"The truth is, Dove..."
I killed him.
I killed your brother. I killed him in cold fucking blood. I did this, it's my fucking fault you're alone… I did I did it I did I did it I killed him killed killed killed I'm a killer I'm a killer a murderer it's my fucking FAULT!
"I've been keeping tabs on you."
"What the fuck's that supposed to mean?" She narrows her eyes at me.
I laugh, trying to make a joke out of the situation. Trying to distract her. Trying to do any-fucking-thing to get her to stop thinking about Robin and what happened to him. "Ever since that shit went down in Hawaii... I've been keeping an eye on you."
"Explain," she barks at me. "I don't understand what you're saying, but if it's what I think it is..."
"It means I've been... watching you." I know this won't end well, but it's the most I can give her. "Making sure everything was okay."
I reach out for her, but she shrinks away from me, a look of disgust in her pretty eyes illuminated by the moonlight. "You've been stalking me?"
"If you want to call it that."
"Yes, I do," she replies. "Because that's what it is. How long has this been going on for, Parker?"
"It's Nox," I remind her.
"No." She pushes the duvet off, getting up and crossing her arms in front of her body. "It's Parker. Stop fucking lying to me and yourself. Just tell the truth for once in your sorry fucking life."
"Why are you getting so upset?" I grunt. "I didn't touch you..." Well, that's technically a lie, but Dove doesn't need to know that, at least not right now.
"God, I was so fucking stupid," she whispers to herself. "I thought I was going crazy. You said you didn't touch me. But you did, didn't you?"
Fuck. I just stare at her, hoping she won't come to the right conclusion.
But Dove's smarter than I give her credit for.
"The butt plug," she mutters. "The handbag. That was you, wasn't it?"
I need to accept I've lost this one and admit it. It's better than her realizing I'm the one who killed Robin.
"Yes," I tell her, keeping my eyes trained on her.
"Fuck," she whispers. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."
My thoughts exactly, little bird.
"You had me thinking I was going crazy." Her eyes find mine again, angry, hurt. "I thought I was imagining stuff... seeing things! You had me thinking I was crazy, that I'd have to see a doctor, get pills, get treatment! How could you do that to me?"
I can't say anything, because the only thing I can think about is the other thing I did, the one I now pray she won't ever find out about.
I can tell she's spiraling now, getting angrier and angrier as she spews curse words at me, pacing the room as she yells her frustrations. I understand, I really fucking do. But this doesn't change anything. It just means my plan will be set into motion sooner than I thought. Luckily, I got everything ready when I left for a couple hours earlier. My little bird's cage is waiting. It was only a matter of time, anyway. I never could fight the darkness that well.
"You have to leave," she realizes out loud. "I want you out of my house. I want you out of my life. Stop following me. Stop fucking stalking me. Stay away from me."
"Sure," I say, moving closer to her. She doesn't step away to avoid colliding with me, and it's the biggest mistake she's made all night. "Just do me one favor first, and then I'll leave you alone."
"What the fuck could you possibly want after everything you've done to me?" she hisses.
I reach into the pocket of my jacket that’s hanging over a chair.
“What are you doing?”
I give her a reassuring smile as I reveal the chloroform-soaked rag. "Smell this."
I press it firmly against her mouth. She doesn't fight me for long. Her body is helpless to the odor, and I hold my breath until she goes limp in my arms, then toss the soaked fabric away. I gather her in my arms, holding her close. I inhale her scent, filling my nostrils with it.
She'll hate me for a while after I do this, but needs must. Soon enough, Dove will realize this was for the best. That I'm only doing all this so we can finally be together, the way we're supposed to.
The way it was fucking meant to be.
***
"Good morning, Dove," I say gently as she wakes up with a groan. "Slept well?"
"Where the fuck am I?" Her voice is croaky, heavy with sleep. "What the fuck did you do?"
"I did what I had to," I tell her with a smile. "You were fighting this. You won't do that for long. I'll train you to accept me. To love me. To want me."
