things about him, too, and I had an inkling he knew about the dirty conversations. The strangest thing was, I'd often caught Jeff's lingering stare when he thought I wasn't looking. I had no illusions or fantasies about him. I didn't think I would for any other man.

"Ah, yes, Mr Coleman. I was just...thinking."

"You do that a lot. I've watched you at times when you think no one's looking. You cry a lot."

"What?" I was stunned.

"Tell me, Penelope. Am I working you too hard?" he teased, "or is it something else."