"I will always be with you, my little one... no matter where you go, how far you run, you'll always have a part of me in you, the part that longs for this, the part that craves the smell of blood, the part that loves the taste of tears, I am your mother after all...and the Apple doesn't fall far from the tree..."

I jolted awake with a sharp gasp, my heart pounding.

Panting, I blinked rapidly, my brain scrambling to register where I was. Not in my room. I was lying on the floor of my painting studio, surrounded by a bunch of half-done paintings and ripped-apart canvases.

How did I get here?

My eyes zeroed in on the empty bottle of rum lying pitifully beside me.

Did I drink all that?

I pushed myself up into a sitting position with my elbows but fell right back to the ground as a sharp pain shot throughout my brain, informing me that I did in fact drink all that.

Shit.

Getting drunk was never a sensation I enjoyed and the feeling of not being in total control of my mind and body had always been a state I detested. But last night, the concept of sliding into temporary amnesia with a bottle of vodka sounded so delightful that I didn't mind losing a bit of my sanity.

My eyes found the Venetian blinds. It wasn't morning yet.

I took a deep breath and gripped the edge of my long wooden table, using it to lift myself slowly from the ground.

My head throbbed and my vision tunneled, going dark around the edges.

I squeezed my eyes tight, waiting a few seconds.

It cleared.

I walked out, holding onto the wall as I began to lead myself to my bedroom.

It was cold and messy outside today.

The Phantom of the Sky had finally decided to resonate with my mood and let the heavens flood gate open, drowning the city with rain as the thoughts of Sienna drowned me in a fiery pool of longing and agony.

I stared out the window of my office, bleary-eyed from intense fatigue and exhaustion, taking swigs of my glass of cognac.

I remembered standing in this exact same spot and sipping my whiskey when Stefan called to inform me that my purchased wife had arrived.

As I took my next swig, my mind drifted to the night when she'd held a knife up to strike me.

Did my attraction for her start then?

I sure as hell had been mesmerized by her courage and stupidity. It was amusing. Everything about her was.

It was funny how in the beginning, the lines between us were clearly drawn but now it was almost as though it never existed, and being with her became so natural as breathing air that going without her now felt like I was suffocating.

God, what was I doing?

I ran my hand through my hair and moved away from the window, heading back to my desk. In my seat, I fired up my laptop, set to bury myself into more work until the thoughts of her ebbed and faded away, but the loud manic scream that ricocheted through the hallway of my company floor made me pause and snap my head up at my door.

"Where is the hell is heeeeeee?!"

Lilian.

Crash!

Something hit the wall with a thud and exploded.

"Tristan, come out right now!"

Christ.

Of all the times this spoiled brat had to show up, she chose now.

Chagrined, I shot up from my desk and stormed out of my office, and the skinny blonde clad in a skinnier black dress that I met causing a wreck on my secretary's desk made my mood plummet to hell.

She grabbed Joshua's tablet and slammed it on the floor, breaking it into pieces.

Joshua jolted and leaped backward.

"What the hell is going on here?!"

Joshua's eyes met mine and they glittered with terror and worry. "Sir...she's-she-"

Lily turned to me, fuming with a face begging to be punched, and had she been a man, I sure as hell would have botched her nose for ruining company property.

"How could you?!" She screeched, pointing her long manicured fingers at me.

- and I stared at my baby sister with a blank expression.

The reason for her meltdown was obvious. The lake house sale. I'd expected her, just not this soon, and especially not now when I could barely get myself together.

"My office, now," I commanded.

"I don't take orders from you!" She barked, turning to grab Joshua's laptop. "I'll destroy everything, I swear it!"

Oh for the love of God.

Before she could smash the device on the ground, I grabbed her and pinned her back against my chest, trapping her there.

She struggled. "Let me go you sick son of a!-" I slapped my hand over her mouth and swallowed her scream.

She bit my finger.

Arg! Fuck!

Stupid bitch!

I grabbed her ponytail with my free hand and tugged it down harshly, sending her neck tilting backward and her teeth withdrawing from my skin.

She cried out.

"Clean up this mess," I told Joshua as I dragged her into my office.

The door shut and I let her go but she lunged at me, screaming at the top of her lungs. "How could you, Tristan!" She yelled, her tiny fists pounding my chest. "It was the only memory of her I had left! Why did you do it?! Do you hate her so much?! What did she ever do to you?!"

She was drunk. I could smell the alcohol on her breath. "Lily, stop it," I ordered.

"You son of a bitch, I hate you!" She shrieked, her mascara running down her cheeks in thick lines as she sobbed and repeatedly hit me. "You're a bastard! a disgusting pig!"

I closed my eyes against the irritation that bubbled beneath my skin and slammed my teeth together, trying to hold my control and remind myself that she was my sister, the one I once loved and gave up my sanity for. "Lily, I said stop."

"Killing her was not enough for you huh?!" She shoved my chest, yelling in my face, eyes bloodshot, nostrils flaring. "I wish it was you, Tristan! I wish it was you who got shot that night not her! I wish you died you asshole! I hate you! I hate you! How could you be so-?!"

"For the love of God!" I snapped, grabbing both her shoulders and shoving her away from me. "I said fucking stop it!"

She stumbled on her steps and fell to the floor and her face once boiling with rage darkened with despair.

"As much as I would like to stand here and watch you make an utter fool of yourself, I have important things to get to, so stop acting like a spoiled manic bitch and get the hell of my office!" I yelled, my chest heaving with the force of my anger.

She got up on her feet, wiping off her dark tears and returning my glare a million times harder. "And if I don't?"

I clenched my jaw and took a step forward, ready to reprimand her but my heart suddenly started to race, forcing me to step back and draw in a sharp breath.

What the-

My head lurched unsteadily and the floor swayed beneath me, and the last thing I registered before plunging into utter darkness was the look of horror on Lily's face.

"Tristan!"