She turns her red-rimmed eyes to mine, not saying a word. Instead, she raises her hands to the metal collar around her neck, the one that's connected to an O-ring on the wall with a heavy, long chain.
"What did you fucking do?" she whispers. "Where am I, Parker?"
"It's Nox," I remind her gently. I don't like this new little habit of hers where she defies me by calling me a name I've long since forsaken. "Or preferably, Sir. Remember when you called me Sir? Remember what a good slut you were for me? That was only last night, Dove."
She takes a look around, only then realizing what I've done. "What is this place? Why are there mirrors everywhere?"
"So you can see yourself," I smile. "Look at your own reflection all day long."
"N-No," she whispers, clawing at the collar around her neck. "No, I don't want that."
"Unfortunately for you, Dove, it's not up for discussion." I stand up, approaching her from the shadows. "You're going to stay here until we fix a few nasty little habits of yours. Like that self-harming thing. It was cute for a while, but you're done doing that. If you hurt yourself, I'm making your stay in here a week longer. Each time I find a cut, a scab, anything I think you've done to yourself, I'm extending your time in the cell."
"N-No." Her eyes are horrified. "Don't do this, you can't, please don't do this to me."
"Of course I can," I reply easily. "I can do anything I fucking want to you. Nobody knows where you are. And before you start screaming... no one will hear you. So, I'd save my voice if I were you. You don't want your throat sore. I'll take care of that myself."
"Don't do this." Her voice is desperate. I have a feeling the worst part about this are the mirrors, because she's still stubbornly refusing to look at her own reflection, even though I've covered every surface in here with it. "Don't do this, it's not too late, we can still go back. No one has to know..."
"Of course not," I smile. "Which is why you won't tell anyone. And by the time I'm done with you, Dove, you won't even want to leave."
She doesn't answer me. Instead she panics, looking around the room for an exit that doesn't exist. There's a door, and she lunges for it, but her chain will only allow her to go so far. I laugh at her meager efforts.
"It's not even locked," I tell her. "Maybe I'll leave it open sometime, just to taunt you more."
"You're a-a monster," she whispers. "You can't do this to me. I'll kill myself."
"No, you won't," I smirk. "Here's the thing about hurting yourself, Dove. You only want to do it until you have to start fighting for your life. But I don't expect you to understand that now. Soon enough, though, you'll learn your lesson."
"Stay away from me," she hisses when I come closer. "I'm going to hurt you!"
"Sure you will," I smirk. "Sit on the floor in front of the mirror like a good girl."
She crouches, glaring at me as I close the distance between us. "I'll never obey you again."
"So naive," I tell her. "You'll change your mind soon enough. Now sit."
"Or?" Her eyes are full of defiance, and it's kind of adorable. "You're going to hurt me?"
"Not you," I smile. "Maybe Elise. Maybe Raphael. Someone in your life, anyway."
"You can't be serious."
"I'm dead fucking serious, Dove. Now sit the fuck down."
Her eyes sparkle with anger, but in the end, she does as she's told. She's such a good little girl deep down. So deeply obedie
nt. I'll have fun bringing that side of her out to play.
"Good girl."
"Don't fucking call me that."
"Shut up, Dove." I kneel behind her. "Look at your reflection."
"No."
"You really want them to get hurt?" Gently, I move the hair off her collarbone so it falls in a silky waterfall down her back. "I'd be more than happy to oblige..."
She lets out a sound I can't quite define and finally, reluctantly, meets my eyes in the mirror.
"Good girl." I kiss the top of her head. "See how good it feels to obey?"
"Fuck you."
"One thing at a time, Dove," I smirk. "Now spread your fucking legs."
She doesn't fight me this time, but I can tell how much she wants to. Still, she spreads her legs wide, knees falling open to reveal her naked pussy. She's shocked by the sight of it, glaring at me.
"Show me your cunt," I order her. "Spread those pretty lips. Show me how beautiful that achy snatch is for me."
