Page 101 of In Love with the Devil

At first, the very suggestion made me want to kill him right then and there because I’ve never even thought of sharing her, but as I let the thought simmer, I realized it was the perfect punishment for her crime. My rage at her stupid betrayal intensified by the seconds until it became infinite. Still, to this day, when I think about it for too long, it bubbles up again. She’d wanted two men in her life, right? Him and me? Well, she could have us, for one glorious night.

I had to tread carefully. If I just took her, he’d come after us with the cartel.

Sebastian:You're the one aren't you? The one she's running away from?

After he figured out that Astoria and I had a history and doubled the price, I became his best friend, conversing with him every night. It turned out, the hotel was the perfect hunting ground. It was always the same story. The girl who went on vacation with friends disappeared somewhere. He even told me he’d faked weddings with a family who worked for him–this was for the girls who were difficult to groom. After they ‘married’ him, he'd sell them.

Me:Why waste money on fake weddings?

Sebastian:When cows know they’re going to be slaughtered, they don’t taste as good, after. The meat is not as tender. I like the difficult ones, and your Astoria has definitely tested my patience. I guess I just want to give her one last good day in her life before she goes back to you.

The Wedding Night

He carried her unconscious body into the house, laid her on mykitchen table like a dead pig, and pointed at her. “There she is, your lovely Astoria. Are you happy?”

She wasn’t breathing right. I resisted slashing his throat right there and then.

“It was a good instinct on your part to scar her so much.” He continued talking as he undressed her and tied her with ropes from his bag. “In this business, buyers want clean and unmarked. Virgins, of course, are of the highest value, but she’s such a good fuck there’s no way I would’ve been able to fake her being a virgin.”

Such a good fuck…If he knew what those words did to me, he would’ve never spoken them. Almost all my generosity and patience went out the window. I let him talk while I planned how to kill him, the chauffeur and how to dispose of the limousine.

“I’m assuming you’re the one who trained her to come so easily and to crave being fucked hard? Anyway, I never touched her ass; I wanted to save it for today.” He smiled at me with anticipation.

Sebastian was either too cocky for his own good, had a death wish, or wanted to see me pissed off at her. Those were the only reasons I could think of for him to speak like that. And it worked. I pictured stabbing her right there, taking out her appendix and then sewing her back up without any anesthesia.

He broke my daydream. “Oh, I brought you a gift since you obviously like marking your property.”

He opened his leather bag again, took out a small branding iron, and chuckled, running the tip of his forefinger across the metal. “See, it says, ‘Asher Julian Michaelson’s property’. Here, I’ll heat it for you.” He took it to the stove and turned on the gas. “Hope you don’t mind that I didn’t add the doctor part.”

Of course I had never told him my real name. It's all an indirect threat.

“You really fucked her up, you know. There’s not a night she doesn’t cry your name in her sleep."

Yes, I know, asshole.

"We can wait until she’s waking up and pretend you’ve tied me up, see how she reacts.” He laughs. “I know I’m a sick fuck, but I’ve been doing this for so many years. It gets boring, you know?”

Chapter forty-seven

A Hummingbird's Heart

Julian

Present

Sebastian thinks he’s safe because I left the gun on the table. He thinks I’m going back to the stove to grab the branding iron but what I’m grabbing is my blade knife from the kitchen drawer behind him after hearing her cries, screams, and vomiting. She begs him to stop, just like she’d done with me so many times. No one else is supposed to do that to her, only me.

By the time his body drops, Astoria is unconscious again. I take in the state of her. A spray of Sebastian's blood covers her tied up, beautiful limp body.It looks amazing on her, but I’m too worried about her.

Despite all the things I’ve put her through, she’s never reacted like this, unable to keep conscious for long. I should’ve asked the piece of shit what he drugged her with, but his constant jabbering and watching him touch her blinded me with rage.

Even in her unconscious state, she’s breathing too heavily and fast, almost puffing like some hummingbird.Fuck!I take her pulse and it’s sky high, then untie her, lay her on her back, but she doesn’t rouse.

God dammit.

“Astoria. Astoria, wake up.” I fear she’s having an adverse reaction to whatever drug he pumped her with. I take her pulse again, and instead of slowing, it’s speeding. If there’s something Astoria taught me, it's to have all the equipment possible at hand to keep her healthy and alive. I run to the room with all the equipment, place defibrillator pads on her chest and shock her, then connect her to a heart monitor. The current calms her heart but it’s nowhere near normal. It takes a few more tries before I get it under control.

“Astoria.”

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