Page 44 of The Wages of Sin

Grabbing him around the middle, I hoisted him up off the floor and carried him back to the couch, where I sat him down, positioning him as naturally as possible. It wasn’t easy, seeing as his muscles were already starting to tighten.

“What the fuck did you give me?” he demanded through gritted teeth.

“Ketamine mostly,” I explained casually. “Some people take it to enhance sexual pleasure. Not me. I’ve never understood the desire to chemically alter what’s already a perfect experience, but to each their own.”

“Why can’t I move?” Carlo sputtered, the tendons in his neck beginning to stand out.

“That would be the strychnine.” Crossing my arms, I leaned back against the glass wall. “You know it as rat poison. Did you know every now and again, some sociopath will slip it into street drugs just to make people suffer…and they do suffer, Carlo. Strychnine poisoning is one of the most painful ways to die.”

“F-F-Fuck you…”

I bent my knees, crouching down to look the bastard dead in the eyes.

“Let me explain what’s happening inside you,” I said. “Right now, all the muscles in your body are starting to convulse. With every spasm, they will grow tighter and tighter until your body is so stiff that your bones crack and your spine breaks. Eventually, the effects will become so extreme that your heart and lungs will seize. Not your brain, though. That stays fully conscious through the whole experience, meaning you’ll be awake as each one of your nerves slowly suffocates and dies.”

His jaw had already tightened to the point where he could no longer talk. The only sound coming out of him were soft gurgles as white foam began to spill from the corners of his mouth.

“But don’t worry,” I told him, tucking the tainted vial into his front jacket pocket for the police to find before standing up again. “It can take a full hour to get to that point, so we both have plenty of time to enjoy the process.”

Chapter Sixteen

KIERA

Compared to the creaky, rusty spring-filled twin mattress I’d been sleeping on for months, Dorian’s bed was paradise.

The top was soft enough to sink into, the sheets smooth and silky, the covers unbelievably cozy, and the pillows as plush as my childhood teddy bear.

Best of all, though, everything smelled faintly like him. When I wrapped the blankets around me tighter, I breathed him in. His scent lingering on the pillows reminded me of the smell of juniper in chilled gin.

Half-asleep, I wrapped my arms around the pillow and held it tight, but it wasn’t enough.

Unsatisfied with just a trace of him, I reached out to feel the real thing—to rest my head on his chest, to feel the warmth of his arms surround me…but my hands only slid across empty linens.

I opened my sleepy eyes, and sure enough, he wasn’t there.

More than that, it looked like he hadn’t come to bed at all. The other side was still perfectly made, and the sheets were cold.

Blinking and confused, I sat up.

The lights from the cityscape outside the window were just bright enough to bathe the room in a soft blue glow and let me see that I really was alone. I glanced over at the clock on the bed stand.

2:12 a.m.

That was strange…or then again, maybe it wasn’t.

It wasn’t as if I knew Dorian well. It was possible he was just a night owl and hadn’t come to bed yet.

I pushed back the covers and tiptoed out of the bedroom to see. The oversized T-shirt I’d borrowed from him while my clothes were in the wash brushed against my bare thighs.

The rest of the apartment looked just as dark as the bedroom and felt just as still. My chest tightened as I crept down the hall, suddenly afraid that he’d abandoned me in the dead of the night.

I didn’t want to believe Dorian would do something like that, but again, what did I know? Besides the fact that he could set my whole body on fire with a single touch—not much.

I didn’t even know his last name. Or what he did for a living. Or how he’d ended up with all of those scars.

Hell, I didn’t even know if I was the only woman in his life.

The thought made my stomach twist. Even the idea that he could be out there touching someone else left me feeling sick.

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