The serial · Dark romance on Patreon
Behind the Mask
At twenty-one, his rule is simple: deliver, get paid, leave. At twenty-five, he's deeper in, with more to lose, and a woman who won't look away. At thirty-five, he learns the past never stopped looking for him.
The premise
Zade is twenty-one when it starts. Night work, burner phones, people who smile with their teeth. The gym out of town is the one clean room in his life. Then a woman with a serious diamond keeps catching his eye in the glass.
Four years on, the jobs are bigger and the money behaves strangely. A party thirty-one floors up puts him in front of someone he can't read. Behind the Mask is slow, watchful and dark. The heat is held back. The tension isn't.
Then the story jumps to the present. Zade is thirty-five, and some of what he walked away from didn't stay where he left it.
The characters
Zade
Quiet, until he isn't. He doesn't say things twice. He drives a matt black G63 with no badges, and his phone is full of numbers he never saves. Other men check mirrors. He checks doors.
Tara
Dark-haired, sharp, and nothing rattles her. She takes the drink out of his hand and finishes it. She keeps her word, especially when she shouldn't. He tells her to behave. She doesn't, and he makes her pay for it.
Luka
Serbian. No offices, no paperwork, no men in suits asking questions. He decides fast who he can trust, and he never forgets who he can't.
Dash
Picks up on the second ring and never does anything by halves. He put Zade's money somewhere it grows on its own, then threw a party thirty-one floors up to celebrate. Where Zade comes from, that's either a lie or a trap.
Reading order
- Part 1: Out of Town. The gym, the ring, the look in the glass.
- Part 2: Collection. Work rings before he's even parked.
- Part 3: Clean. Three days later, and he can still smell that house.
- Part 4: Seed Phrase. A lift with no buttons and a flat with no hallway.
- Part 5: Her Place, Her Rules. The number's up fifty percent. He wants it out.
- Part 6: The Middle. One car, one seller, and a deal that has to be quiet. The XXX version, The Party, is in the $25 tier.
A taste of Part 1
From Part 1, Out of Town:
For a second our eyes meet in the reflection and she doesn't flinch. A little tired in a way that isn't sleep. Then she gives me the smallest thing. Not a smile, not a nod. Acknowledgement. Like we both know we're not supposed to be in the same sentence and we're going to be anyway.
I don't know her name.
I know the ring.
Read it on Patreon
Questions
Is Behind the Mask a dark romance serial?
Yes. It's an original masked man dark romance serial, released in parts on Patreon. Start with Part 1.
How much is it on Patreon?
$7 a month for every part. $25 a month adds the darkest extras.
Is it connected to Haunting Adeline?
No. It's original and not affiliated with H. D. Carlton. Readers who loved Zade Meadows tend to stay for this one.
An original serial. Not Zade Meadows from Haunting Adeline, and not affiliated with H. D. Carlton. It grew out of the same trope. 18+.