Page 103 of His Coveted Obsession

“How long?” Thomas asked.

“Until I was fifteen.”

“Jesus fuck… You must’ve felt so alone and helpless.”

“Sometimes. I hated my father, too. He had to have known.”

“Of course, he knew. The question is, why didn’t he put a stop to it?”

“Good question.”

I continued to pace, but Thomas reached out to me and tugged me back to him. I stood between his thighs, and he held me, pressing the side of his face against my stomach.

“You deserved love, Easton. You were soyoung.”

I ran my hand through his silky curls and tugged his head back to make him look at me.

“I murdered them.Allof them. My mother and the staff who never involved themselves so they could keep their jobs. I never did figure out what finally triggered me. I stabbed her thirty-seven times, my heart rate was steady, and I felt… nothing until she was dead, and for the first time in seven years, I experienced joy. Then I paid a visit to my father at his office and murdered him, too. That was when Sid found me. Apparently, my father was on his hit list. He took me in and trained me to hone my skills for money. He’s the father I never had. So you see, I became a murderer at fifteen years old, killing five people.”

“Good.”

“That doesn’t bother you?”

“A little, but Icareabout you. They hurt you so, so much. I can’t even imagine what you’d gone through. The pain. The suffering. The loneliness. The abandonment. God, Superman… I’m not sorry they’re dead, but I’m sorry you had to kill them.”

“They died by my hand.”

“I would have probably done the same. Well, not really, but I would’ve wished hard for that sort of power.”

“I was already trained with knives and bows at Father’s behest. It helped. Little did he know I’d turn that training against him.”

I let go of his hair, but I kept his eyes on me by tucking my fingers under his chin. “I’m not only a murderer, but there’s no remorse. I feel things when I kill, but remorse isn’t one of them.”

Thomas nodded thoughtfully. “I’ve given that a lot of thought, and I understand why now. They made you this way,Easton. Your parents turned you into something you shouldn’t have been, but I don’t love you any less for it. It wasn’t your fault.

“Do you still want to be with me after I told you this?”

He smiled up at me. “Yes. You telling me this story shows how much you trust me.”

“But Sid told me to tell you.”

He raised a brow. “Did you have to obey him?”

“No.”

“You told me because in your own way, you’re trying to keep me, right?”

“Yes.”

“And I want to keep you, too. You’ve still been honest with me about everything.

I sat back down and took his hand again. “Well, here’s more honesty for you. I willneverbe able to feel empathy. I willneverfeel remorse. Those feelings are alien to me. I understand their concepts like I understand the concept of love, but it’s like there’s this switch to that part of me that’s permanently turned off. But I don’t feel…”

“Abnormal?”

“Yes, exactly. It’s just who I am. I don’t feel wrong in my mind, although I know I’m different from most people.”

To my surprise, Thomas stood, straddled my lap, and rested his arms around my shoulders before kissing my forehead.

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