Page 45 of Ruined

I feel as though I am coming before a god, supplicating myself to his strength and power. It is a testament to Angelo’s charisma that he has somehow remained dominant while chained like a dog.

I remind myself that this is all a mind game. Angelo’s not a god. He’s a man. A man who comports himself through the world in the manner a god might, given he acknowledges no authority other than his own, but still just a man.

Bobby has been winding me up, and I have been letting him. Everything he said about having to run, and about Angelo destroying me, that was just a way to get inside my head. It worked, but now that I’m looking at Angelo, I know that can’t be true.

“Having regrets, Riley?” His first words are in the form of a question.

“No,” I lie. “You did something very fucked up to me. You put me in a position where I thought my life was over. But you know yours isn’t over. You know I’m not really going to hurt you. You know I’m not going to separate you from the people you love. So this isn’t the same, and it never can be, and if you want to hollow me out with a spoon afterward and use me as a soup dish, fine.”

Angelo opens one eye at me and tilts his head slightly to the side.

“Adorable,” he drawls. “You’re almost too cute to hollow out with a spoon. Very vivid imagery there, Riley.”

“Thanks,” I say, trying not to visibly squirm and failing.

“I’ve never been kidnapped by anybody so visibly panicked about having captured me before,” Angelo says. “It is quite charming, but I will not pretend my patience is waning. You have made your point. It is better to let me go now and take what is coming than it is to…”

“Leave you there and run away?”

“That would not be a good idea,” he growls. “I would hunt you down, and you know with my resources there are few places on this planet you could go that I could not reach you.”

“I know.”

“Look at you, standing there like a bad little girl, knowing she has made a mistake, terrified of the consequences. I am the one in chains, but you are the one suffering.”

Goddammit. He’s right. I’m supposed to be making him suffer. I’m supposed to be scaring him.

“This is harder than it looks,” I admit.

“Most things are,” Angelo commiserates.

“I just don’t know what would scare you. You don’t really seem to be scared of anything. I don’t think you’re afraid of dying, and I know you don’t care about pain.”

I’m looking into his eyes when it occurs to me.

“I suppose you wouldn’t like the idea of anything happening to Bobby while you were tied up.”

“You would never hurt the boy; you are absolutely enamored of him. He is the Adam to your Eve.”

“And you are God in this scenario? And Eve is barren?”

“You may not have a baby, Riley, but there are other ways of creating things in this world,” Angelo says. “And I am certainly no god. I may be the snake who encourages the innocent woman to eat of the fruit of knowledge, discover herself, and unleash her true nature on the world.”

He’s so poetic, so deeply intelligent. I’m finding myself rather enjoying having him captive simply for the conversation which does not tend to happen so much this way when he is free.

“I want to let you go,” I tell him. “But I don’t want you to retaliate. I want this to make us even.”

Angelo’s smile softens slightly. “Come here,” he says, lifting a chained hand and crooking his finger at me.

I go to him, crawling on hands and knees, sliding up under his chains so he can wrap his arms around me. The shackles are heavy against my back, but the warmth and security of his embrace is worth the discomfort. I feel the blissful warmth of something that might be forgiveness emanating through my body.

I dare look up at him in the hopes this has all been resolved through talking. Angelo lowers his head, putting his lips low by the side of my temple.

“Run, Riley,” he growls in my ear. “Run, and do not look back. Because, little girl, when I find you, I will all but end you.”

I stiffen with excitement, as his words send adrenaline coursing through me.

“What?”

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