Broken Promises: The Road Series Read online

  Acknowledgement

  I dedicate this book to my parents who have been my unwavering support all my life until now and have kept up with all my madness so that I could write without any kind pressure from any end. If I start talking about them, the day might end but I might not finish speaking….So I love you both Ma and Baba…

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Epilogue

  Prologue

  As Lachesis was dispensing the thread of two lives she found a knot in between them after which they had sorely missed and such a mistake should not have happened. The middle sister gasped in outrage and exclaimed to the elder one,” Clotho, how could you make such a mistake? These two are the live threads of two soul-mates and how could you not see that they needed to meet in their lives one more time?”

  “It was your job to dispense their paths of life and you missed it so now you cannot blame me for your faults. So you find a way to change that,” said Clotho in a calm voice, not taking the blame at all.

  “Now if you two do not do anything about it, they are both going to live miserably lonely lives and I have to end their lives early,” said Atropos in her usual morbid voice.

  “And all because of what!! Because of a promise which was broken…This is not in my hand anymore. When that boy took that decision he went against destiny and now it needs to be handled with extreme care,” exclaimed Lachesis.

  “What needs to be handled with care?” came the voice from the doorway. And the voice had an unmistakable lilt to it, which meant that it was Aphrodite who had come to visit them. The three sisters were blind which meant that they needed to understand and feel much more sensitively than others.

  “Your intervention at this point of time Aphrodite would be highly appreciated,” said Clotho.

  “What needs to be done? Make someone hate or love?” asked Aphrodite in her usual callous manner.

  “For the love of Poseidon, Aphrodite, you are the Goddess of love. No hatred business, we just need two lovers to cross paths in such a way that they can find their way back to one another,” said Lachesis exasperatedly.

  “Well that should not be too tough, finally I get to visit earth after such a long time,” sighed Aphrodite as she vanished into thin air.

  “Clotho…” started Lachesis wanting to chide but was interrupted.

  “Already sent their histories and identities to her…. Aphrodite is known for not making mistakes Lachesis..Go back to dispensing and please let the lovers make their promises right this time,” said Clotho.

  “Oh I really hope they do sister,” muttered Lachesis as she started once again.

  Chapter 1

  It was sometime past midnight. Leon was driving his silver Porsche back from office to his condo which was his bachelor’s pad rather another name for heaven for him. Being an un-attached and highly successful lawyer at 33 made him an eligible bachelor in town but to his horror he never ever had met any woman who had made him want to call her back again.

  And tonight was the worst of all. He thought about when it all had started.

  Not to mention the fact that his family had a highly successful law firm which was their ancestral business and they were pretty good at it. When he had just passed law school from Harvard he was a strapping young man of twenty-two and he had high hopes and dreams for himself. But it was not at all pleasant to find out at your home-coming party that you were engaged to the rival firm’s senior partner’s daughter. The moment his mother said about that he left his own party without telling anyone and just taking his essentials and cash. Leon had covered his tracks well since his family could not trace him from the last eleven years until tonight.

  As his mind was addled with all these thoughts and he did not even look at what he was running into when suddenly his car started beeping loudly and he saw that a huge row of trees had fallen on the street blocking his entire pathway. Bringing the car to a halt Leon got down and stepped out of the most cherished thing he had brought after waiting for six years.

  There was no way that he could cross this way and go home. Suddenly Leon remembered seeing a patrol car a few kilometers behind. He got in his car and turned back the car and drove until he found the car stationed at the side of the highway.

  “Officer, if I may ask what did exactly happen at this place? Today morning also I drove through this path,” said Leon after the officer had lowered his wind-shield to his knocks.

  “To be truthful we have never seen anything like this in the state of California before. Some onlookers reported a small tornado rushing from the top of the mountain with a lot of trees in its swirl and probably one or two cottages as it went downhill and vanished,” said the officer as he took a sip of his coffee.

  “Tornado? In California? You must be kidding right?” asked Leon with a smirk.

  “Why would I joke about something as serious as that? There might have been casualties but we could not find anything until now. And the fire-fighter team won’t be until morning to clear off the road, if that is what you want to know,” replied the officer taking up his talkie as it crackled with something. But Leon had stopped paying attention to it.

  He was walking back to his car when the officer called him back.

  “If you are looking for refuge for the night then I am pretty sure I can point you in the way?”

  Leon was not sure if it was such a great idea but he did not have any option at the moment rather than take his advice. So he replied with an ascent.

  “If you drive for two minutes from here you will find there is a path which forks sharply left. There is an old bed and breakfast there. Nothing fancy judging by the car you are driving but sure you can rest for the night,” replied the officer.

  “Thanks officer. It was really a great help and great talking to you, by the way. My name is Leon Casterfall, call me if you face any problem ever,” said Leon taking out his card from his breast –pocket and handing it to the officer.

