Contents
The Inferno Series
Introduction
Prologue
1. Richter
2. Richter
3. Bryden
4. Richter
5. Xoe
6. Richter
7. Bryden
8. Skylar
9. Bryden
10. Richter
11. Bryden
12. Richter
13. Bryden
14. Skylar
15. Bryden
16. Richter
17. Bryden
18. Skylar
19. Casey
20. Skylar
21. Bryden
22. Richter
23. Bryden
24. Skylar
25. Bryden
26. Richter
27. Bryden
28. Skylar
29. Bryden
30. Richter
31. Bryden
32. Skylar
33. Bryden
Epilogue
About the Author
About the Author
Text copyright © 2020 Yolanda Olson and Jennifer Bene
All Rights Reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Created with Vellum
Inferno Series by Yolanda Olson
Inferno
Cinere
Sparks
Embers
Inferno World - Volume 1
Verboten by A. A. Davies
Malignus by Dani René
Iniquity by Emery LeeAnn
Burned by Jennifer Bene
Obloquy by Murphy Wallace
Inferno World - Volume 2
Flagrant by Ally Vance
Cognati by Elizabeth Gray
Desiccate by Charity B.
Simmer by Measha Stone
A New Beginning
Scorched by Yolanda Olson & Jennifer Bene
Introduction
I bet you never thought you’d hear from me again, but this … this is something special.
You know my son Richter, but do you know my other one? Bryden always wanted to live up to the Greene Family name and I wondered if he ever did. If you haven’t met my eldest son, this is where you’ll find him. Be careful not to get too burned around him though—I heard he was a real pisser.
I can’t say that I’m proud of either of them, I mean how many times can one man fuck up like I did and get it right? I’d have to say none.
Except for Darby.
But we’re not here to talk about her, we’re here because you’ve decided that you want to find out who carries on the Greene Family name. You want to see if maybe I can feel proud of one of these useless fucking kids for once.
And you know what?
So do I.
Anyway, enough from me.
Go meet my boys and tell them Pater sent you.
Prologue
Richter
I use the back of my hand to wipe the excess beer from my lips. I don’t know where Skylar is. Unlike our father, I let her have the run of the property because I know that just looking at me sometimes is enough to make her sick.
I get it though since I have enough of a hard time myself looking at my own reflection. It makes me wonder why I fell victim to the affliction that’s plagued my family.
Love in the way that my father taught me, as taught to him by his mother—it should be enough to make anyone sick, but I loved my father. I never knew that Mom was really my sister until he explained it to me before he died, and somehow, it didn’t matter to me. I didn’t think of him as a monster, because in his eyes, I saw a reflection of myself.
A lost soul trying to find love in a world so fucking cold that it’s damn near impossible.
I raise the amber bottle to my lips and chuckle slightly.
I loved my mother. It made sense after he sealed her up in the well why she was always sending us outside. Why she was so careful with him when he lost his temper. After Dad locked us up in cages out in the woods, he warned us that if we made even the slightest peep, he’d kill Mom.
And even though we were the perfect, obedient children he always wanted… he killed her anyway.
Was it really her fault like he swore to us that it was? No; I don’t believe so, but I knew better than to speak against him. He never knew it, but I would see what he did to her when I would sneak back into the house and wonder why she was crying or shouting.
I once caught him hitting her. I often heard all of the ugly things he would say to her, and I saw him fuck her once or twice.
Still, I found no fault in the way he disciplined her. For a long time after she died, I couldn’t help but think that she deserved it for not fighting back more than she did.
That bastard is the Dad in me. However, knowing she did everything she possibly could do to shield us from what she thought was a well-kept family secret makes me wonder if I could have been more of the ‘brave boy’ she always told me I was.
Maybe I could have saved Mom. Maybe I could have saved all of us.
That would-be hero is the Darby in me.
I’m the imperfect balance of the good I wish to see in the world, and the indifference for life that flows through my veins.
I have to protect my sister.
I have to find the one Dad threw away.
I’ll do my best to reunite us all under one roof and make this the perfect family again.
It’s what he would have wanted.
Please understand when I tell you that I am not a monster.
I am simply my father’s son.
One
Richter
It took a long time for me to figure out the internet since Dad never let us have any kind of contact with the outside world. Lucky for me, when he died, he left me everything he owned.
Dad had lots of antiques that I was able to sell to get some money. His life insurance payout was insanely huge, and that’s something I’ve been trying not to touch. Besides, the less things of his that are in the house, the easier it might be to clean the dirty aura that hangs low over this family.
When Mom was alive, she made friends with the postman. Every time Dad disappeared into town, which was far and few in between, she would sit outside and
