Page 117 of Sardonic Burn

He brings the bottle to my lips, but I clamp them shut. He raises an amused brow, shaking his head slightly. Unexpectedly, he grabs a fistful of my hair and pulls it back. My mouth opens in pain, and he uses the opportunity to force water down my throat.

“I can’t have you dehydrated,” he says with a small chuckle. He takes a sip from the water, then looks back at me. “See? It’s not contaminated. There’s no point in drugging you when you’re already restrained.”

“Why?” That pathetic question is all I can muster. “Why, Dylan?”

He sits on the floor, though there’s not enough distance between us. He closes the water bottle and tosses it aside, eyes locked on mine. “Why, what? Why did I take you here? Why did I start a human trafficking business? Or why is it all your fault?”

My blood runs cold.

He grins.

“I’m assuming you want to know all of it, huh? Well…” He pauses, glances at his wristwatch, then brings his eyes back to me. “You see, it did all start with revenge in mind. It’s your family’s fault that I was raised by someone who wasn’t my family. But then I met you. And you managed to enchant me, Noelle. You were just so… dazzling. I didn’t quite forget about revenge, but I could have the revenge I needed and you.”

“Your father was a fucking monster,” I utter out, still in shock. The pain in my chest only intensifies as time goes on.

“As opposed to you and your family? Because from where I’m standing, you’re not saints, either.”

“We don’t kill innocent people, and we sure as hell don’t sell them.”

“Hmm,” he hums, cocking his head to the side. “You don’t kill innocent people? I know you, Noelle. So I know that you don’t do detailed research on your targets unless you’re bored. I highly doubt there wasn’t an innocent person or two in that long list of yours.”

There’s nothing I can say because he’s right.

He smirks. “I know I’m right, Noelle. It’s okay. We can be monsters together.”

“I will rather slit my own throat and bleed out than ever be with you, Dylan. It’s not happening.”

“Cute. You think you have a choice here.”

I grit my teeth, fisting my hands. “Listen to me, Dylan. No matter what you think will happen, someone will find me. And you’ll be fucking dead when they do.”

I don’t see him move. In fact, I’m blinded momentarily by his speed. He grabs my hair again and pulls it until it hurts. His face is an inch away from mine, eyes wide and pupils dilated. The man in front of me is a stranger; I’ve never seen him like this.

It sends a brusque bolt of shock right through me, and a bullet of panic rises in my throat. I can’t look away because if I do, the monster in front of me will swallow me whole.

“You listen to me, Noelle.” His dark voice sends chills down my spine, and I’m frozen in place. “I didn’t go through all of this just for you to leave me. You will never leave me, do you understand? You are going to be my wife, and you’ll play the role of a good housewife. You’ll have my kids, and we’ll live together until we die. Do I make myself clear?”

“I. Would. Rather. Die.”

I don’t see it coming.

In fact, I only feel it after my head forcefully turns to the side, and the taste of metal fills my mouth.

Dylan slaps me with so much force that he knocks a tooth out of my mouth.

The stinging sensation doesn’t leave. It stays, and, somehow, it calms me down. Dylan is terrifying, but I’m no longer feeling the deep ache in my chest. With a single slap, he managed to erase all the good things I used to cherish about him, all the things that make this situation as painful as it is.

Roughly, he grabs my chin and forces me to look at him.

“You will not reject me, Noelle. I didn’t wait years for you to act so entitled. Do you see what you did? You forced me to act like this. I don’t want to hurt you again, so behave.”

“Fuck you.”

A loud, sadistic laugh fills my ears. He shakes his head and immediately bends down. “I love when you’re all feisty with me.”

Dylan kisses me.

He’s holding the back of my head with one hand, and my chained hands can’t push him away. The other hand wraps around my throat until he forces me to open my mouth, then slides his tongue in.

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