Page 40 of Obsession

“Get on your knees for your master, pet.” Bastian ordered.

“Yes sir.”

Ren’s resolve was all but gone. She had no more fight left in her.

Together, the two brothers carved out her spirit and left her mind a hollow shell to fill with their twisted cruelty.

They cut, peeled, burned, and melted away every scrap of soul and hope she had held onto before.

Using even Callum, her ally, as part of her punishment was a bitter betrayal that sent a chill down her spine. She gaped in horror at the atrocities he had committed against her after the love she had shared with him.

Completely unaware she was only conjuring up the nightmares in her fractured psyche, Ren's resilience crumbled away in minute fractions as her own thoughts developed ways to aid in her ongoing suffering.

She couldn’t cope with the loss of Callum even in the presence of Grayson and Bastian. Even while still having their affections. She needed Callum too.

The last she saw of him, he was dead. She had killed him.

She murdered her true love in cold blood.

Broken and defeated, Ren found herself at the mercy of the brothers. Her heart that had ached for the freedom she had briefly tasted, now found that a strange sense of relief washed over her.

The mansion, despite its dark history, was familiar—a twisted sanctuary from the outside world. She could bar off false promises here, and rule the night with the lovers that satisfied her physical desires. Her heart was cold, her love that had once been so full of joy and warmth with Callum was gone. Just a shell of coal remained.

Her complicated feelings for the brothers had deepened, her brief escape revealing a startling truth—she was still in love with them.

She became the centerpiece of their blood lust and ferocity. This twisted realization tasted bitter on her tongue, yet it was a truth she could not deny.

Ren was trapped, not just by the brothers' control, but by her own complicated emotions, attachments, and needs—it was her feelings that held her back.

The freedom of escape had been an elusive dream, but in her new reality, a complicated tangle of fear, desire, and an unsettling sense of belonging she felt bound.

She thought all this time that she had been their obsession, when in truth she was obsessed with them.

Epilogue

When I opened my eyes I saw a dim light illuminating the woods in front of me. The horn was weak and barely sounding—but there, like a muffled scream. I was still seat-belted into my driver’s seat, and my head was pounding.

“Fuck me.”

I reached up to touch my forehead and it smarted the moment my finger grazed the skin. A goose-egg knot had formed on my head, undoubtedly where I hit it on something.

The windshield had a large crack in it, but was still intact. The wiper blades were still swishing back and forth, slower than they should. Perhaps the battery was dying.

Rain was falling down in sheets rapping its rhythm on the roof of the car. When my focus finally came in I could see that I was spun sideways against the guardrail on the edge of the road. The guardrail that undoubtedly saved me from careening off the side of the mountain was bent and crooked, but held.

I turned the key in the ignition, and the car spluttered.

I turned the key again, and the car sounded like it wanted to start, but still didn’t.

“Third time's the charm, c’mon baby please… please start.”

I turned the key again and the motor came to life, the fan blasted from the vents and I reached over to turn the little knob and dial it back a notch.

As I shifted the car into reverse to back away from the rail and the side of the road a loud creaking and scratching noise made me cringe.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake don’t pop my tire, just let me get home.”

The car spun its tires for only a second before it broke free, and I slammed on my brakes to stop from backing into the oncoming traffic lane on the blind turn.

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