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    Dangerous Games
    Dangerous Games
    Dangerous Games
    Ebook166 pages2 hours

    Dangerous Games

    By Erin Lee

    ()

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    About this ebook

    You can’t pick your kin or the risky games they play. Every family has its secrets but for Elise Reddick, entangled roots have turned deadly; leaving her torn between twisted memories and cold realities.

    Estranged from her family of origin after a horrific crime, Elise tries to move on in the tiny town of Red Leaf while under investigation for her ex boyfriend’s murder. There, she forms new relationships and encounters more lies as she slowly unravels the truth behind her pedigree.

    With the help of friends Marcus and Sylvia Bromsley, Elise has two choices – to allow her family to destroy her or to call checkmate.

    But friends have secrets too. Sometimes, they even play games and loyalties are tested. Now tangled in her new friends’ worlds, trust more complicated than she ever anticipated.

    Families, after all, are very twisted things. And friendships, too, can be dangerous.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCrazy Ink
    Release dateApr 15, 2018
    ISBN9781386192763
    Dangerous Games
    Author

    Erin Lee

    Erin Lee lives in Queensland, Australia and has been working with children for over 25 years. She has worked in both long day care and primary school settings and has a passion for inclusive education and helping all children find joy in learning. Erin has three children of her own and says they have helped contribute ideas and themes towards her quirky writing style. Her experience working in the classroom has motivated her to write books that bring joy to little readers, but also resource educators to help teach fundamental skills to children, such as being safe, respectful learners.

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      Book preview

      Dangerous Games - Erin Lee

      INTRODUCTION

      Families are complicated, meandering things. The origins from which we sprang, we all have them in one form or another. Relations are entirely unavoidable. So, too, are the mind games. Estranged from blood or not, we all come from an entangled somewhere. Tight-knit or bound only by secrets, memory, or history, families aren’t easy to erase. They can’t be duplicated either—like leaves with imprints of the trees from which they tumble. Somehow, no matter the season or circumstance, we all merge into a greater forest. 

      All woodlands have trees, and every tree has roots. Every forest has its moments of darkness, where wet ground meets cold air and breezes aren’t strong enough to stroke the burn of an unforgiving sun. If families are the trees and roots are our foundation, is it any wonder how pedigrees can get so perverse? So dangerous? Roots, after all, are very twisted, hazardous things...

      ONE

      I tilted my head with childlike curiosity at the girl standing before me. She played with the tip of her braid that fell down her ample chest. She was nineteen and a miscreant—according to my mom—but there was something about her wide, amber eyes that had me intrigued. They were the eyes of someone who had seen things. Twisted things. 

      A flash of pain crossed her expression as my mom spit out the word slut. Neither looked at me. I was the eighteen-year-old Mary Sue of our billionaire family, and my opinion meant nothing. 

      My older brother walked in, wrapping his arm around the girl’s waist. Take no notice, he said breezily. She hasn’t had her wine yet. 

      My mom watched the girl with disgust as they left the kitchen. She waited for their footsteps to fade before turning to the unopened bottle of red on the marble surface. She’s a bad influence on him, she mumbled. I wasn’t sure if she was talking to me or to herself, so I gave her a mmm and turned back to the magazine I was pretending to read. She hesitated with the bottle before putting it in the spices cupboard above the oven. I raised him, and he thinks he can speak to me like that? 

      She was pacing now. 

      "It’s her! That Louise."

      She spat the last word with more venom than the red glass snake that inhabited the forest near our three-story house. 

      I nodded, trying to stay out of it. Nothing I said would be listened to anyway. 

      At least I have you, she said and lightly squeezed my shoulder. I gave her a half smile and took a sip of my cocoa. I never have to worry about you. 

      She walked back to the counter, took the bottle back out like I knew she would, and opened it. She tapped her acrylic nails on the side as the poured the extra-large glass to the rim.

      The doorbell went off, its annoying melody sang through the house. Mom bustled to the front door, and I heard the distinctive voice of Charles. 

      Charles was my boyfriend and future fiancé. He was heir to his father’s law firm and was just as boring as me. 

      We were a perfect match. Our families thought so and had even begun talking merger when it came time for wedding plans.

      Elise. He walked in, sat across from me at the shiny white table, and took off his sunglasses. We’re going down to the coast later. Want to come? 

      I looked at my mom who offered me a gentle smile. 

      Sure.

      He placed his sunglasses back on, covering his light blue eyes, and ran his hand through his ash-blond hair. Cool. I’m going to Fred’s first, then we’ll pick you up later? 

      Sounds good, I replied, wondering why he’d bothered to come all the way to my house when he could have just called. 

      He rested his hands on the table, and I looked over the top of the magazine. See you later then. 

      He exhaled heavily and scratched his head. Right, right. I uh...—he looked up at my mom who was on her second glass of wine—was wondering if I can talk to your mom—you know, law stuff. 

      Of course. 

      My mom was the daughter of Gerald Banks, a recently deceased but notorious corporate defence lawyer, and she had learned a lot before she married Dad. Charles often came to her for advice.

      We’ll go upstairs, to the office, she said and eyed me. Will you go help your father? 

      Help him with what? Why does she always ask me to do this? I never know what to say to him. She should ask Eddie instead. There was no use arguing with her. I knew my mother six drinks in. Instead, I nodded and quickly left the kitchen to find him. I heard his booming voice as I approached his oval office. He was on the phone, shouting at someone for something, as always. 

      I popped my head around the doorframe and smiled as he spotted me. 