  The officer’s eyes grew wide as he looked at the card and tipped his two fingers to his forehead as he said,”Well you owe me one.”

  Leon smiled at him and got in his car and carefully drove not to miss the left fork on the street. And to his surprise he really found one which he had never noticed earlier in his daily trips back home. As Leon entered the street he found something heavy settling on him and invading his thoughts and mind lulling his senses. After driving for a few minutes he found a sign-board saying “Taffy’s Bed & Breakfast”. Knowing he was on the right track Leon drove on to find a small motel by the end of the road. He parked the car in the empty space in front of the property and entered the motel.

  It was a cold damp place which was sparsely lit, the furnishing very well said the sob-story about the place. As he went to the desk which he considered to be reception and was about to ring the bell which must have been an antique from 19th century a woman in a floral house-coat came out of nowhere.

  “Oh dear!! Imagine our luck, we have another guest and handsome at that too,” beamed the woman.

  Leon looked a
t her and found that the clothes that she were wearing were clean but the edges were frayed with washings from over the years. This place had not seen a guest in quite some time and Leon felt bad for this woman.

  “And what might be your name good sir?” asked the woman as she had brought out a huge dusty register.

  “Can I get another whiskey with a drop of lemon please? You have got good stuff Flora,” called out a voice from the end of the room and Leon looked back to see who was talking.

  “Just in a moment dear,” replied the woman whose name was Flora,”If you could please fill up the register and I shall back with you in one quick moment,” she continued with an apologetic smile.

  Leon filled up his details in the register which were absolutely false according to his knowledge. Flora came back and he handed her a bill of fifty dollars and raised his brow as if asking if it was enough for the night.

  “Oh dear!! Absolutely Mr. Rhys Wilde. I shall give you the change,” beamed Flora once more as Leon held up his hand and said,”There is no need Flora. Keep the change. I can very well see you need it badly.”

  “That is so generous of you Mr.Wilde but I cannot…” Flora tried to say something but was interrupted midway.

  “If you do not mind I would like to have a drink too. Whiskey if you please,” said Leon with a wink as he turned to find the woman in semi-darkness still sitting.

  “Oh of course… Please take a seat. I shall bring your drink,” replied Flora as Leon walked to the back of the room to the table where the woman was sitting.

  Chapter 2

  He still wore the same perfume which he used to wear eleven years before. Athena did not need to look up at the man to know that this was the man she had been engaged to eleven years ago, whom she had adored since childhood and loved since she was a teenager and dreamt of marrying when he came back from law school. Well, that did not happen since he took off from their engagement party without even taking a look at her or knowing who she was.

  It was eleven years since she had hated this man for ruining her life. And today he was here finally standing in front of her. At some corner of her mind she wanted this man to notice her which is why she called out for a second drink.

  “If you don’t mind may I have this seat please?” asked Leon, his voice as sexy as always, maybe a bit more. Athena looked up at him and decided that time had been generous while treating this man.

  She smiled knowing that if not attract it would intrigue him and said,”Of course I don’t mind. Everyone loves company over a glass of whiskey.”

  “The women I normally meet in my daily line of work do not like drinking anything other than half goblet of wine. So are you nursing a broken heart, if I am not too intrusive?” asked Leon watching her intently.

  Athena who was wiping the rim of the whiskey tumbler looked at him and peered in his eyes and smiled once again. Then she said,” Broken hearts are for those who have one. I don’t.”

  Leon watched her eyes for any sign of malice but found nothing in them other than lust in them. Flora came in with the bottle of whiskey, tumbler and a pitcher of ice and few more pieces of lemon in a tray and placed in between them and said,”So I shall leave you two to it..”

  “To be quite honest I must say that I have never found anyone so much interesting since back when I was in my teens. And that too my interest were the heroines of Sidney Sheldon,” said Leon taking his tumbler and pouring a generous amount of whiskey in it and dropping three cubes of ice.

  Athena watched his hands move and three ice cubes dropped in his drink. The last time she had seen him doing this was when she was wearing her ice-blue princess gown and sneaking peeks on him before the announcement was made formally. Three ice-cubes was Leon’s signature that he was in his comfort zone, according to his mother.

  “I am terribly rude to ask you this but I cannot help but wonder why would you drop three ice-cubes in your whiskey when the normal count is even?” asked Athena still looking at him drinking his masculine handsomeness like she could never before.

  “It is just an old habit I picked up at college, and as they say old habits die hard,” said Leon with a wink and then added, ”And it is terribly rude of me to have not introduced myself. I am Rhys and you are Miss?”

  “I am known as Alice,” replied Athena when she heard him saying a false name.

