Prologue
- EZEKIEL -
Silence. The white sand was neat and undisturbed as it hadn't been touched since the beach was closed off months ago. Malia's footprints buried in the sand and her soft voice broke the stillness of the depressing beach.
I kept my distance, watching her from the same spot I hid in yesterday and the day before. Her curly brown hair sprawled on her back as she lay on her surfboard. The calm look on her face could fool many, but not me. She knew I was watching.
Malia had always been perceptive. She always noticed the slightest change in my expression or posture and that meant she could see what I was hiding. Maybe that was why she left just shy of a year ago. No goodbye, no call, nothing. After a decade of cultivating this friendship, I was left with nothing.
In the end, it was for the better. I didn't have to pretend to be her friend. After years of trying to hide my true nature, she could now see my real, rotten and depraved self. I was getting tired of playing with her, such a fragile and sensitive little thing. The moment was perfect for me to carry out my plans.
It was no secret that I would rather die than live without her. Malia was my lifeline, the last string keeping me sane.
For what was life without her? Back to when I used to watch those band-aid commercials as a kid. I so childishly believed when they said the best way to heal a wound was to have your mother kiss it better.
When I'd scrape my knee, my mom was the first person I'd run to and seek comfort in. Anna would dismiss me, calling my nanny to take care of it instead. She treated me like a nuisance, gum under her shoe.
Anna liked busying herself with her rich friends and cocaine. She was the reason I ever touched that shit in the first place, and now she dared to be mad, fake worry about my supposed addiction. Bullshit.
And the bitch was shocked I hated her.
My father wasn't any better. That serial cheater was brave enough to bring his bastard baby into our home after his mistress hit the sack for good.
Kai stood out like a sore thumb; he didn't belong. He was a thief, a fucking criminal. Following in his hooker mother's footsteps, probably.
This family was driving me to the brink of insanity with every passing day. At the ripe age of 12, I was sure I would commit first-degree murder. Drugs cooled me off in my teen years, but my sanity streak hung by a thread in the last years of high school.
After a surfing accident, I tasted what it was like to have her attention and I never looked back.
Amid the crowd at the beach that day, Malia was the only person rushed to see if I was ok. While everyone crowded around me, ignoring the blood on my head and praising me for surfing that wave, a small little thing shimmied her way over to me.
I forever engraved the feel of her delicate hands tending to the small cut on the side of my face in my mind. Her breaths came in hurried puffs and she trembled in front of me. She cared.
I cherish that memory with all my might.
After bandaging the cut, she landed a delicate kiss on the side of my head, nervously giggling at how ridiculous it was. No matter how dumb it may have been, I felt like the strongest man, ready to defeat everything and everyone for her.
For the first time in years, I felt seen. It took less than 5 minutes for me to fall in love with her, to know I could kill for her.
I knew something was off when I didn't feel the need to fuck her. It was odd, me seeing her in a new light as if it was the first time, her deep brown eyes and big tits, and not wanting to get her in my bed.
Something hot bubbled in my chest when she touched me that day, so hot it was all-consuming. I left that beach a changed man with a new aim in mind.
Even though we'd known each other since primary and our parents made it their mission for us to be close, it never clicked. Malia and Leila mostly hung out with my brother, Kai. I didn't give a shit until the day my feelings changed.
I had to have her.
Those feelings stayed dormant for years. Years of watching her from the shadows, of yearning to be close. My life slowly but surely started to solely revolve around Malia Vanรฉ Brooks. Poor thing didn't even have a clue. She thought I was her fucking friend. It would be endearing if it didn't piss the shit out of me.
I got into her head after a while and pushed everyone away. But it wasn't enough.
Patience was never a virtue I possessed. It was a foreign concept for the Kekoas. If we wanted something, we'd get it no matter what. With the snap of a finger, we had the world at our feet.
I had options, a shit ton to last me a lifetime. Still, I only wanted her. The one who never saw me as more than her best friend. God knows I hated that fucking title. She let me kiss and damn near fuck her and still called me her friend.
It wasn't ideal, but good enough. I knew everything there was to know, from her favorite color down to her bra size.
I knew of any asshole who tried to fuck with her. A wad of cash was usually enough to keep those away. If not, a quick call to my father's gangster associates would do the trick. Give these low-ranking money-hungry assholes carte blanche with some cash and you just might end up with a body in your hands.
Thank fuck my father cared about his reputation enough to bury my little mishaps.
Murder and an absurd friendship wouldn't work anymore. I needed to claim her, especially now that I lost my privileges a few months ago. Too many drinks and a bad temper weren't a good mix. I learned that the hard way. She feared me, for fuck's sake.
I couldn't stand her indifference anymore.
Scenarios played in my head every second of the day, making me want to rip my hair out. Malia wouldn't be with me willingly, that I knew. And forcing her wouldn't help either. I needed to think, be smart about this. The only thing I wanted to do was kill anyone who got too close and lock her in my house.
The only angle I could explore was Maria, Malia's gambling freak mother, and friend of my family.
I spent the night in a shady Sri Lankan guy's basement. He was some sort of hacker and his rates were acceptable. I didn't need some lowlife to suck my wallets dry.
"Can you go any faster?" I tapped his shoulder impatiently, waiting for him to access Maria's company's bank statements. If that woman was anything, it was a gambling addict.
"Do you know how hard it is to bypass encryptedโ"
"I don't care, bro. Will a hundred motivate your slow ass?" I looked at him, then at the code shit he was typing.
A new page popped up and my eyes widened like a kid at a candy store. Without realizing it, my phone was in my hand. "Dad, I need you to call your contact that Russian guy. I got something."
It was only a matter of weeksโWeeks during which I'd need to stay in line to avoid suspicion.
I felt like a ticking time bomb, every smile of hers bringing me closer to implosion. Every cell in my body came alight with the mere thought of her.
Yes... Malia would be mine someday. I'd make sure of it. And anyone who tried to take her from me would pay in blood.
