AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her piercing eyes met mine.
She watched me as if whatever I said next would paint me in the same tar I’d already rolled around in.
Despite what I’d confessed, my biggest secret and hardest heartache was…
I’m alone.
That was it.
Just horribly, terribly alone.
Unwanted.
Pathetic.
Before I could censor myself, I admitted, “I read.”
Ily’s soft intake of breath kicked me in the chest.
Victor sniffed. “Read? That’s it? No other skeletons? No murderous tendencies or illegal activities?” He rolled his eyes. “Christ, even the politicians currently driving through my grounds have better answers than that.”
Forcing myself to look away from Ily, I braced my shoulders and gave another confession. Funny how this one glued itself to my tongue, unwilling to be shared. “Apart from my…eh, need to break another. I have no other nasty habits. That one is enough. It eats me alive night and day. It’s constantly there, whispering in the back of my mind, waiting for me to snap, so…I do the only thing I can. I find the only outlet available to me.” I shrugged. “I live in a world where I can’t have what I want. Therefore, I find it in fiction. It’s amazing how dark stories can be. How horror has no limits and history makes my fantasies mere child’s play. I read all kinds of books. I live vicariously in their pages. And I remind myself that just because villains are celebrated in tales doesn’t mean they are in reality, and I can never slip up because if I did, I’d—”
My teeth snapped together, biting off the final part of that sentence.
“You’d go to jail? Be killed? What?” Victor asked with a glint of curiosity.
Ily never looked away as I shrugged again, pretending the answer meant nothing. “I would’ve shown my mother that her son was a total stranger. A stranger she should’ve been afraid of.”
A stranger who was the direct replica of the man who raped her for over a decade.
“Ah.” Victor nodded. “Yes, it’s a fine line of balancing who we truly are. In that case, you’re welcome to visit the library. South wing on the ground floor. Can’t miss it. Go read a book, Henri. Curb your tendencies until I’m back so I can witness your first taste of freedom. I shan’t be long.”
Dropping his eyes to Ily, he added, “In fact, take her with you. It’ll do her good to know that she has no free will anymore. She’s merely an amusement. A toy. A belonging to go where you go and do whatever you command. Use her as a footstool while you read. Make her hold the damn book and turn the pages for all I care.” Stepping into me, he chuckled. “You can read in my library or play with your jewel, but I will remind you, you are not to fuck her. Patience, my new friend. Practice it, and when I return, I’ll personally teach you the first law of ownership. You shall in-still obedience and submission in her, all while my treasured guests watch.”
With a hearty slap on my back, he handed me the black device I’d left on the table. “Use the remote to give her a dose of electricity if she doesn’t behave. It’s programmed to every jewel’s collar. All you need to do is point it at the one you want to shock. Don’t permit any attitude or rebellion. I expect you to keep her in line with the tools I’ve given you.” He winked. “Have fun.”
He strolled off as if he had a cape and a crown, a true king of this rotten empire.
Only once he’d vanished inside the looming stone fortress and his other guests had moseyed off with their own jewels did I glance down at Ily. “Get up. We’re leaving.”
Chapter Fourteen
………………………….
Ily
LEAVING.
God, yes.
I’d give anything to leave. Right now. Immediately.
The way he said it echoed with the same longing within me. Almost as if he wanted to run too. Which made absolutely no sense because he’d been given the keys to a despicable playground where no rules or reprimands existed. He could be exactly what he wanted to be. What he confessed to be.
The things he’d admitted in the foyer repeated over and over in my mind.
“I want to know what it feels like to hold her life in my hands. To fuck her to the brink of death. To bleed her to the edge of nothing. To bruise her until her very bones are imprinted with my ownership.”