  “Wow!! Parents fan of Lewis Carol? Alice in Wonderland was definitely one of the most interesting reads in my childhood,” said Leon as he took a swig of his whiskey. Athena knew that it was his favourite book as a child which was precisely the reason she said that name.

  “Well Rhys if you don’t mind. I have travelled a long way tonight and I am really tired. I would like some rest,” said Athena as earnestly as she could as she rose up from the table.

  “You don’t look tired at all to me, probably because you are so radiantly beautiful. Sure I can’t tempt you for a night cap? In my room?” asked Leon huskily as he went closer to her with a mere distance of two fingers between their lips.

  Her breath grew faster and her heart started racing and her palms grew sweaty. Athena knew that she should slap him and leave the place but her body betrayed her as she closed the distance between them and placed her lips on his.

  Leon was expecting her to do so and pulled her in closer to his body as her odour invaded his senses and he deepened the kiss tasting strawberry, vanilla and whiskey all at the same time. He placed his hand just beneath the arch of her breasts and gripped her back and held her neck in place as he kissed this woman he met a few minutes ago with reckless abandon. They both came up breathless from the hot kiss they shared.

  “I think that I am tempted to take up on the offer,” replied Athena huskily with her eyes closed and lips still on Leon’s.

  “Good thinking and right choice. Because if you had not I would have carried you away to my room and locked you there till you said yes,” said Leon even more huskily as he caressed her cheeks and sought the key of his room which was on his tray.

  “And now you won’t?” asked Athena raising her brows as if a challenge.

  Leon growled and swung her up in his arms after pocketing the key and went towards the stairs which were just beside the reception table and went up while Athena hung upon him like she had no weight of her own.

  Leon opened the room placing the key in the brass keyhole expecting a dirty tattered room with an equally dirty bed but the room he stepped into was something he had dreamed of always. He did not waste time by saying or observing the room anymore and placed Athena on the bed and kissed her without warning. Athena kissed him back making him shrug off the jacket as they lip locked.

  “You must lock the door Rhys,” said Athena stressing on his name hoping to get his attention. Leon pulled off with a groan and locked the door from inside placing the key on the shelf adjacent to the mirror.

  Athena raised her feet on the bed and watched him walk back towards her with one singular intent on his mind. Ravishing her. She stopped him with a finger and said one word,”Strip.”

  Leon raised his brow as if in question but stood there without moving. Athena looked back at him with a smirk as if he could not rise up to her challenge.

  And just at that man of her dreams and her nightmares smiled.

  Chapter 3

  Leon never took his eyes away from the sexy woman who was lying on his motel bed fully dressed and had just challenged him to strip. This was a vixen with flaming auburn hair and golden eyes like that of a big cat. Leon opened the buttons of his shirt slowly and deliberately making Alice wait with anticipation. She wanted to be teased and tease she would get alright. The shirt was flung at the side of the room where it precisely landed on the ottoman.

  Leon opened his belt and unbuttoned his trousers and dropped down his pants to reveal his hardness underneath the black silk boxers that he was wearing.

  “Ooooooh, sexy!!” came the comment from Alice who was looking and appreciating his male beauty with abated breath
and an equally flushed face.

  Leon smirked since he knew that he was going to have that effect on her. He did not know what this woman brought out in him. It was like a primal instinct had taken over to take her to bed and mark his claim on her. Once finished he stood there beside the bed with his hardness jutting proudly in front of him and then he said looking at her,”I have nothing more to go on…”

  Alice crooked one finger at her beckoning him towards her on the bed. Leon went close to her and kissed her neck and breathed in her aroma which made him heady with desire again.

  “You are too overdressed in comparison to me,” Leon whispered in her ear as he nipped her ear lobe and making her gasp with pleasure. Alice groaned and suddenly flipped him on bed sitting astride him, placing his hands on her breast over her shirt while she unbuttoned them slowly and Leon looked at this woman whom he had met tonight and who raised his desire like no one else. There was something different about this woman which he could not place.

  By then she had shrugged off her shirt while Leon’s hands moved lower on her pale alabaster skin and unbuttoned her jeans to expose panties of black lace. The same material which cupped her breasts beautifully showcasing her desire as her nipples hardened at his touch.

  “I would have ripped this jeans and panties off long back if you had not made me wait and strip. Now I want to make you wait and suffer till you come hard in my mouth, darling Alice,” said Leon huskily as brought her closer to him and kissed her once more and flipped her on her back and opened her jeans and dropped them on her floor and touched her moist warmth over her panties. She was soaking wet with desire.

  Alice gasped and groaned again as she placed her hands on his trying to make him stop but he was insistent and clasped his fingers within hers and held her hands on the side while he parted the soaked material of her panties and licked her labia from top to bottom. And she tasted just like he had hoped, sweet and tart at the same time.