      I don’t care what it costs. I need it done by Tuesday, he barked as he waved me over. "And get your ass over here. This isn’t for the phone. We’re going to talk about it in person—you and me. Not you and Mrs. Reddick. Do you understand?"

      I sat on the chair and waited for him to finish his call. On his desk sat a picture of my brother and I on our skiing holiday last year, and a picture of my dad and a group of guys at some convention, all smiling for the glossy picture. 

      Sorry love. He placed the phone down without even saying goodbye and sighed. New guy playing havoc.

      I understood. I’d heard it before.

      My dad owned a construction firm, and they were constantly hiring and firing. This, coupled with the recent games he and my brother were playing with investments and stocks, had my father more stressed out than usual. I felt bad for the employee who’d been on the other end of the line.

      You going to fire him? 

      He nodded stiffly and looked down at the blueprints in front of him. He’s our technical designer. Landscape too. Designer of everything, or I thought he was. The guy lied, Elise. He told me he could do just about anything. Said he was a Renaissance man of sorts. Instead, he made a fuckup on the designs, and the pipes were off by six meters. Plus, Eddie said he’s fucking with the jerky stocks. We have too many things going on to deal with a guy who can’t be trusted. 

      Oh. I looked at the blueprints, pretending to know what I was looking at, then met my dad’s brown-eyed gaze. Wouldn’t it be better to show him his mistake, continue training him, rather than letting another one go? I couldn’t help but feel bad for the new guy with hair too red for his complexion and too many freckles to count. Something about him made me like him when I’d met him at one of my parents’ stupid any excuse to show off the house parties.

      My father paused and smiled as I sat back in the cushioned seat. I waited for him to contemplate it, as he always did. He was a very logical man, my dad. He would always explore every option of every opportunity. That’s probably why he did so well. It was how we’d diversified in to a bigger portfolio and expanded the building company at the same time.

      Perhaps. I’ll talk to Charles. His father may be able to help me out. But don’t worry about that, sweetheart. Not your problem. He paused, as if to dismiss me like he usually did when things like the family business came up. So, what can I help you with? 

      Mom said to come and help you. 

      He briefly looked at the ceiling. Above us was her office. The look didn’t go unnoticed. His face turned red and he gritted his back teeth, mumbling under his breath.

      Right. He stacked some papers and stood. Your brother’s birthday is next month, and we want to do something nice. He’ll be turning twenty-one. 

      You want me to plan the party? 

      He smiled, making his cheeks bunch up. It was funny to see him smile a genuine smile. Usually, it was a fake toothy grin when he was posing for a picture or meeting with a potential client. 

      Yes, Elise. 

      Great, I said with more enthusiasm than I had meant to display. I mean, that sounds fun. 

      He handed me his plastic, and I looked down at the silver numbers. Don’t hold back, he said, looking at the card which was now in my soft, manicured hands. Spare no expense. It’s a special birthday. 

      Yes, Dad. I leaned in and kissed his cheek before leaving. 

      I looked back as I got to the doorway, and my smile fell. He wasn’t the man he once was. His hair was greying and thinning in the middle, his eyes were somehow smaller and the brown was duller, and deep lines stretched across his forehead. He looked back up at the ceiling and sighed. 

      His growing older just reminded me of my own mortality. Not that I ever gave much thought to death, but as I got older, the anxiety of an inevitable end sank in.

      I snapped myself out of the dangerous thoughts, as my shrink called them, and headed upstairs. I needed Mom to take me to Katie’s house—my best friend. I hadn’t learned to drive yet; Dad was way too safety conscious when it came to his little girl and didn’t trust me since I smashed his Aldi into the wall at the end of our drive. 

      I grinned. Katie loved planning parties more than I loved cocoa! 

      Mom, can you take me—

      I gasped. My heart pounded, and my brain fuzzed. I blinked several times to make sure I wasn’t imagining it. 

      My boyfriend and my mom were doing it over her desk. Her long nails dug into his back as his dick pumped inside her. 

      They both turned and looked at me. That seemed to set him over the edge because as he met my gaze he groaned and came inside of her.

      Fucking sick. Twisted, sick. I stepped back in horror and fell down the stairs. My head hit the marble floor and I looked around, dazed. I heard Dad shouting, and Eddie’s face blocked my view of the ceiling.

      Elise, can you hear me?

      I groaned but didn’t speak. I scrambled up, holding onto Eddie’s jacket. Eddie turned as a half-naked Charles appeared at the top of the stairs followed by Mom, who was still dressing herself.

      The Louise girl my mom hated, whose name actually was legitimately Louise, helped me to my feet. She whispered something in my brother’s ear. My ears were ringing, so I couldn’t make it out, but as the inaudible words left her lips, his expression darkened.

      I turned when I saw my chance, wanting out of that hellhole, and fell out the front door.

      What the fuck have you done? I heard my brother scream, followed by my dad’s Don’t let Elise go. We can’t have this getting out!

      Typical. It’s the way it always was with my family. Everyone worried about what the neighbors thought and keeping secrets more than how anyone actually felt. Ours was a world of cold, stiff hugs and quiet whispers that told us everything—mostly money and prestige—would be on the line if we were anything but perfect. Ha! What a joke. My family had a legacy of secrets, affairs, and schemes so evil it shouldn’t have come as any surprise to me what I’d seen. Charles and Mom? It was sort of routine. Yet I hadn’t seen it.

      TWO

      Elise Reddick. 

      I signed my name as I looked out of the window at the black cab.

      This was it. I was really leaving for good. 

      It’s for the best. I heard my dad’s voice from the next room. 

      She shouldn’t leave because of Mom’s mistake! My brother shouted back. He was the most upset at my leaving. I could not, for the life

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