Deluge: Inferno

By Yolanda Olson

Life began when adolescence ended.

 

After experiencing what should have been one of the proudest moments in my life, I was reminded of what I had done.

 

That I had walked that lone mile alone—that it was my fault that things happened the way they did.

 

I didn't mean it and I would give anything to take it all back, but I can't.

 

Now I'm being bred into a monster.

 

Molded into a darkness that I never knew even existed.

 

There's no daylight here, not even a sliver of hope.

 

And as the days go on, I can feel it happening.

 

I've slowly become the one thing I've learned to hate so desperately.

 

The head of the Greene family.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Yolanda Olson
• Release date: Jul 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9798201352462

Yolanda Olson

Yolanda Olson grew up in Bridgeport, CT and currently resides in Bloomington, IL. Through her love of writing, she has channeled the emotions of early life experiences into characters that are intriguing and powerful. Her vivid imagination and her love of video games and horror movies are evident in her writing style.

Book preview

Prologue

Luna Thompson hasn’t been herself lately.

Not like she was really much of a person before, but at the very least, we were able to pretend.

She tells me that I’m too much like her father, and she misses him so much that she can’t stay with me anymore. I remind her of him, and it’s too much for her to bear.

See, after he came and got her, he made her come back. He told her I needed to become a son he could be proud of—not another one of his useless fucking kids.

But the longer she stayed, the more she turned into a shell of herself. I took her babbling and bullshit for as long as I could, and when he didn’t come back for her, I cut her loose.

She wouldn’t stop talking about him. It became such an obsession that I threw her out. Besides, I still have Mom to care for.

I thought that was the point.

She wanted to mold me into the man she loved, and I became clay in her hands.

I let her guide me, teach me—love me.

But her mind has wandered into a place she can’t seem to claw her way out of. She calls me by his name, tells me she’s been good, and begs me to stay with her.

I promise her over and over that I won’t leave her, though I don’t think I can stay either.

Hailey Chazen gave me life, and a new identity, forcing me to kill my brother by filling my head with fantasies of a perfect family, and I can’t forgive her for that.

Maybe I’ll find the man she was so desperate to have in her bed again, and then I can be free.

Maybe he’ll love me because she insisted I’m his spitting image.

Maybe…

Chapter One

It’s taken a couple of years to find out where this bastard lives. Luna was of zero help before I tossed her out of Mom’s home.

I chuckle slightly as I drum my fingers along the steering wheel.

Something tells me that she’s used to the Greene men—those of us that are left, anyway—tossing her around like a burden instead of anything useful.

Not that I ever wanted her for anything. Especially not after she told me about the arrangement between her and him.

Used goods have never been my forte, and I wasn’t going to start with her.

I think that’s something I will have to explain to him if we ever cross paths again—why I wouldn’t fuck her. But my priority had always been Mom and Kalen, and they both forced me to get rid of him.

That’s when I learned to hate them both.

I miss my brother, and I know that pain will never go away, but if this life is anything like she told me it should be, then I know he wouldn’t have made it very far.

Better to die at the hands of someone that loves you than the stranger who knocks at your door.

Yes, I was angry with him to the point of seeing red, though I like to think that my brother knew I still loved him terribly at that moment and that I suffer just as equally now without him.

I rake a hand back through my hair and blow out my breath before I reach for the glovebox and pop it open. Pulling out a half-empty pack of cigarettes, I slide one between my lips, then shake the lighter out, holding it to the end.

When the embers burn bright, I rub my forehead with my thumb before I go back to watching the house.

I hate that I picked up this habit, though I suppose it makes sense.

A bastard begetting a bastard that can dispose of his own kin should have to get hooked on something that will kill him slowly.

Night after night, I’ve come to this goddamn street, watching patiently as shadows move by the window.

Luna’s frame has always been easy enough to make out—I lived with her for longer than I wanted to, to memorize how her hips sway when she walks and the curves of her body.

But it’s the sturdier frame, the one that sometimes moves a little too slow