Fatal Attraction (Love Kills Duet #2)

26. Twenty Six

Twenty Six

Charlotte

K nocks pounded in the distance, and I sat up straight, hope blossoming through my soul when I heard a familiar male voice yelling, “Perry Welch! SPD!”

“HELP,” I hoarsely screamed, my vocal cords burning. “I’M IN HERE! I’M IN HERE!”

The bedroom door opened then, and in stepped Perry with my gun in his hand, his chest heaving as he panicked, his face beet red with tears rolling down his cheeks.

“They’ve found us,” he rasped, scratching the side of the gun against his temple as he began to pace.

“Just let me go, Perry. It’s over. Let me go. Please.”

“I… I can’t.” He stopped pacing, facing me with the weapon raised high, trained at my head.

I tried to curl what I could of my knees into my chest, shaking my head as I begged him not to shoot me.

“If I can’t have you, then nobody can .”

The shot fired, and I screamed, jumping awake and panting hard, sweat dotting my forehead. Sunlight barreled in below the black curtains in the white room, indicating it was daytime, and I whimpered in agony when I tried moving my arms, the clamps around my chafed wrists cutting yet another wound deep into my scarred skin.

One week .

It had been seven long, miserable days since Perry Welch kidnapped me.

I was alive, for the most part—if one could truly call this living. I was confined to this one room, always bound, and I wasn’t able to shit, piss, or shower without him attached to my hip, pointing a damn gun at my head. The clothes on my back were his. For days Perry had been dressing me in nothing but old T-shirts and baggy gym shorts, minus my undergarments, which I frankly hadn’t seen since he’d told me they were in the washing machine five days ago. I wasn’t allowed to feed myself and as punishment for my defiance these last three days, I hadn’t eaten or drank anything, not even water. And you want to know the worst fucking part? I could only address him as Master. If not, then…

Let’s just say the bruises on my torso and face hadn’t quite healed yet.

My stomach distressingly roared, and my bladder was full, ready to explode at any moment. As the bedroom opened, revealing Perry holding a tray of food in his hand, I couldn’t hold in my cry.

“Please,” I pleaded, desperate not to soil myself and the bed. “I have to use the bathroom. I-I can’t hold it anymore. Please.”

“Please, what?” he asked with a dull cock of his head, his brows knotting.

I scowled at him in utter disgust, my jaw tight, trembling as I fought back tears. “ Please , Master .”

He grinned, then gleefully sat the tray on the bed before pulling a set of keys out of his back pocket, taunting me by dangling them in front of my face. My throat tightened with fear as I caught a glimpse of my gun tucked securely under his belt loop.

“You know the rules,” he growled as he unlocked the first clamp, freeing my left hand. “Right, Charlotte?”

I frantically nodded. “If I try anything, you’ll shoot me.”

He hummed, pleased, and then opened the right clamp, freeing me from the bed.

Before I could dare move or so much as attempt to sit up, the gun was in his hand, and the barrel was just a breath away from my head. As I slowly raised my palms, he stepped back, nudging his head for me to stand .

“Come on then. Get up.”

I wanted to fucking punch him, but I had no strength in me thanks to being cuffed to the bed all hours of the day and night, and the last thing I wanted was to get shot. So, I slowly climbed out the bed, my legs wobbling a bit, and stood upright. Perry came forward, grabbed my arm, and then led me out of the room and across the hall into a bathroom.

I pushed down the baggy shorts he’d loaned me the night before and sank down on the toilet, hurting so badly I hissed. Once I was done emptying my bladder, I wiped and then got up with his guidance, securing the shorts back over my waist. He said nothing while he led me back to my prison, nudging my head with the barrel so I’d move faster. Once I was in bed, I raised my arms and straightened my spine against the headboard. My jaw trembled as I helplessly allowed him to strangle my left wrist in metal, and a tear snaked down my cheek when the other clamp clicked in place, sealing my fate.

“You must be starving.” He pulled a chair closer to me, depositing the gun on the floor beside it and leaning over to grab the tray before he sat down. “I made eggs, bacon, and toast.”

He picked up the charred bread and brought it to my mouth, sighing when I refused to eat.

“I understand you’re upset with me, Charlotte, but—”

“Why me?” I asked, turning my head to him. “Just tell me why.”

“Eat, and then maybe I’ll consider it.”

