Lies in the Dark

LIES IN THE DARK A HEART OF THE INFERNO NOVEL NICOLE FANNING LIES IN THE DARK Copyright © 2023 Nicole Fanning First Edition Paperback ISBN: 979-8-9881623-2-2Hardback ISBN: 979-8-9881623-1-5 This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Cover by: Charlotte Brassington @ Designs By CharlyInterior Artwork by: Charlotte Brassington @ Designs By Charly Editing by Charlotte BrassingtonProof read by Mikayla ChristyFormatting by Sue Allerton & Charlotte Brassington Contents Preface Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-One Chapter Thirty-Two Chapter Thirty-Three Chapter Thirty-Four Chapter Thirty-Five Chapter Thirty-Six Chapter Thirty-Seven Epilogue Bonus Epilogue Coming Soon Author’s Note About the Author Acknowledgements Keep in Touch This book is for all the hearts in the world who feel a little broken, a little lost, or a little unlovable. You are perfect the way you are, and you are enough. Always. Playlist Psycho – Taylor AcornTraitor – Elley DuhéWar of Hearts – RuelleCravin’ – StiletoLove in the Dark – Jessie ReyezHang On – Le Youth, Gordi, RemindersDon’t Blame Me – Taylor SwiftDie 4 Me – HalseyMiddle of the Night – Elley DuhéRiver – EminemHeartbreaker – Pat BenatarDrown – Martin GarrixFalse Reactions – LastlingsSober – Selena GomezCherry Pie – Warrantnameless – Stevie HowieBlames’s on me – Andrew StewartLove Me Anyway – P!nkHide and Seek – Le Youth RemixVertigo – AutografArcade – Duncan LaurenceI’ll Wait – Le Youth RemixMoonlight sonata Nightmare – We Are One Devil Backbone – The Civil WarsVillain – Lily RoseI See Red – Everybody Loves an Outlawtraitor – Olivia RodrigoEverything Is Changing – Saint MiddletonInfinity – Jaymes YoungUnconditionally – Katy Perry Preface Before you dive in, please note that this book is a companion novel and is set during Flash Point, Book three in the Heart of the Inferno Series. While you do not have to have read HOTI to enjoy Lies in the Dark, it will significantly increase the reader experience as and is strongly encouraged. This book contains dark themes, and concepts. The full list of content warnings is available here. PrologueRachel Seven Years Ago The gun is heavy in my hand. My dealer said it would be. He also said it’s quiet. And it is. So quiet, in fact, that in the silent room I can barely hear the safety click off. I stand on Jaxon’s side of the bed, aiming it directly at his head. I’ve been standing here for nearly ten minutes, just thinking. About everything. Fuck him for looking so beautiful right now, honestly. The dark gray silk sheets are wrapped indiscreetly around his body. His eyelids twitch, and his chiseled jaw tenses against the pillow, his well-defined abs rising and falling gently with every breath he takes. Suddenly he shifts on the bed. I breathe in sharply, but manage to keep the barrel of the gun still pointed at him. He mumbles something indecipherable in his sleep, and his brow furrows. I hold my breath as he rolls onto his side, draping his muscular left arm, the one covered completely in tattoos, across his hard chest. I sigh, remembering the warmth of that arm wrapped around me, holding me tightly, not even a half hour ago. Now here I stand…with a gun. I could do it. Right here. Right now. One shot is all it would take to end the life of the prickish Don Supreme, and the man who has caused me so much misery. He swore he didn’t know it was her. Perhaps it was the look in his eyes, or maybe the desperation in his voice, but something told me that this was one of those rare moments when Jaxon Pace was telling the truth. I know he really didn’t know who she was when I caught them fucking. No, I don’t think he tripped and fell into her vagina either, but in the inebriated state I found him in, I actually believed he had no idea what he was doing. Or who. This time anyway. That was the only reason that I still fucked him tonight, after I let him grovel for forgiveness. Well, no, that’s not entirely true. That’s not the only reason I fucked him tonight. I also just selfishly needed one last time. A goodbye fuck. I’m sure to an outsider, that concept would seem crazy or desperate, but I don’t give a damn. Crazy and desperate is on par for the course with me and Jaxon, we’ve never made sense as a couple, so why on earth would we start now? For me, one last fuck was necessary. Cathartic even. Jaxon apologized, I forgave him, and then we fucked…for the very last time. Granted he didn’t know this was the last time, but then again, he also didn’t know he was balls deep inside my friend, and not me, now did he? And even if I believe him, which I do, it doesn’t change the fact that everything is different now. Everything. Because even if she did drug and trick him, nothing will ever take away what I saw tonight. Images flash behind my eyes. Images of her smiling up at me with his hands all over her body. All over her hips…her thighs…her tits. Even if I poured bleach directly into my eye sockets, I