I tugged the blindfold off his eyes after releasing his neck. His eyes widened in shock as he looked at me. “I get it, I really do.” I winked at him, referring to the fact that this same man strangled me, thinking I was another toy to play with.
Glancing down at his arm, he cried harder as the blood poured out and Susie’s name was clearly engraved into his tender flesh.
“I’ll be back soon. I’m going to have to recruit a nurse since there is no way I’m going to let you die.” Wiping my hands on the blindfold, I threw it down at him. Tugging out a tube of red lipstick, I colored my lips before leaning down and placing a kiss on his forehead.
Turning away, I locked the door behind me as fear and panic painted across his pale face.
“It’s time for you to really immerse yourself in dark therapy. I don’t like all the noise you’re making.” I wiggled my finger at him before tucking my belongings back into my purse.
“Bye bye, birdie.”
CHAPTERFORTY-THREE
“My bride.”I was in the bathtub with my head tilted back and the bubbles covering my body.
“Hello, husband,” I whispered.
He came around to me and brushed his hand across my face. “You are glowing.” His eyebrow lifted. “Perhaps a soon-to-be mother’s glow?” He bit into his lower lip.
“You’ve come more inside corpses than you have in me, Alister. Perhaps we could leave the dead girls out of our bed?” I shot back. Something was changing inside me. I didn’t just feel powerful; Iwaspowerful. A man’s life was in my hands, and I couldn’t help but love the way revenge tasted.
Alister looked at me carefully. “Bradley leaving seems to have put you in the best mood…”
I nodded. “It’s freeing knowing that parts of that period of my time are gone, Alister. I’m just looking forward to this next journey; one where I take more control over the way we do things at La Gabbia,” I said confidently. But I realized I had shown Alister Ivory that I was gaining too much confidence, and a confident woman was his trigger.
“How was your day?” I toned down the way I was speaking to him, but it was too late. He was taking off his belt, and I held my breath in hopes it was because he was undressing.
“Get out of the bath, Demi.”
My heart raced as my lips quivered. “I’m all soapy. May I go rinse off in the shower?” I hated the way my voice sounded in front of him.
“Get out of the bath, Demi,” he growled as he folded his leather belt. Forcing myself to stand and step out as soapsuds clung to my naked body, I began walking to the shower, but just as I turned my back to him, a loud crack that felt like heat blazed into my skin. I didn’t feel the pain because the shock of it all delayed any form of a reaction…
“Alister,” I cried.Powerless.That’s what I was and would always be.
“Mocking my sexual preferences? Mocking my desires?” He didn’t stop. I could smell the scent of leather meshing with my dampened skin.
“Please.” I cried out.
The taste of blood intertwined with my saliva as I began coughing. “Please,” I begged before he crouched behind me and splayed my legs apart, shoving himself inside me while grunting.
“No.” Everything blurred as I rested my head on the cold tile.
“Shall I kill you now, Demi, so I can have you as a corpse?” he hissed in my ear.
I closed my eyes and let myself drift away into the ocean. I saw him. I saw Bradley. I wondered what he was doing at this very moment.
And with that, I smiled and didn’t feel anything anymore.
* * *
The sun shimmered through the curtains, and I opened my eyes. “Marcie?” Her bright green eyes were staring down at me.
“Demi, you just can’t behave…” She shook her head with disappointment.
“Did you know we are all microchipped?” She pointed to her shoulder blade.
“I thought the tattoo was just their identification?” I brushed my hand against the raven tattooed on my shoulder blade that no one else had here except for Layla.
