Page 40 of Sick Little Devotion

For a long time, I was hooked on the pills Will introduced me to. I had to shove that shit down my throat to escape the pain of what he was doing to me. But it only created more pain. Will ruined my fucking life and took his pleasure in completely destroying me.

I take a sharp breath, trying to work through the trauma that she doesn’t need to know. “Okay,” is all I say, dropping my grip on her and letting her plop down on the bed. “You can hate me, if that’s what it takes.” I pause, meeting her gaze with a darkness I never wanted her to see.

“But you’re not fucking leaving. If you want to be a prisoner here, then that’s what you’ll be.” I recognize the venom in my voice, seeping out with every word.

She glares up at me. “Fuck you, Aiden. Fuck. You.”

“It was good while it lasted.” I chuckle dryly, ignoring the confused look on her face. “And for the record, Ron isn’t the only man with a weird fetish for abusing others, Sara. He’s just the only one who was open about it.”

Her face twists, but I don’t stay to watch her process it—if she even does. No, I turn my back on her, angry and hurt. I came up here hoping to work out a minor issue and then move forward. Instead, she got the truth, which wasn’t even good enough for her. And now, she has the audacity to point the finger at me for leaving. But I know for sure the pervert never touched her. No one has touched her but me.

It's just too fucking bad it doesn’t go both ways.

I slam the bedroom door behind me and head downstairs. I slip through the kitchen and head to the study, where Carlos is flipping through the video footage.

“Well?” He looks up at me, amusement flashing across his face. It’s brief and probably because he sees I’m not happy. “Take it the wife doesn’t like authority?”

“More like doesn’t like me,” I mutter, plopping down in a desk chair beside him. Honestly, the entire interaction makes me feel sick. If Sara’s not smart enough to read between the lines of what I told her, then I’m not sure what I’ll do with her.

Maybe she belongs in the house with the others.

Maybe she truly hates me.

I take a deep breath and reach for the top left desk drawer to pull out a cigar box. I grab one up and light it, taking a long draw.

“Oh shit, must be bad, boss.” Carlos’s eyes widen at me. “You sure she’s the right one? You know there’s plenty of women who’d lay down at your feet…probably offer to suck your dick twice a day.”

I curl my lip in disgust. “I don’t want anyone but her. She is who I will have.”

Something flashes briefly across his face, but he doesn’t say anything. Instead, he shifts the security film to show a man coming in from the woods, busting the lock on the gate, entering the courtyard, and then freezing in his tracks.

My heart jumps to my throat. “Show me the angle of what he’s looking at.”

Carlos nods. He flips the angle around, and sure enough, there’s Sara. The guy is frozen in his place, staring at what’s mine. Savage jealousy pumps through my veins.

This guy has to fucking die.

“We need to figure out who this is,” I seethe. “Sooner rather than later.”

“That would be great,” Carlos huffs. “If I could figure it out. The guy avoids the cameras as if he knows they’re there. I don’t know who would want to sneak into this place anyway. Everyone knows better.”

“Unless they think they can beat me.” I hate competition, and I hate arrogant competition the most.

“No one can beat you. You have the Grenados in your pocket.”

“We have to look into this, and I need more security, clearly.” I hate the idea of having more men hanging around the house, but I hate the idea more of something happening to Sara. She’s been seen now, and it could put her in danger. Someone could take her to get to me—and I don’t like that.

She might go willingly, too. Just to get away.

I have to get through to her. I have to get her to see me as the Aiden that she fell for all those years ago. I don’t know if I can even find that man, but I’ll damned sure try if that’s what it takes.

Chapter Nineteen

SAHARA

What did Will do to him? My mind asks the question over and over, and the answer always comes back to the same thing. But I can’t believe it. Will never acted like a predator with me or the girls. Well, not of the sexual variant. I mean, he laid hands on whoever pissed him off, but…

But if Aiden is telling the truth, then that means I really need to get home.