Page 36 of Dark Torment

JONATHAN

Between the alcoholshe drank and the sedative I had to give her last night to get her home, she’s completely out of it. I’ll have to be careful with how much she consumes when she gets upset.

Last night had been a damn close call. That sly fucker was nowhere near as professional as I am and would have easily woken the girls up had they been sober. I’m just thankful that, when I finally got his dead ass body to the trunk and went back for Liv, she had put headphones in to drown out the noise.

It made giving her the sedative quick and easy, and she didn’t wake before now.

Sadie has been going insane all morning. She’s definitely close to my girl. The second she got a whiff of her scent, she went a little crazy, bouncing and wagging her ass in the air while she panted at me. Her little doggy eyes were brighter than I’d yet to see them, and it made me smile.

The poor dog had been terrified when I’d brought her home, but I did exactly what Olivia had said. I gave her lots of love and attention and even took it a step further. Using my knowledge of dominance and being an ‘alpha’, I started praising her for being such a good dog.

Dogs are submissive by nature to their alpha. I happened to be that for Sadie, and she knew it. It gave her comfort, which made me happy, because I knew it would thrill my girl to see Sadie thriving.

What I hadn’t expected was for my sunflower to wake up and be as calm as ever. She thought she was dreaming, though, so I shouldn’t be that surprised.

“Take care of her, Sade. I have work to do,” I tell the dog, looking at her pointedly. She just blinks at me before closing her eyes and getting comfy with our girl.

Making my way out the back door, I reinforce the locks so Olivia can’t leave if she happens to wake up again before I’m finished. It’s not that I’m trying to keep her prisoner, but she could easily get lost and hurt out here.

When I first installed the high security locks at the top of my doors, I hadn’t even known of Olivia’s existence. They just seemed like a logical choice to have for security reasons. You make a lot of enemies working for the District Attorney’s office, and I refuse to become a murder statistic. Of the dead variety anyway.

I walk into my garage, sealing the doors shut before opening the panel on the wall. I push a button to open the entrance into my hidden bunker. This garage wasn’t even here when I bought the house, but I needed an area to kill without ever being detected, and this was the perfect solution.

“You son of a bitch!” Ben hollers the second he hears my footsteps coming down the stairs, and it brings a smile to my face.

“Hmm, are we finally in a chatty mood?” I ask, rounding the corner to the room where his cell is in the corner.

I’m a sick son of a bitch for having a bunker with drains to dispose of my victims’ blood. I’m not really sure what it says that I also have a holding cell in the same kill space.

Ah, whatever. It all leads back to me being a sick and twisted bastard.

“You won’t get away with this. Why the hell am I even here?” he snaps at me, and I smile.

I can tell he’s slowly losing his sanity as he sits down here in the dark with no food or water.

“Let’s try this again. Maybe I’ll give you some water and a sandwich if you answer me truthfully,” I tell him, and his eyes light up with the promise of something in his stomach.

“Why do you care about her? Are you trying to get information from me to kill her? Because you’re going about it in the worst way possible,” he huffs, and I hold back the anger coursing through me.

“I’m not the one that wants her dead, but I think you know who does.” I tilt my head, watching his face as some form of understanding dawns on him.

“You care for my sister. Why?” he scoffs, and I growl.

“She’s a better person than you’ll ever be. If you ever want to eat or drink again, I recommend refraining from negative comments toward my woman,” I snap, and his eyes widen.

“She—wait, my sister isn’t dating anyone,” he stammers, confused as fuck.

“Agree to disagree for the moment. It’s really none of your business, anyway. Who wants her dead other than you?” I ask, and an evil look crosses his features.

“You can’t stop her death, you know. Taking me would have just sped up the timeline.” He’s taunting me, knowing he has knowledge that I need. What he doesn’t know is I already have her, and no one is going to harm her here.

“Ben, Ben, Ben. Do you know who I am?” I ask, and he narrows his eyes at me.

“A deranged son of a bitch who gets off on toying with people?” he quips, and I bark out a laugh.

He’s not wrong. “Partially. But I also happen to know exactly who you and your father are.” I smile, nothing but darkness and possible psychosis coming from me. “My name is Jonathan Carmichael. I work with the Chicago DA’s office.”

He swallows, making a small sound of fear, and I thrive off it.

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