Page 29 of Sadist

“I’ll put a termination order out on Hogan too,” she replied, her tone colder than ice. “Seven agents have gone dark since the termination order was placed on Zichen.”

“Well, I’ve dispatched three of them, plus Zichen. No need to thank me,” I retorted, hobbling back to Kier and Richmond and spraying a three-pointed crown on their chest. My calling card. The bodies would be returned to The Triarchy morgue, and that signet would serve as a warning to the other agents who might decide to follow in Zichen’s footsteps. God have mercy on them if it was before I’d had the chance to take a shower.

Blood was running under the fabric of my jeans uncomfortably, the inside of my leg wet with it, and I swayed, waiting for the new wave of dizziness to pass before I moved to Hogan, painting him with the same design.

“Body location?” Erryn asked. “And you should still be with the medic, Theodora.”

“My bloody garage, Erryn,” I replied, darkly. “I want a biohazard team for the bloodstains.”

“You’re slurring your words,” she said after a moment.

“So would you if you had been blown up, hit by a stationary vehicle, and stabbed in quick succession,” I retorted, looking up at the camera that swiveled my way suddenly. I saluted it mockingly with the can of paint to my brow as my head began to swim alarmingly. “Oh…and Erryn. The Beetle was a lovely touch, but maybe send something a little more resilient this time.”

10

OCTAVIA

The walls felt like they were closing in. The day had stretched by in minutes that felt like hours. The slow tick of the clock Theo had left in here taunted me with every passing second.

My mind had fixated on every moment from the morning. Theo. Her body. The sound she had made as she had come on my lap, and then the way she had sauntered naked to the shower and reemerged like nothing had happened.

Completelyfuckingunbothered.

Meanwhile, I have two new piercings that remind me every time I move of howutterlybothered I had been.

I hadn’t been able to keep my eyes off her. Keep my hands off her. The woman who had held me captive for the better part of a week and tortured my body.

And hadenjoyeddoing it.

Not just enjoyed?—

A wave of arousal ran through me at the memory of how wet she had become as she had inflicted her torture. The glint in her eyes as she had smirked down at me. The surprise she hadn’t been able to mask as my body had reacted the way it always did.Need had overtaken logical thinking, and I had descended into hell to burn with my personal devil.

But the day had stretched by. Noon, then the normal time we had dinner…then the night began to pass as I watched the clock and paced.

By midnight, I was definitely slipping into insanity, my head whirling with so many thoughts and memories that it was starting to blur into one overwhelming noise that my father’s voice echoed from too often. My skin was clammy as I rubbed my arms, feeling feverish, even though I knew I wasn’t.

Pinching the inside of my arm, I focused on the pain rather than the noise in my head, sat on my narrow bed cross-legged, and closed my eyes.

Fuck Theo. Fuck her for sending my mind into a full crisis and then skipping off after she was done with me. Fuck her for leaving me in here to fester in self-loathing. He was right. I was worthless. I didn’t even have the self-respect to say no to the woman who abducted me and mean it.

I pinched harder as his voice echoed in the dark spaces of my mind.

“You are just a whore, Baby Girl. That’s all you are good for. Girls like you are nothing special.”

I jumped up, breathing heavily, and paced again, going to the door for the hundredth time that day and trying the handle. It didn’t move. Just like every other time. A small sound of distress slipped from me as I leaned my brow against the cold metal of the door and breathed deeply.

“Theo,” I whispered, hating how broken my voice sounded. “Please let me out of here.”

There was a loud beep, the bolt drawing back inside the door, and I slumped in relief, ripping the door open and bolting out of the room in the same heartbeat. It was three a.m.—what the fuck was she playing at?”

I ground to a halt in the hallway that led to the main living area.

It was three a.m.

There was only one reason she would be letting me out now, and the thought made rage ignite in my chest.

“Oh, get fucked,” I said out loud, storming toward the door. “If you think you can treat me like your own personal call girl, you are in for a world of trouble,Theodora!”

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