Page 35 of Corrupted Heart

My blood turns to ice, my heart skipping as my face goes white.

“I—” I shake my head. “That’s not my?—”

“Well, it’s not Rachel Dawson, now is it?”

My stomach drops. My breath starts coming in quick, shallow, staccato bursts.

“Real names are supposed to be hidden on the site,” I croak.

“Nothing is hidden from me.”

He suddenly uncurls his huge frame from his throne and stands. He walks slowly down the wide steps, picking his way carefully through the piles of old bricks, mossy wood, and other debris as he advances toward me down the main aisle between the broken-down pews.

Part of me wants to turn and run. But I’m frozen in place, my throat slowly closing up as he approaches. Besides, there’s no way I’d outrun him. He’d catch me, for sure.

And you’d like it, too.

He moves closer and closer until finally he’s standing right in front of me, looking down into my eyes from behind his mask.

“Who are you?” I whisper.

“You know exactly who.”

I choke, whimpering as his hand jerks up very suddenly. His fingers wrap tight around my throat, squeezing just tightly enough to send alarm bells exploding through my head and adrenaline coursing through my veins. He leans close and that same spicy clean scent of him drifts into my senses as his lips hover less than an inch from my left ear.

“I’m the man you begged to chase you, Bianca,” he growls. “The stranger you asked to be surprised by in the dark so that I could fuck you until your knees gave out and my cum dripped from every slutty little hole you have.”

Sweet Jesus.

My whole core spasms. My fingertips tingle, and my face throbs as his lewd words rake fiercely over my skin.

“Now,” he murmurs, his hand still wrapped around my throat and his neon X eyes still stabbing into my soul. “What to do with you…”

My knees shake. Adrenaline, fear, anxiety, and desire pulse and throb through my veins like a heady cocktail of drugs.

“I…what we talked about…” I croak.

He tilts his head to the side, leering down at me.

“You want to play that game?”

I tremble, then nod my head.

“I didn’t hear you.”

“Yes,” I whisper.

He’s silent. The seconds tick by as his head slowly tips side to side.

“No.”

He rasps it out suddenly as his hand drops from my throat. Without another word, he turns and starts to walk back to his throne.

“W-what?” I choke out, shaking.

“I said no,” he growls, pausing to turn and level his masked eyes at me.

My lip worries between my teeth. “Why? Because you know who I am?”

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