Fatal Attraction (Love Kills Duet #2)

29. Twenty Nine

Twenty Nine

Charlotte

M y head spun weakly as I opened my eyes, having dozed off since my encounter with Perry earlier this morning, and discovered him sitting upright in the chair beside the bed with another tray of food equipped with a bologna sandwich, a small bag of chips, and a bottle of water.

“Did you have a good nap, my love?” he asked with a twisted grin on his face.

I scowled at him, wishing I could tap deep into some hidden superpower and rip free from the restraints so I could steal back my gun and shoot him between the eyes. Of course, doing so would mean I’d have to overpower him and given my brittle, pathetic condition, it was impossible. My arms were unbearably stiff and sore from being stuck in the same upright position, as was my poor, aching back. My legs frantically wobbled every time he’d let me out to use the bathroom, and thanks to the nasty bruises on my torso, I knew there was nothing I could do. I hated admitting it, but I was way too physically weak to properly defend myself against him. It also didn’t help that I hadn’t been eating and retaining the nourishment my body desperately needed either.

It fucking sucked, but if I expected to make it out of this alive or had any hopes of subduing him, then starting now, I had to be on my best behavior. Defiance was no longer the answer. It was only doing more harm than good. I had to play his games whether I liked it or not .

After softening my features, I nudged what I could of my head at the water and said, “Please, Master, I’m so thirsty. May I please have some water?”

Perry beamed, his eyes glittering with joy. “Of course, Charlotte.”

I watched as he picked up the bottle and untwisted the cap. Carefully, he leaned forward, extra wary not to dump the tray on the floor as he brought the bottle to my lips. A moan filled my throat as I drank greedily, sucking half the bottle down in less than ten seconds. When I pulled back long enough to take a breath, Perry shoved a potato chip in my mouth and instructed me to eat slowly.

I did as ordered, savoring how the potent tang of salt and vinegar danced against my taste buds, sending my stomach into a growling frenzy. As he picked up the sandwich and brought it to my mouth, I dove toward it like a wild animal and bit over a quarter of it off in one bite, sighing happily as I chewed and chewed and chewed.

“I assume you have more questions,” he said, his smile unwavering. “Ask me anything, my love, anything you want.”

I wanted to smile but couldn’t thanks to my mouth being so full. All I could think about since he left me was the conversation we’d had and how angry I was with myself for falling off track and not asking the right questions—the most important ones. I wanted to ask him about Delilah Fields and if Phoenix’s theory about Perry confusing her for me was true. I wanted to ask him why he’d chosen Amber and opted to drug her and her husband with Rohypnol, and how he’d managed to get ahold of such a disgusting drug in the first place.

And then there were my cameras. How did he do it? How was he able to bypass them? The flowers were a no-brainer—those had been ordered from a shop and were delivered—but the whole dead cat thing had me stumped. How was Perry able to ghost his way around my property and cut the lines undetected? Hell, how was he able to overpower Carter ?

The more I asked myself these questions, the more I began feeling like an idiot. I suppose it was common sense that he’d obviously found some way to hack into my account and deactivate all of my camera feeds. My username and password for just about all of my accounts were the same, and I hadn’t thought once about changing them because I’d never had any trouble in the past with being hacked. Unless he’d snooped around my office at work or had broken into my house before I’d gotten the cameras installed and found my notebook I kept tucked away with my laptop, then I frankly had no idea how he could’ve hacked me. Something in my gut told me one or the other had to be it though.

“I,” I started, sighing again when Perry growled for me not to talk with my mouth full. I finished chewing and swallowed. “I want to know about Delilah Fields and Amber Strickland. Did you mistake Delilah for me?”

Perry scoffed, rolling his eyes. After a moment of consideration, he said, “Unfortunately, I did. It was a rookie mistake and I…” His words faltered, and as he cocked his head to the side, his eyes squinted in total concentration, they widened. My heart jumped when the sheer look of panic crossed his face, and as he shot to his feet, placing the tray down in the chair, he immediately swiped the gun off the floor and checked the clip.

“Wh-what’s going on?”

“I’m afraid I have an unwelcome visitor,” he distastefully muttered, popping the clip back in before his dark gaze lifted, the sight of it evoking a terrible chill down my spine. He snatched the back of my head, and I cried out when the barrel pressed tightly under my chin. “You do not make a sound. Not. A. Fucking. Peep.”

His grip unbearably tightened, and I winced, fighting back tears. But one slipped out and rolled down my face when he yanked my hair again, pulling until I’d look at him. It was all I could do not to vomit when his warm breath blew against my face. It smelled like he’d been chain-smoking menthols.

“Do you understand me, Charlotte?”

“Ye-yes, Master. I understand. ”

He released me, and my heartbeat pulsed in my ears when he fled the room and slammed the door behind him. The front door must’ve been close to the room I was in because there was this god-awful creak, then the sound of his furious voice demanding why the hell he was here to the unknown guest.

He.

Perry said ‘he.’

It was a man.

“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?” a voice incredulously sneered, and I left out a soft, jubilant cry at the familiarity.

Peter!

“Where the fuck is Charlotte?!”

Something heavy slammed against the side of the house, and my heart jumped to my throat when someone groaned, cursing heavily under his breath. Grunts and muffled curses filled the air, and then there was another hard, vicious, BANG that shook the place before it went quiet again.

I whimpered as I fought against my restraints, knowing it was useless as the metal painfully dug tighter against my skin. I’d have screamed Peter’s name if it wasn’t for the thought of him being hurt, or worse, what it would mean for me if I dared open my mouth.

Tears filled my eyes when I heard footsteps stampeding inside the house, drawing closer, and I tightly squeezed them shut when I heard the door open.

“Oh my God!”

I cracked my lids open, taking in Peter’s horribly wrinkled T-shirt and gray sweatpants. He scarcely made it two steps toward me when he caught my eyes lift in horror over his shoulder.

“LOOK OUT!”

Peter whirled, magically dodging a gunshot that had me shrieking in terror as the bullet punctured the headboard, the hole barely an inch away from my head. Peter moved fast and ducked when Perry tried to whack him with the butt of the gun, and I cried out when Peter struck, landing a massive right hook to Perry’s jaw.

He stumbled back, dazed, then dizzily raised the gun and fired off another shot that had me screaming in excruciating pain. The bullet whizzed right past Peter had lodged itself deep into my left shoulder.

“CHARLOTTE!”

Peter stopped fighting and raced toward me, distracted by the blood now pooling down my borrowed clothing and wild wails.

It was agony, so much that all I could do was scream. My whole arm felt like it’d been lit on fire and smashed with a sledgehammer all at once.

“You stupid fuck,” Peter snarled, panicking as he pressed his palms against the wound, which did nothing but make me screech louder. “You fucking shot her!”

“Back the fuck away from her,” Perry growled, charging forward and pressing the barrel against Peter’s head. “Get the FUCK away from her before I blow your fucking brains out!”

I cried harder as Peter backed away, his blood-soaked hands raised high. Eyeing Peter carefully, Perry kicked my food tray off the chair and then instructed him to sit down. With tears rolling down his cheeks, Peter obliged.

Then I watched in fear as Perry flipped the gun and bashed it hard against Peter’s face.

He was out cold.