Page 127 of Bonds of Obsession

Amateur move.

“Let go of me, you son of a?—”

I slam him against the elevator wall, knocking the air out of him as I wrap a hand around his throat. I like the way his eyes bulge as I squeeze, so I squeeze a little tighter. “Keep fighting,” I whisper. “Give me half a fucking reason.”

The look in his eyes says he believes me. Good. He should.

I haven’t taken my hand off his throat, and I can feel his struggles get weaker as his consciousness starts to fade again. Black spots are probably dancing in his vision right about now. I can see the moment his brain shuts everything down in a last-ditch effort to survive, and he goes limp against the mirrored wall.

I hold the pressure a few seconds longer, just because I can, before letting him slump to the floor.

The elevator climbs higher. Twenty floors to go. I look down at Emmett’s pathetic form, remembering how he used to strut around like he was something. Like he deserved Quinn.

“You should’ve stayed in your lane,” I tell him as he wheezes. “You’re about to learn what happens to bitches and snitches.”

The elevator dings again, and it’s time to deliver my present to Quinn. I can’t wait to watch her face light up when she sees I’ve brought her exactly what she’s been wishing for.

Because that’s what monsters like me do for the ones we love. We hunt. We kill. We provide.

Quinn’s head snaps up the moment I drag Emmett through the door. The relief in her eyes hits me like a punch to the gut. Like everything else about her, it makes me want to destroy anyone who’s ever hurt her.

Atlas and Nico move immediately to help, but I catch the way Quinn’s shoulders relax. Knowing I did that for her—that I wasthe one who brought her this gift wrapped in zip ties and bruises—it feeds something primal inside me.

“I got you a present,” I tell her, dumping Emmett onto the floor. He groans and wriggles around like a worm on a hook, but he’s still only half-conscious and his movements are sluggish.

Quinn steps closer, and I can see the predator in her too. The way her eyes go cold and sharp as she looks down at the man who betrayed her. She doesn’t realize it, but she’s so fucking beautiful like this that it takes all my self-control not to throw her over my shoulder and walk right the fuck back out of here.

My hands itch to touch her, to pull her against me and taste the sweetness of her mouth. But there’s work to be done first. There’s pain to be inflicted and information to be extracted, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to miss all the fun.

“Doesn’t look like he gave you too much trouble,” Quinn says, glancing over at me before fixing her deadly stare on him again.

“Not too much.” I shrug. “I was kind of hoping he’d be more of a challenge, if I’m being honest. It’s been too long since I’ve been able to really fuck someone up the way they deserve.”

Atlas shoots me a grin and grabs Emmett’s shoulders while Nico gets his legs. We work together like we always have, three parts of the same machine moving in sync as we drag him to the back room we prepped earlier.

The chair is already waiting. It’s made of steel and sturdy as hell, but we’ve also bolted it to the floor, just in case. We put the rope around his chest first, pinning his upper body to the chair before we wrap even more around his legs. Nico checks the zip ties on his wrists, making sure they’re still cutting off circulation.

Good. Maybe I’ll get to cut this fucker’s hands off by the time we’re finished with him.

My brothers know what they’re doing. All three of us have secured plenty of bodies before an interrogation. Emmett won’t be going anywhere, no matter how badly he’ll want to.

Quinn watches from the doorway as we work. She doesn’t take her eyes off Emmett.

I step back to admire our handiwork. Emmett’s head lolls forward, but it’s time to wake him up and start the real fun.

My hand cracks across his face. Once. Twice. His eyes flutter open, and I can see panic flare in their depths as he realizes who I have with me and what’s about to happen.

A hoarse scream gurgles up his throat as he fully comes to. The fear pouring off of him is intoxicating, like prey that knows it’s fucked. I press my blade against his throat, just hard enough to draw a thin line of blood.

“You keep screaming like that,” I tell him, “and I start removing pieces.”

His mouth snaps shut, his eyes going wide. Quinn steps closer, and I can feel her presence at my back. She’s the only thing keeping the monster inside me from ripping Emmett apart right now.

I glance over my shoulder at her, remembering how it felt when she was our captive. How even then, I couldn’t bring myself to truly hurt her.

“Remember when we had you?” I ask her, keeping the blade steady against Emmett’s throat. “Remember how I held back?”

She nods, her steady eyes burning into mine. She’s understanding exactly what I’m telling her.

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