Black Heart Painted Gold – Elena Lawson

“Two more, approaching right. Five seconds.” I count it down and fire into the ceiling as they’re about to come around the corner down the hall. They immediately back up. “Use the gas,” Atty says. “We don’t have time.” “I’ve got it,” Eli finally pipes up in my earpiece, and there’s a short cut- off screech and the buzz of a Taser.

By the time I’m around the corner, the guard is on the floor, and Eli is standing over him. “Nice work.” “Thanks.” “I’ve disabled the silent alarm,” Atticus announces in the earpiece. “But someone will have heard those shots. It’s only a matter of time before they make the call to the authorities. You have five minutes if you’re lucky, and it’ll take at least three to get you out of there without being caught.”

I pull Eli’s mask from where I had it hooked to my belt and hand it to him. “Good thing I only need thirty seconds.” “Leading the way,” Eli says, some pep in his step as he tears off the uniform shirt, leaving himself in a simple black tee, and pulls on the mask with the glowing red smile and matching X’s for eyes.

“Other guards?” I ask as we rush back the way he came. “Dealt with.” Eli doesn’t like fucking with people half as much as I do, so I know he wasn’t exactly thrilled with Atticus’s suggestion to dose them all, but it was the path of least resistance. He jerks his thumb behind us as we walk.

“The only reason that guy wasn’t out, too, is because he drinks decaf. Heart problem.” “Should’ve put him out of his misery,” I joke. Mostly. Elijah snorts. “This isn’t playtime,” Atticus grumbles in my earpiece. “Oh, lighten up, Daddicus. This used to be fun, remember?”

Petal and Thorn Books is an imprint of Thorn House Publishing Inc Copyright © 2026 Elena Lawson All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the authors except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. Characters, incidents and dialogs are products of the authors’ imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events is strictly coincidental. Cover Design: The Pretty Little Design Co. Editing: Rumi Khan 1kitap1.com/en AUTHOR’S NOTE For a full list of trigger warnings, please check the pinned post on the author’s Instagram or website.

1kitap1.com/en 1kitap1.com/en I 1 HAUNTING ATTICUS ATTICUS pull the seventy-pound dumbbell up from the floor, ignoring the screaming protest in my lat and bicep. It’s not even noon, and it’s my second time pumping iron since I woke up at 4:30. “Fuck.” I uncurl my fist from the bar as I finish the set. The old calluses strain while the newer blisters ache and sting. Lately, I’ve needed at least three sessions in the gym every day to be able to fall asleep at night, but my body is starting to pay for it.

I give my shoulder a cautious roll and check the clock. It’s getting close to lunchtime. Chimichurri steaks and grilled vegetables today. Eventually, I’ll make something Aurora can’t refuse. Maybe the ninety-dollar cuts of Wagyu beef meticulously marinated in garlic and parsley sauce will be the thing that breaks her. It’s been ten days since she told me she doesn’t exist for me anymore. Ten days, and every fucking one of them, her silence is like a knife in my gut.

The lack of her presence like a ghost in every room. Haunting me. I’ve survived war. I’ve survived torture and betrayal. I’ve survived things that would break most men. But this? Her absence while she’s standing right in front of me? This might be the thing that finally makes me crack. I hoped it wouldn’t last, but I underestimated her determination.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: b48f915fe86c1025
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 3,379,996 bytes (3.223 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• Pages: 460
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 739.31 minutes
• Total Words: 147,862
• Total Characters: 778,755
• Average Words per Page: 321.44
• Average Characters per Page: 1692.95

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