Page 49 of Slaughter

I want total dominance over her.

So I’m gonna have to come at this from a different angle. Just as she played me for a fool, I’m gonna play her.

I walk over and stare down at her sleeping face. She really is as beautiful as she used to be. Her nose is smaller, but her face still reminds me of a Barbie doll and porcelain skin.

Now that I know she’s not suicidal, she’s even more intriguing. Even more resilient.

My Bunny!

Her dark hair is fanned across the pillow. Her color has returned to her tanned skin. I smile at how much she must hate me in order to willingly cut herself open to rip out her tracker. Just to run from me. I know it had to hurt. I saw the tears as they ran down her gorgeous face. And it makes me hard knowing that she was that strong to keep going.

That determined.

I’m about to show her that I can match her determination.

Leaning down, I place a soft kiss on her forehead, my lips lingering for a second too long before I pull back and whisper, “It didn’t work, Bunny. You’re still mine. Now more than ever.”

PRESLEIGH

I moan in pain as my heavy eyes try to open. The room is dark, but the lamp glows from the nightstand, giving the room some light.

I sit up but feel a rush of dizziness take over. I place my head in my hands and hiss in a breath when my right arm pinches. Pulling it away, I see an IV in it and blood.

“What the …?” I trail off when I see a bandage around my other wrist. And I swallow the knot that instantly forms in my throat.

I failed.

My plan didn’t work.

I sit in the cold clawfoot tub stripped naked. The faucet isn’t running, and the tub is empty. I have no plans to bathe. But this is the only spot I could think to pull off what I need to do. Once I’m done, I’ll turn on the water and wash all the evidence down the drain.

Easy cleanup.

I may not have been able to access the computer, but I was able to find something useful.

I spin the letter opener that I stole from his office between my fingers. It’s sterling silver with a long blade that comes to a sharp point. The top has a black cross, and I wrap my fingers around it, feeling the heavy weight of it in my hand. My salvation!

This isn’t ideal, but it’s the only option I have at the moment. If I run, he’ll find me, and this tracker gives him an advantage. And who knows what he’ll do to me when he catches me. I could be down for weeks before I’d be strong enough to try again.

I can’t have that.

If I’m gonna have any chance, I need the upper hand. Grabbing the washcloth that lays over the side of the tub, I stuff it in my mouth to quiet my screams so his butler and whoever the hell else is in this house doesn’t hear. ’Cause I know this is gonna hurt like a bitch. But once it’s out, I’ll run.

Tears instantly sting my eyes, and my chest tightens.

“I have to applaud your effort.”

My head snaps up at the sound of his voice. Avery sits over in the far corner by the large window in a high-back chair. Dressed casually in a pair of dark blue jeans and a black T-shirt, he holds a glass of dark liquid in his large hand as it rests on his thigh.

“You can’t keep me here forever,” I snap, my hands fisting the red comforter, and the tightness making my left wrist hurt.

“I can, and I will.”

“I don’t belong to you!” I shout, angry tears sliding down my face. “You can’t do this to me!” My chest starts to heave, and my lungs burn. I can’t breathe. All of a sudden, the room is too small. He is too big.

He tilts his head to the side, watching me with fascination. As though he’s never seen me before.

He hasn’t. Not this Presleigh. I used to be carefree. And in love with him. That was before … before he left me with nothing.

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