Rouge by Isabella Modra Read Free Book Online

afraid he might do something crazy,
but Liz squeezed his hand and caught his gaze. The fear was suddenly flushed
away like water down a drain.
    “Joshua, please.” Her eyes
were, in a single moment, more piercing than the light of the sun. They were
alight with a glorious blaze, a fire so bright that he was momentarily stunned.
“Love her,” she said. “Love her for me.”
    Without waiting for a reply,
Liz arched her back and clenched her teeth as she pushed with all her might.
Her eyes were rolling around in her head, her face pale like snow. The
screaming was so loud that Joshua had to look away. That’s when he saw the
puddle of blood on the floor at his feet. It surrounded them. The nurses were
almost slipping on it. So much blood…
    And then he heard it. The
most beautiful sound in the world.
    The baby was crying.
    “You did it Liz,” Joshua
beamed. “You did it! Hang in there!”
    “It’s a girl,” someone said.
    A girl.
    The baby was carried away
and the doctors began to fuss over the blood on the floor. They started
injecting Liz with other chemicals, but her eyes were drooping shut.
    “What’s happening?” he
screamed at the doctor.
    The pale, frightened look on
all their faces was enough to answer his question.
    “I’m sorry, Mr. Harrison-”
    “No,” he growled in a deep,
terrifying voice. “Not good enough.” Joshua curled his fist, rage consuming
him, until Liz brought him back in her soft, lifeless voice.
    “Joshua…” It was barely a
breath. She managed to roll her head and meet Joshua’s eyes. She even managed
to smile.
    “Protect her… Joshua.
Protect my Hunter.”
    Joshua held onto Liz,
ignoring the finality in her tone. He refused to believe what he knew was about
to happen. The doctors will heal her, they’ll make it all okay.
    “I promise,” he muttered,
tears spilling from his eyes. “Liz, I p-promise.”
    “Thank you…”
    Her hand slipped from his. A
long lock of red hair fell over her face. And the breath left Liz’s mouth in a
loud, finished sigh.

 
 
    – P ART 2 –

 
    THE
DARKNESS

 
 
five
    e
i g h t e e n    y e a r s   l a t e r

 
 
    The screen went blank. Hunter stared at
it, her mouth dropping open, her blood boiling. She waited, hoping, praying that
the computer would miraculously spring to life again. But it remained blank
like her truly oppressive chance at being accepted into Hamilton College.
    “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she hissed. “Joshua!”
    Hunter turned away from the
shadow of her cherry-red hair and burning golden eyes in the black computer
screen – afraid she might shove her fist through it in anger – and stormed to
the door of the study, muttering curses as she went.
    The apartment was quiet, no
television in the background. She assumed Joshua was upstairs in his bedroom,
so she stalked past their mirage of photos hanging on the rich maroon walls to
his door.
    “Joshua!” she shouted,
pounding against the frame. “The computer died again!”
    Soft footsteps came to the
door and when it opened, Joshua Harrison appeared before her wearing a slim
black suit and tie that hadn’t been fixed yet. He was freshly shaven, his black
hair slicked back perfectly as always, and his pale blue eyes glowed like the
waters of the Caribbean.
    “How do I look?”
    She smiled, stepped inside
the bedroom and snatched the navy tie in her hand.
    “For a forty-year-old
bachelor, you look dashing,” she said courteously.
    He ignored her jibe.
“Dashing enough for a university benefit party?”
    “Please,” she snorted. “Anyone
with half a brain and a smart suit is dashing enough for your boring
gatherings.” Joshua smiled wider and she glanced up through thick eyelashes at
his inclined chin. There was a small spot of dried blood where he’d cut himself
shaving, just below the line of his jaw. She rolled her eyes. “You know, you’re
not going to get any action if you can’t even groom yourself.”
    Joshua’s face went