“I’ll fix it,” I vowed, my mind turning to vengeance.

Dante’s mouth turned up at the corner. “I appreciate the offer, but there’s nothing else to be done. Just don’t get attached to the women you fuck in the future, yeah?”

“Yeah,” I agreed, standing and closing the folder. There wouldn't be any women in the future. “I think I’ll keep this as a reminder.”

He chuckled. “Burn it when you’re done obsessing over it. Let the guilt go with it.”

I inclined my head and headed out of the house, fingers itching to open the file. When I got home, I did just that. I pored over all the information for hours until the sun set and rose again. Then, I showered and dressed, ready to enact my own form of justice. Remington Black had committed the ultimate crime of betrayal, and I couldn’t let her go unpunished.

The florist gave me a strange look when I purchased a single white peony and plucked a few petals streaked with pink, handing them to her before leaving the shop. Remington lived in a nicer area of town in an apartment building that lacked cameras but had a keypad entrance. I parked a few blocks away, finding a small café across the street with a dark corner where I could pull a cap low over my brow and watch.

I got lucky because the traitorous bitch exited her building half an hour after I sat down, wearing matching black joggers and a sweatshirt. She stretched against the wall of her building, bending over and putting that tight ass on display. The jolt of lust was instant and painful. I embraced it, realizing there was no getting over the woman.

But I could punish her.

Remington started running down the sidewalk at a moderate pace, her breaths puffing in the air. I picked up the peony and downed the rest of my coffee, then crumpled the paper cup in my fist, tossing it in the trash. Traffic was light since most people were already at work, so I cut across the lanes to her building and dropped the peony in front of the entrance before finding a convenient alley to fade into.

Half an hour later, Remington came jogging around the corner, slowing and planting her hands on her hips as she panted. Her blonde ponytail swung in the air as she passed her weight from one foot to the other. Her toe kicked the discarded flower, and she bent down, plucking the stem from the cement and holding it up quizzically.

I held my breath as she turned it in her hand, taking in the fresh bloom. When she shrugged and punched her code in, disappearing with my little gift of vengeance, I sighed. It was as close to touching her as I’d been in days, and my fingers tingled like she’d stroked my hand when she touched the peony.

There were two options for Remington, because I could never give her up. That tarnished black thread still connected us, even though she betrayed me. The first option was death, and I could never bring myself to put out the light in her eyes. I settled on the other option, the one that would keep her tied to me forever—marriage.

It only took me two days to realize Remington was a creature of habit. She ran at the same time each morning, so today, I hacked the keypad to her building and let myself in, picking the lock on her door and entering an apartment that smelled so familiar that my cock ached. It looked nothing like the dilapidated place I’d seen before. This place was simple, organized, and kind of homey. My sisters-in-law would probably decorate the walls with photos and leave vases of flowers and potted plants around.

My lips curled as I realized she’d unwittingly given me plenty of places to hide the near-undetectable cameras I brought with me. I didn’t waste time finding the best places to position them so I could see all areas of her apartment. The cameras were waterproof, so I just had to hope she didn’t look too closely when watering the plants.

The white peony adorned the center of her small dining table, placed in a glass to sustain its life. I knew that deep down, Remington would see the connection we shared. She would come around and go along with my plot. Soon we’d be married, and I’d watch her grow round with my child. Then nobody could take her from me.

I took one last look around her apartment, fingering the petals of the peony before I left, careful to lock the door behind me. The rest of the day, I occupied myself with another guest, and I took all of my frustration out on the River Rat until I’d wrung every last bit of information from the man and watched his blood spray in an arc as I slit his throat. I traced a heart in the pool of blood on the tarp with the toe of my boot before cleaning up.

He confirmed a connection to the FBI, which was fucking inconvenient. Remington might be able to shed some light on it if I could convince her to transfer her loyalty to me. I didn’t buy that everything between us had been an act; you couldn’t fake the look in her eyes when she came on my cock.

It was nearly midnight when I returned home. I opened my laptop and logged in to the video feed, searching the various camera angles until I found Remington sitting on the couch, drinking straight from a bottle of wine. She tipped it back, then shoved herself from her seat and wavered as she walked to the kitchen, pulling another bottle from the cabinet and taking a long pull. I watched as she drained the bottle over the next hour as she watched some sad girly movie on her TV. The tears she shed should have been mine.

Eventually, she disposed of the empty wine bottles and took herself to bed, stripping out of her clothes and climbing under the covers. I didn’t hesitate to put my shoes back on and stop by my dungeon for some things I needed before driving across town to Remington’s place.

It was insulting how easy it was to sneak inside her place. When I stood at the foot of her bed, she didn’t even stir. Her chest rose and fell peacefully, and she snorted softly as she breathed. I moved forward, stroking her soft hair before setting my bag on the bed.

I pulled out a topical numbing gel and carefully applied it to her neck, sitting in the chair in the corner to watch her until I was sure it had taken effect. The temptation to climb into bed with her was strong, but I resisted, watching the minutes tick by on her clock.

Next, I withdrew a syringe and a vial, carefully estimating the dosage since she’d already had alcohol. I tapped her neck with my finger and got no response, so I administered the sedative, applying pressure to the small puncture wound to stop any bleeding. She probably wouldn’t even notice it later.

My fingers lingered on her pulse point, feeling her heart rate decrease. Slowly, I wrapped my hand around the covers and drew them down her body, exposing all of that creamy skin. As much as I wanted to suck on her hardened nipples, to taste the nectar at the apex of her thighs, I didn’t. That wasn’t my purpose.

I reached for my phone and turned on a classical playlist, then walked to Remington’s ensuite bathroom to wash my hands. I donned black nitrile gloves and arranged what I needed, slipping a headlamp on. Her thighs parted easily, but she was dead weight when I took the extra pillow on the bed and propped it under her ass, tilting her pelvis where I would need it.

My intentions weren’t pure. Or sane. I knew Dante would probably lock me in my dungeon if he knew what I was doing. It was a line nobody else would dare cross, but the thing inside me, that darker voice, demanded I reach for the speculum and finish the task I’d begun.

It didn’t take long, and unlike barbaric doctors, I had a long-acting numbing agent. Remi wouldn’t even know I’d been in her apartment, much less her body. When I finished my task, I held up the tiny bit of metal, then slipped it into my pocket to keep as a souvenir of one more barrier between us obliterated.

I cleaned up my supplies and pressed on my aching cock. My desire for Remington was hate and lust twisted together like the vines tattooed on my arms, hiding my crimes in plain sight. With trembling hands, I unzipped my jeans and freed my throbbing cock, taking myself in hand and offering myself relief I couldn’t take from the woman lying unconscious on the bed before me.

I squeezed until it hurt, then stroked, punishing myself for my inability to move past the woman who would have gladly thrown me in prison. It had to be some providential accident, fate gone wrong, to cause such an attraction between two polar opposites. But I felt for Remington, even though I despised her.

Faster, I pumped my fist over my swollen flesh, precum gathering at the tip of my cock, dripping as I got closer to release. I contemplated marking her and leaving it there for her to find in the morning, but that would give everything away, and I was enjoying the game of chase she was unaware I’d drawn her into.

So I looked around the room, finding the plain white cotton panties Remington had removed before bed. They were soft between my fingertips and smelled like her when I brought them to my nose, my eyes rolling back in my head with pleasure. My balls drew up tight to my body, and my movements became rough and uncoordinated.