Dark Wish

“No. I came here to explain how this is going to work,” I say, and I lean away again and stretch my fingers, cracking my knuckles. She keeps her eyes on me, but her body is much less defensive than it was before. “You’re in my house now, and I expect you to behave. You will shower or bathe every day and dress appropriately, or as requested. You will eat when offered food. You will dine with me when I demand it.”

“Why? Give me one good reason I’d do any of that,” she retorts.

My eyes lock onto hers. “You will have to earn your freedom.”

Her nostrils flare as her lips part.

“And I think you know exactly what that entails,” I add, and I place my hand on her knee.

She shudders in place, her body instantly clenching. But she doesn’t say no. She doesn’t even try. And I admire that.

I lift my head and stare at the beautiful paintings on the ceiling. “You must repent for your sins.” When my head lowers again, my eyes find hers, and a hunger grows inside me. “To me.”

Chapter 9

Amelia

I’m no longer shaking, but my body has frozen over like I’ve dipped my toes straight into frigid lakes of the underworld.

A single tear rolls down my cheek, and his hand rises to brush it away. “You must do what I want, when I want. Because I know what you did.”

So he’s blackmailing me. And for what? Something I can’t remember?

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” I say.

He smiles but it’s a crooked, dangerous smile. “Angel, your mind already knew,” he says with an almost saint-like voice. “That’s why you confessed that you need punishment.”

My jaw tightens when he briefly brushes my chin with his index finger.

I wish I could bite him. That I had the guts to punch him, kick him, flee for my life. But I don’t. I’m frozen to the bed like some fragile doll, waiting to be used. Because deep down, I know there’s no use in fighting him.

I could never win. And even if I did, guards behind that door would be waiting to grab me, so what’s the point?

He gets up from the bed and stands tall before me, like a shadow looming over me. “If you want to be free again, you must pay for it with your sins.”

How could this man who first appeared like such an elegant gentleman when he talked to me at the library be such a devil in disguise?

“And you can guarantee I will be free again if I do what you want?” I ask.

I don’t want to entertain this thought, but I have to know what’s on the other end. What will happen if I agree … if I let him do what he wants to me …

He nods. “But only once you’ve been punished for your sin.”

My sin. The way he says it, like it’s some godforsaken crime, like I’ve done something inhumane, angers me. I’m not that type of girl. I always obeyed the rules, listened to my teachers, and respected my parents. So wherever he is getting this from is beyond me.

A shiver runs through me the moment I look into his hawk-like eyes.

There’s no possible way to get out of this room. Not without his help. I’m going to have to win his trust first before I can even think of escaping.

I swallow and sit up straight on the bed, lowering my legs onto the floor so my feet are right in front of him. I look up into his dark, sultry eyes and find them filled with something indescribable, like a … hunger.

A hunger I’ve only seen before in customers at the strip club.

Is that … what he wants from me? My body?

I swallow away the lump in my throat as I gaze up into his eyes, wondering what goes on beyond them, what he’s thinking about when he stands here humiliating me over something I can’t remember I did. Something I don’t know I ever even did.

But if it’s this or staying in this room forever, I think I already know which one I’d pick. So I sit before him and spread my legs, opening them wide. His eyes peer down between them, his Adam’s apple moving up and down as his pants strain.

All men are the same. Even the most chivalrous gentlemen hide inner beasts that wish to devour. And this wolf has set its eyes on me.

Lifting my hand, I grab his zipper, but before I can pull it down, he’s caught my wrist. He firmly twists my hand away from his tented pants.

“No, angel,” he says, his grip so tight that it almost hurts. “I will decide how this is done.”

Of course, a man like this would refuse to give up any power, even if it promises pleasure.