Page 105 of Whispers of Obsession

The man I’ve been pining over.

The man I was half-convinced I was in love with.

The man I love and the man I love to hate are the same guy…and I can’t handle that knowledge.

It takes Slater advancing toward me in the low candlelight to finally snap me out of my stupor.

Fuck freezing. My body chooses flight.

I turn and run, fleeing the apartment like it’s on fire, and I don’t stop until something heavy collides with my temple and like the flick of a switch, I’m out cold.

47

SLATER

Fuck.

She took off like I was a wild animal about to attack. How the fuck could I have been so careless? Why is everything unraveling now, just when we were getting back on track?

I grab a towel and roughly dry myself off, just enough so that I can dress without my clothes sticking to me. Dry enough, I race into the bedroom, noting that Cora changed the sheets after the masked man’s visit. My visit.

I pull on some sweats and a T-shirt, shoving my feet into my sneakers and grabbing a hoodie as I race for the front door.

She can’t have gotten that far. The question is, which way would she have run? Campus, the bar, a friend’s house, or home? I know I’ll find her, but I’d like to do so in the shortest amount of time possible.

My heart is pounding with a mixture of fear and panic, despite my confidence that I can track Cora down.

As I reach for the handle, my phone rings. It’s on the sideboard where I left it when I came in, and I can see myfather’s name on the screen, calling me from his home office line, not his mobile.

It’s a call I don’t want to take, but I know I must.

“Father,” I spit, answering the call and bringing it up to my ear as I look around for my keys. “Now isn’t a good time.”

“Slater!” Cora’s broken sob stops me in my tracks. “He’s g-got me.”

My heart drops to my stomach as I hear Cora’s trembling voice on the other end of the line.

“I need you, Slater. Please come and save me,” she whimpers, and my gut twists with guilt and fear.

I pace around the apartment, my eyes immediately drawn to the mask of the masked man, tossed carelessly on the table by Cora as she fled. The realization hits me like a ton of bricks. I’m the reason she’s in this position in the first place. I caused all of this.

“I’m on my way, Cora. I’ll find you. Just hold on,” I say, my voice rough with emotion.

I grab my jacket, slam the door shut behind me, and race to the car. If she’s calling from my father’s office, she’s at the house. She’d never go there willingly, which means that after she left me, he caught her.

I hit the gas, the tires screeching as I peel out of the driveway.

As I speed along the winding roads, my mind is a whirlwind of confusion and anger. How could I have been so blind? How could I have let this happen to her? I knew my father was obsessed with Cora and it was only a matter of time before he got impatient and struck.

Pulling up outside the house of horrors I was raised in, I hop out of the car and dash inside, my heart pounding double time as unwelcome memories assault me.

My heart skips a beat as I hear Cora’s cries echoing through the house.

“Cora!” I shout, my voice echoing through the empty rooms.

I find her in the basement, naked, bound and gagged, her eyes wide with terror as she sees me. My father stands over her, a cruel smile on his face.

“Slater, you’re too late,” he says, his voice dripping with satisfaction. “I’m just about to claim her for myself. Of course, it’s a shame that she’s spoiled, but it just means that I can break her harder.”

---