Page 19 of Imprisoned Obsession

I bask in the warmth that complements the cooling wind.

“Do you like it here, darling?” I ask as I hold her waist tighter.

She stops fighting me or just doesn’t have the energy, but she’s still skittishly stiff.

Willa gripes, “Can’t like anything when you force it on me.”

She adds as a jab, “You know, like kidnapping me.”

“I recall giving you the freedom to leave.” I hum and pet her creamy thigh.

We’ve had this conversation many times. She’s free to leave, but she wouldn’t have my protection. The government wants a scapegoat for the people who died in the fire. In my professional opinion, Willa fits the bill seamlessly.

She knows it, and I know it; her life would be over in a snap of the fingers. If she stays with me as my good little girl, she will have a life of extravagance and independence—within reason, of course.

One word, and I’ll buy her anything she desires. But I hold her freedom on a leash.

“I can buy a home here,” I mention off-handedly as I press another kiss to her temple.

She whines lowly, “Stop kissing me.”

“I will not,” I reckon stubbornly. “You’re mine, and I can kiss you whenever I want.”

Willa scowls prettily as she tries to argue, but I squeeze her knee menacingly. She pinches her lips shut and curls her eyebrows to show her dismay.

“What do you think?” I muse with a chuckle. “We could see the sunrise together every day.”

She hesitates. “I don’t understand you.”

Huh, I ponder. That’s a strange thing to say at this moment.

Fatigue shows in the red rims of her eyes as she squints away from the glaring sunlight. She’s stuck between a rock and a hard place. The only refuge she can get is by turning to face me intimately.

“You did all of this for what?” she questions aimlessly. “You burned the apartment, hurt Janice, and you threatened to turn me over to the police for something I didn’t do.”

My tongue swipes over my lips as I suppress the grin. “You chose to stay, darling. It was and still is your choice to be with me.”

“I don’t have a choice,” she protests. “I’m safer with you, but only a little bit.”

“My intentions were never to hurt you,” I utter softly as I pet her hair and push her head to my chest. “If I went overboard, then I must apologize for causing you pain.”

“It’s a little too late for that,” she hisses, defeated. “The police probably think I set the fire and ran away.”

“Well,” I coo vilely. “It worked out fine in the end. I have you with me, and you are safe from prosecution.”

“I don’t know what planet you’re living on to think this is ‘fine’ because it’s not.” She shifts away for a moment before I put her ear back onto my heartbeat.

I kiss the top of her head as I whisper lowly, “You will be alright if you stay with me. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

She cautiously tests, “And if I don’t?”

“I will hurt you very badly, darling girl.”

Don’t think for a second that cherishing her means I will not inflict punishment for her disobedience.

I can love her and break her simultaneously.

“How painful?” she asks with a wince.

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