Page 57 of Possess Me! (I Want You To)

“I need a lot of money.”

“Name your price.”

My price? Shit…I didn’t even know. I did some quick mental math, only possible because I’d gone through the calculations at least fifteen times since I’d lost all my money, trying to figure out a way to make this work.

“Three hundred thousand dollars.”

Prudence didn’t even blink. “Four hundred thousand.”

“Did you just barter higher?” I stared at him, not sure I was hearing right.

“Three hundred thousand for whatever it is you’re upset about. One hundred thousand for potential damages.”

Potential…damages? Ah. Like Violet had warned me about. I shuddered, but…I wasn’t surprised. At least he was honorable enough to compensate me.

How was this real? How was this possible?

“But…” I trailed off, my lashes wet with unshed tears, the tired hollows beneath my eyes felt nearly bruised from the stress. At my temples a tension headache was coming on and crying was only bound to make that worse—but there was nothing I could do to stop myself once I started.

“You have to do something for me in return.”

Right. That was only fair.

I already knew what he wanted.

Didn’t take a genius to figure that out.

“You…” I swallowed, trying not to be too shaken by the predatory glimmer in his eyes. This was exactly what Violet had been talking about. The trap. The bargaining. He wanted death and well…I wanted…to fix the mess I’d made, no matter the price. “You want to die, right? Like…actually die. Pass on. Be done-zo. Gone-zo.”

If Prudence was surprised I remembered his earlier statement he didn’t show it. Instead, he nodded. His eyes flickered to my mouth and I could tell he wanted to kiss me. He’d never done it before. But it wouldn’t surprise me if the first time he did was when I was in the middle of a full-blown panic attack.

“How can I help with that?” I knew what he wanted, but as Violet hadn’t known all the details herself, only the risks, I was still a little lost. I couldn’t imagine hurting him. The idea made me sick. Murdering someone in cold blood? Yeah, no. I didn’t think I could do that. Tiny Betty and Adam popped into my mind, the way they’d clutched at me when I was barely old enough to hold their weight. The way they still looked at me that way, like I could fix everything. Like I was worth relying on. I amended my statement. Well, maybe…if I absolutely had to, murder was an option. But not Prudence. I could never kill Prudence.

“I need the key.” Oh, thank God.

“The…key?”

“It’s a word that was used to trap me. A password,” Prudence explained, his voice blank as always. “There’s only one person who knows it and she’s in prison.”

“Prison?” I blinked in confusion. “Why is she in prison?”

Things were starting to fall into place like a fucked up game of Jenga and I didn’t know what to do with how tangled my thoughts had become. My turmoil was black, black, black.

“She killed two people,” Prudence said.

“Wow. A murderer. Okay. Cool. Cool-cool-cool-cool.” I shook my head—or tried to. There wasn’t much I could do with the way Prudence was holding me captive. Still though, his possessive grasp was welcome. His icy grip on my face grounded me in the present. “Why does a murderer know your key?”

“She’s the one that made me.”

“Made you?” My head spun. “Like…in an easy bake oven?” I half joked.

Prudence snorted. “Cursed me. Created me. Trapped me here. Then held me prisoner.”

Oh.

Fuck.

“That’s…” I swallowed, “super fucked up. Like—super, super, super fucked up.” His eyes were fathomless. The muscle in his jaw jumped. “And she’s the only one that can…free you?” I clarified.

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