Page 17 of Obsessive Stalker

Sure, I’ve charmed men before. But…that’s different. I’ve never been this naked in front of a man before, never felt so exposed and seen.

“My dear, you know I can’t believe you,” he says, shaking his head. His green eyes look dark and threatening as he stares me down. “I claimed you as mine because you are smart. Much too smart to not prepare for my arrival. So tell me, what is it?”

“What do you mean?”

“The weapon you chose,” he says, his eyes growing even darker as he takes a slow step forward and then another, getting closer to the bed. “A hairbrush, perhaps? Or maybe you removed a shoelace from one of the shoes, and plan to strangle me.”

“No,” I whisper. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

He shakes his head.

“You’re only making things harder for yourself by lying to me, pet,” he says, his voice growing softer. “You already know I have to discipline you for your actions last night. Don’t make matters worse. Tell me what you found, hand it to me now, and we can pretend it never happened.”

For a second, I consider handing him the shard of mirror. It would be so easy. Maybe he would be forgiving, be merciful, if I did as he said and opted for honesty.

But doing this would guarantee I’d never get out of here, never escape. If not now, then when?

I sit up on the bed, backing to the headboard with my butt pressing against the pillow.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I tell him. “Yes, I did look around. Your guard isn’t lying about that. But…I didn’t find anything.”

“Once again, I know you too well to believe that,” he says. “If you won’t surrender it on your own, I’ll take it from you myself.”

He comes closer now, but not close enough for me to take a swipe at him. I don’t dare move, afraid of what he’ll do if I do. My heart pounds as he moves closer, closer, closer…until he’s finally within reach.

It’s now or never, right?

“Please, Kristen -”

I swing at him but my movement falters when he says my name. He doesn’t call me pet, or kitten, or darling or dear. He saysKristen, and when he does, his voice is softer than ever before, almost pleading with me, a tone that feels both safe and welcome.

Just like last night, he catches my flailing arm before I can even make contact. As soon as he pins me back against the pillow, I know it’s I know it’s over. But I don’t care. I have nothing to lose. Fighting back is all that I have left.

“Stop it,” Damien growls as I thrash against him. “Dammit, stop it, Kristen. Stop it now!”

Damien pries the mirror from my hand and tosses it in the trash, then comes back to the bed and reaches for me. I scream again and recoil, waiting for the punishment to come.

“Her hand is cut badly,” he says, speaking to someone on the other side of the bed. “Get help.”

I don’t know when I stopped fighting, or when I began to cry. All I know is that I’m on the bed, curled in a ball and sobbing. Maybe this whole situation has finally driven me insane, maybe I only had a little bit of sanity left and this last altercation has broken it.

Damien disappears to the bathroom, coming back with a thick white hand towel that he presses to the palm of my right hand.

“I hate you,” I sob.

“I know, baby,” he murmurs, brushing the hair away from my face. “I know.”

9

Damien

It’s all so much more fuckedup than I ever imagined.

Stealing Kristen away was always the plan. But I never imagined it happening like this.

Never imagined that I’d be stealing her from a bigger monster than myself. All this time I predicted that I might be the worst thing to ever happen to her, this beautiful flower, fiery yet pure. But it turns out that the real monster was already here, the man who raised her and who would discard her for the value of the life insurance policy he took out on her only one month ago.

One month ago, the day of the encounter at the business conference.

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