Delirium

DELIRIUM SINS OF OPHELIA ASTER BOOK FOUR L.K. REID CONTENTS Playlist Foreword Quote Prologue 1. Storm 2. Ophelia 3. Ophelia 4. Storm 5. Ophelia 6. Storm 7. Ophelia 8. Storm 9. Ophelia 10. Storm 11. Storm 12. Ophelia 13. Ophelia 14. Ophelia 15. Storm 16. Ophelia 17. Storm 18. Ophelia 19. Storm 20. Ophelia 21. Ophelia 22. Storm 23. Ophelia 24. Storm 25. Belladonna 26. Ophelia 27. Ophelia 28. Cillian 29. Storm 30. Maya 31. Ophelia Epilogue What’s Next? The King of Nothing Also By L.K. Reid Acknowledgments About the Author Copyright © 2023 by L.K. Reid All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. Any resemblance to places, events, or real people is entirely coincidental. Cover Design by Opulent Designs Editing by Maggie Kern at Ms. K Edits For the bright stars, shining even during the darkest nights. PLAYLIST If you would like to listen to the songs I’ve been writing to, just head on to Spotify, Breaking Me – Topic, A7S Her Eyes – Fame on Fire Villain – MISSIO Let It Go (with Lo Spirit) – Chandler Leighton, Lo Spirit I Want Out – LOWBORN 11 Minutes – Sunsleep Enough’s Enough – Paris Shadows I Wanna Be Alone – badXchannels Alone at Last – L8ER Crawling (One More Night Live) – Linkin Park Dial Tone – Catch Your Breath Chokehold – Sleep Token Meet Me on the Battlefield – SVRCINA Pray for Me – City State Walking Disaster – SayWeCanFly Mind of Mine – Lo Spirit Peace of Mind – Villain of the Story Dead Don’t Die – Shinedown Everything I Wanted – Now or Never Deadman – Smash Into Pieces Made by Design - NOVELISTS FOREWORD If you are here, then that means that you’ve read the previous three books in the series, and you know what you’re getting yourself into. Now, if you haven’t read the first three books, I’m urging you to stop right now because you won’t understand a single thing in this book. I actually hate labeling my books, because I don’t think that they belong to one or another category or a trope, but they are dark. Delirium might not be as dark as Ricochet was, but it is still dealing with themes that are not suitable for all readers, and if mentions of suicide, child loss are something that trigger you, then I urge you to rethink reading this book. If vivid scenes of kidnapping and torture are also something isn’t your cup of tea, again, please reconsider reading the book. I also wanted to thank you for sticking with this series for as long as you did, and if you liked Ophelia and Storm and the conclusion to their story, I would be truly grateful if you got time to leave a small review on Amazon. Happy reading! x Leila QUOTE “Souls don’t meet by accident.” Unknown Author PROLOGUE Storm 14 Years Old I’d’ been sitting in this garden for at least three hours, staring at the red façade of my personal hell. This mansion in front of me looked like the dream of every family out there, but the horrors inside... I wouldn’t wish those on anybody. They were ripping our souls apart, our bodies, and I just wanted it to stop. I stopped begging them years ago, but it seemed that me being quiet didn’t sit well. They first destroyed my innocence with their hands, then with the whips and chains, and lastly with poisonous words. I wasn’t the only one. There were kids like me inside. Kids sold by their families. Kids who weren’t kids anymore. They used our bodies as if we weren’t human beings. As if we were nothing. Get on your knees. Open your mouth. Do you like this, boy? Does it hurt? Good. I’ll make it hurt more. Their words were embedded deep in my mind, etched into my soul. You’re a piece of shit. No wonder your parents didn’t want you. My parents. My sick and depraved parents. They sold me to these snakes. They gave me away as if I wasn’t their flesh and blood. Neither one of them was there when Nikolai Aster took me away. I thought he was a good man, and he was—at least in the beginning. Little did I know that the whole time I’d been staying with him and his family, I was being groomed for this. He taught me how to speak properly, how to read and count, and then he threw me to the wolves. I had no idea how much longer I would be able to be here. It’d been almost seven years since he brought me here and told me to behave. The mask he’d been wearing around me slipped when we crossed the threshold of this mansion. The kind and patient man was gone, replaced with a monster that wanted nothing more than to shatter me. I was the oldest one here. The other day, they brought a seven-year-old girl. I could hear her screams even on the fourth floor. She would learn soon enough that no matter how much you screamed, how much you begged and cried, they would never stop. These people, these sick bastards, they didn’t care about our pain. The only thing important to them was their sick satisfaction and the desire to molest children. I’ve had them all—men, women, kind and vicious—they all wanted one thing. My body. Last night was one of the hardest ones. The man who loved to be called Master whipped me so badly, I couldn’t even touch my back today. I was obedient, I listened, but he didn’t want my obedience. He wanted my pain. He never touched me