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The phone clicks and my heart stops beating. Breathlessly, I wait.
His rich voice purrs over the phone, burning all my fears to ash. “Good girl, kitten. I knew you could do it.”
33
“Charlie,” I whisper, closing my eyes so I can imagine that he’s here with me. “Master.”
And then I’m babbling. “The FBI thinks you’re a serial killer and Sheba got shot, but she’s okay. She’s here, obviously, because she helped me find this stuff, and—”
“Ranay.” His hard, intent voice cuts through my chatter. I still immediately, clutching the phone. “He’s approached you by now. Someone you don’t trust. Someone who scares you. Who is it?”
“Rusk. One of the FBI agents. He said he’s your old partner.”
He’s silent for several long moments. Even though we’re only connected by a phone call, I can feel an icy rage building in him. I huddle against Sheba for warmth.
“Don’t…” His breathing rasps harshly. “Don’t let him touch you. I’ve seen what he’s capable of.”
“I won’t. Not again.”
He goes still and silent, the cold intensifying. “What did he do?”
“He made me look at him. Only a touch on the chin. But I didn’t like it.” I swallow hard. “He tried to make me accept his will. Like he thought he could step into your place and take over.”
“If he tries to make you look at him like that again, stab him in the eye. You’re carrying a blade now, yes?”
When he first taught me those moves, it made me sick to think about hurting someone. But if Rusk tries to touch me again, absolutely. “Yeah. I’ll get him.”
“Good girl.”
I never dreamed that he’d praise me because I promised to stab a man in the eye. “He shot Sheba.”
“Then he must be the man who tried to come in through the sliding glass door. She remembers his scent. He’s the serial killer. He’s the reason…”
The bottom of the world suddenly falls out and I’m cast adrift, drowning in an endless frigid sea. “He’s the reason you found me.”
“You’re the perfect bait, Ranay.” His voice echoes with sorrow, regrets and broken dreams. My broken dreams. “You’remyperfect bait. That’s why I knew he’d come after you too.”
“You did find me online first. You picked me deliberately. Just to bait a trap for a serial killer?”
“Yes,” he whispers. “Truth only, no matter how ugly it is. I created a list of potential subs from a few BDSM groups and you made the short list. You’re submissive and you already hooked up once with someone you met online. Even better, you were vulnerable, emotionally devastated by the breakup. A few clicks later, it was easy to track you down to Springfield, Missouri. I almost changed my mind, because you weren’t frequenting the online groups as often, and it had to be someone who’d post about what I was doing. I needed a victim, someone I could use to draw him out. I needed you to taunt him with his own marks, his personal signature, so he’d find you and try to put a stop to the impostor. To me.”
“Someone who’s broken. Desperate enough to…” I can’t finish the words. They’re lodged in my throat, choking me. Desperate enough to let a killer dominate them. A sub so damaged she’d be unable, perhaps unwilling, to stop an unstable dominant from going all the way.
“Someone who appealed to the monster in me, yes. Because the same monster lives in him. I took every precaution I could think of. I took my time to make sure you had a safe place around you, a fortress I built piece by piece where you could hide until I finish him. I trained Sheba to guard you. I argued with myself that it would be okay to use you as my bait, because I was going to build you up and help you deal with your past. I needed you to be vulnerable and broken, but I wasn’t going to leave you that way. So it was good, right? I’d leave you better than I found you, if a little traumatized by a close call with a serial killer. Even that, I reasoned, would help teach you not to be so open and honest on the internet where anyone could track you down and hurt you for that vulnerability. Even if getting hurt is exactly what you most wanted.
“I never expected to love you like this, kitten.”
A sob breaks from deep in my chest, loosening the words jammed in my throat. I want my Master’s love more than anything, but I’m hurt too. Not the good hurt that makes me yearn for more. This is soul-deep, a ravaged pain that will never completely fade. I’ll always have the scar on my heart. “You used me.”
“Yes.”
“I could have ended up with him. I still could. He could get to me now and there’s nothing you can do about it. He’ll take me from you, trap me, force me to accept him, and then he’ll kill me.” My voice rises with each panicked thought.
“Ranay,” he growls, instantly stilling my panic. “Do you honestly think I’d allow anyone to take you from me? Let alonehim?”
“He’s coming for me,” I whisper, pressing my face against Sheba. Even though I now know I was only his bait, I still want Charlie’s arms around me.
“And when he does, I’ll be there to stop him.”
