CHRISTIAN/STELLA
CHRISTIAN
“Hello, Julian.”
I examined Stella’s stalker, who was strung up with heavy cuffs locking his arms and legs into a vertical spread-eagle position. Nails pinned his palms to the wall behind them, while black and blue bruises mottled his body like an obscene piece of abstract art.
We were in the warehouse I’d bought for this specific purpose. Remote, soundproofed, and guarded enough that an ant couldn’t crawl across the floor without me knowing.
Not all of my guys were okay with dirty work, which was fine.
I only needed a few who were, and they’d done their job prepping the bastard for me. I couldn’t have him waiting too comfortably while I tended to Stella.
My gaze flicked to the floor.
A small pool of blood stained the smooth gray concrete.
That was also fine.
It would grow soon enough.
Julian’s face was so beaten up it was unrecognizable, but the heat of his glare made me smile.
He had a bit of fight left in him. Good.
That would make our session so much more fun.
“I’m sorry to tell you this, but you might have trouble writing any more notes in the future.” I snapped on a pair of gloves, my voice casual as I examined the array of tools available to me on a nearby table.
A different dozen blades. Brass knuckles. Screwdrivers, whips, nails, hooks…
Hmm. Choices, choices.
“Fuck you,” Julian spat.
My men had been relatively soft with him. It must’ve given him a false sense of security that what he’d gone through was as bad as it got.
I smiled. If you only knew.
“Language, Mr. Kensler. Honestly. Did your grandmother not teach you manners?” I selected one of the blades. I had a soft spot for knives.
They were lethal, precise, versatile. Everything I liked in a weapon.
“Here’s the thing.” I pressed the tip of the knife into his sternum. “I don’t like getting my hands dirty. Blood doesn’t go well with any of my clothes. But sometimes…” I dragged the knife down his torso. Blood welled and snaked down his body like thin rivulets of red. “Someone pisses me off enough that I make an exception.”
I paused at the soft flesh of his belly, then rammed the blade in so hard he would’ve collapsed had he not been strung up.
An inhuman scream ripped from his throat, followed by a second scream when I yanked the knife out.
“Here’s the thing, Julian.” I continued like nothing happened. “She’ll never be yours. She was always mine. And your biggest mistake…” I dropped the bloodied knife on the table and selected a meat cleaver. “Was hurting someone who was mine.”
I didn’t say Stella’s name. It didn’t deserve to live in a place where pain and death reigned, but we both knew who I was talking about.
Blood stains. Bruised skin. Terrified eyes.
My pulse pounded at the memory.
I usually stayed in control during these sessions. Cool, calm, even conversational as I worked on the subject.
But whenever I pictured the haunted look in her eyes, or the purple and black marring her gorgeous skin, something dark and icy rooted in my lungs.
Rage, and the primal need to tear anyone who even thought about hurting her apart from limb to limb.
If I’d been one minute late, she would’ve died. Her light snuffed out, just like that.
The rage coiled tight and exploded through the sharp blade of the cleaver, which smashed through flesh and bone until an animalistic howl of agony split the air.
“See?” My chest heaved from the force of my swing as Julian’s right hand hit the floor with a thud. “Hard to write again. Or type.”
That was all it took for his fight to melt like ice cream on hot concrete, which was disappointing.
Breaking them down was so much more satisfying when they didn’t bend so quickly.
“Please,” Julian gasped. Tears ran down his cheeks and dripped down his chin. “I’m sorry. I…”
“What would you have done had I not showed up? Raped her? Killed her?”
“No,” he blubbered. He trembled as I swapped blades again. “I…I didn’t want to hurt her. I…”
It was too late.
An image of Stella pinned beneath him, crying and bloodied, flashed through my head.
I punctured his chest and ignored his cries.
The mere fact that he’d put his hands on her and caused her even a second of pain…
When I was in the cabin, and I thought I was about to die...
Thought I was about to die…