Deadly Obsession (The Obsession Duet 2)

Matteo chuckles. “You want to start a war over a girl? Over some pussy, which you could get from any woman?”

“She isn’t just anyone, and he’s going to hurt her. I…” It kills me, rips me to fucking shreds to say my next set of words. All my life, I’ve vowed to be strong, to look death straight in the eyes and smile, but this isn’t just about me anymore. Dove wasn’t cut from the same cloth as me, and she can’t handle this world. “Please, she is my entire world, and I…right now, I have nothing. I am a walking target, if I go in there to save her on my own, we’re not getting out. You’re my last chance…”

Matteo cocks his head to the side, drumming his fingers against his chin. “And why would he steal your precious little girlfriend?”

“Because he’s been looking for her for ten years… I don’t know why, but I know he plans to use her for something. He claims it’s your fault that he wants her dead, but I haven’t figured out the connection yet.”

“Interesting…so this girl, he assumes I know her?”

I nod. “But we won’t be able to figure out how or why until we get her back.”

A spark of curiosity fills his eyes, and I know I’ve hooked him.

“Fine. I’ll help, but you’ll be indebted to me, Zane. Indebted till I say otherwise.”

Hope springs in my chest. I don’t care what it is, or what he needs me to do. I’ll do it. All that matters is Dove. My sweet Dove.

“Fine, just help me find her.”

2

My bones are aching, every muscle in my body is stiff. My whole body is sore, and there is a permanent crater, an ache in my chest, that’s accompanied by a never-ending emptiness. I’m so exhausted, my body and mind.

I’m not sure how long I’ve been here or how much longer I can take this. There are no windows, and the single light bulb hanging from the ceiling is always on. Someone brings me food, but the times are not regular. I know because sometimes I’m so hungry, my stomach is rumbling, and a pit of pain fills my belly.

Of course, it’s nothing compared to the pain of losing Zane… William. I still can’t wrap my mind around it. How did I not see it before? How could I have been so blind? He wasn’t the boy I thought died all those years ago, but he still made me feel safe all the same. I should have known. Now I’ve lost him all over again.

Wiping the tears off my cheek with the back on my hand, I stare at the same wall I’ve been looking at for the last few days. I’ve counted every brick, memorized every crack because I have nothing else to do. Nothing to keep me sane.

The room I’ve been kept in only holds a dirty mattress, a thin blanket, and a bucket in the corner for when no one is there to take me to the bathroom. So far, that’s the only time I’m allowed out of my cell—to go to the bathroom down the hall. I know I’m in some basement, a heavily guarded basement, but that’s pretty much all I know.

I still don’t understand why Christian is keeping me here, why he wants me in the first place, or what he is going to do to me next. All I know is that it can’t be good. The days blend together. Night and day. I’m terrified of the unknown. Of what’s to come.

Pulling my knees up to my chest, I wrap my arms around them, hugging myself tightly as if that would somehow keep me from falling further apart. Letting myself sink down onto the mattress, I curl up in the fetal position.

The rusty springs beneath me dig into my side, but the pain is only minimal. Forcing it away, I close my eyes and try to pretend I’m somewhere else… anywhere else.

Funny to think how I felt like a prisoner in the apartment, Zane kept me in. The whole time I was there, I tried to get out. What I wouldn’t give to be back there right now? To be locked away, safe and sound from the world. Locked away with Zane by my side.

Another sob wracks through my body, leaving me a shaking mess. A sound from outside my cell has me quieting down in an instant. I sit up straight and wipe away the tears with the back of my hand. If they come in, I don’t want to look vulnerable. I’m not giving them the pleasure of seeing me cry. It’s something small I’m holding on to, the one thing I’m not going to give up easily.

A key enters the lock, the mechanical of it fills my ears. The door is unlocked and opened a moment later, and one of the men who has been guarding me appears in the doorway.