I curled my nose as I contemplated it. I did need to eat but at the same time, I did not want to risk ingesting any of that bullshit at the prospect of it possibly being drugged.

“Answer my questions and then maybe I’ll eat.”

I flinched when his hand shot up, his eyes wild and nostrils flaring like a raging bull. Instead of striking me like I expected, he curled his fingers into a stiff fist and then shakily eased it back to his side.

“Fine. What would you like to know, my love? ”

“Are you a member of The Flirty Sanctum?”

He nodded. “I am.”

“For how long?”

He lifted the toast back to my mouth, smirking. Clearly, he wouldn’t answer me until I ate, so I rolled my eyes and bit off a chunk, chewing it up.

“I’ve attended off and on for about two years,” he replied. “Twice a week but always on random nights. Felix, the owner, is a personal friend of mine.”

I absorbed that for a moment and then said, “So when did you start—”

“—stalking you?” he finished, looking away to scoop up a small mountain of scrambled eggs in a large spoon, feeding them to me. “I fell in love with you the moment I laid eyes on you. You remember that day, right? My first day at the firm?”

I did remember that day. It was a little over two years ago, back when Harley had knocked on my door and introduced us. She told me Perry was my new office neighbor, a transfer she’d hired on as a favor for…

Oh, fuck.

Peter .

“Oh my God.” My lips parted. “Does Peter know—”

“This is mostly his fault, you know. He was the one who helped me transfer outside of Narcotics. He told me about you, how you were his best friend and the absolute love of his life, and that if I had any trouble or needed help with anything, that I could always depend on you.”

My jaw tensed, and as I made to open my mouth, the bastard shoveled more eggs in, damn near making me choke to death on them.

“He talked about you all the time,” he carried on as I continued coughing my lungs up, “way before my conflict with Gibbs and Hammett ever happened. Peter would get drunk and then pour his heart out to me about you and how much he hated your husband, Karl. He’d mentioned quite a few times how certain he was Karl was cheating on you. He was just too much of a pussy to grow some balls and act on his instincts. That’s where Peter and I differ, you see. Once I finally saw for myself just how exquisitely beautiful you are, I knew you were the one, that I had to have you all for myself. Make you mine . So, I started following you, studying your life, your schedule, your friends, and relationships. And once I had confirmation Karl was fucking around, I told myself I’d stop at nothing until I had everything I wanted.” He paused, a wicked grin spreading across his desirably punchable face. “And now, I do.”

While his explanation did fill in some blanks, it didn’t necessarily answer my question.

“Does Peter know you kidnapped me? Is he part of this too?”

Perry snorted. “Did you not hear anything I just said? Of course, he doesn’t know. He’s been going around posting fliers of you all around town and calls me every night asking to join the search parties he’s rounded up. The guy is a fucking lovesick idiot.”

Tears dotted over my eyes, slipping out the corners and falling helplessly down my cheeks.

Peter was looking for me…

Searching for me every night.

“And my lovers?” I bravely asked. “Are they alive?”

Quickly that smug grin of his dissipated. “For now. I imagine they’re out trying to track down a loose end I had to tie up recently.”

Loose end?

Tie up?

“It’s nothing that concerns you,” he said as he observed me connecting the dots in my head, shoveling more eggs on the spoon and offering it to me. “But if you must know, a little birdie was nice enough to inform me about your grand plan to expose me. He intercepted me when my guard was down, so I had no choice but to intercept him. Ensure he wouldn’t go running his mouth to the wrong people. ”

“Oh my God,” I muttered in horror, glaring at him like the monster he was.

Felix.

He was talking about Felix.

“Tell me you didn’t kill him.”

He shrugged, then presented me with another disgustingly evil grin. “Hide and seek has always been my favorite game, Charlotte. I wonder how long it’ll take them to find him. Felix doesn’t have much time left.”

His words made me sick, so fucking sick that I gagged, puking up a tiny bit of the eggs I just ate.

Perry huffed as he got up, placing the tray down on the end of the bed before he angrily stalked out of the room. He returned moments later with a drenched washcloth in one hand and a glass of water in the other. He cleaned me up and then tipped the glass to my mouth.

I drank what little he gave and whimpered when he took it away, my stomach in knots.

“I still have more questions.”

“And we have all the time in the world for me to answer them.” He plopped down in his seat and pulled the tray back into his lap. “Now, finish eating. I have somewhere else I need to be.”