Hesitantly, she reaches between her legs, slowly opening herself up for me. She may say she hates me, but her pussy doesn't lie. And I see how glistening wet it is for me, eager for me to plunge myself inside her.
"So beautiful," I mutter. "So fucking tempting. You want me to play with it?"
She shakes her head no vehemently.
"You sure about that, Dove?"
She just glares, but I take it as an invitation. Reaching between her legs, I elicit a gasp from her lips the second my fingertips connect with her sweet little cunt. She attempts to close her eyes, but I warn her with a stern flick of my fingers against her clit. She yelps, her eyes fly open, and she's staring at us in the mirror again while I smirk at her.
"Doesn't it feel good? Doesn't it make you love yourself a little more, knowing how good your body can make you feel?"
"No," she hisses, fighting the moan I know is fighting to escape her lips.
"You can lie to me all you want," I smirk. "But the truth is written all over your face, Dove."
I start massaging her tender clit and she struggles against me to no avail. I know exactly what I'm doing – bringing her closer and closer to an orgasm she doesn't want. I can't fucking wait to hear her moan for me. It's going to make my cock so goddamn hard.
"Look me in the eyes," I whisper in her ear. "In the mirror."
She does. I know it's a welcome reprieve for her, the fact that she doesn't have to look at herself.
"Tell me you love me," I grunt.
"No," she hisses instantly. "No fucking way."
"No?" I repeat innocently. "You want another task? You have to do that one, or someone gets fucking hurt. Let's say I'm feeling merciful."
"Anything else," she grunts.
"Look at yourself then," I laugh. "Right into your own eyes. Tell the girl in the mirror you love her, Dove. I'm going to keep toying with your sweet little cunt until you do."
Chapter 25
Dove
I want to fucking kill him. But I'm helpless here. He rules me in this room and we both know it. So, I close my eyes and pray for it all to go away. Pray that this is just a bad dream and I'll wake up back in my room, with Robin close by, with Sam still around. But I know it won't happen. This is my reality now. I'm Nox's captive.
A gasp rips itself from me as he continues his assault on my pussy. He's gentle, painfully gentle, bringing me so close to an orgasm I have to fight my own instincts so I don't moan his name. But every time I get just close enough, a finger's brush away from an orgasm, he takes the pleasure away.
I know what he wants me to do but I won't give it to him. Yet with every stroke of his fingers, I get closer to conceding, to admitting he's won one battle, if not the war.
I open my eyes, staring at the girl in the mirror. Maybe if I pretend it isn't me, I can say the words he wants to hear. My bottom lip trembles as I struggle to get those traitorous words out. I tell myself I don't have to mean them. I just have to say them for his benefit, so he'll leave me the fuck alone.
"Go on, Dove," he mutters in my ear. "Be a good little slut for me... Show me how good you can be, and I'll reward you."
"I..." I bite my lower lip. How can it be this hard? They're just words... They don't have to mean anything. "I love..."
"Say it," he taunts me, fingers brushing against my clit and bringing me a step closer to madness. "I love myself. Go on, Dove. Just fucking say it. Be a good girl for me."
Everything in my body resists this, but I know he won't stop if I don't say it. And yet a part of me doesn't want it. A part of me is desperate for him to continue his assault on me. I want to blame him for everything bad that's happened to me these past few months... And at the same time, I never want him to fucking stop.
"I love... m-myself." I shift my gaze in the mirror, glaring at him as he pulls back with a smirk on his face. "Aren't you... aren't you going to..."
"What?" he laughs in my face. "Make you come? Dream on, Dove. You'll have to beg a lot harder for that."
I stare at him incredulously as he walks toward the door. "Wait."
"Oh?" He grins at me. "Ready to beg already?"
"Where's the bathroom? Where's the water? What am I going to eat?"
"Behind that mirror is a small bathroom." He motions carelessly to the right. "You can use the toilet and wash up in there. Water's there too along with a glass. Don't even think about hurting yourself or trying to hurt me, because I'll punish you so much, you'll never make the same mistake again."
I purse my lips, staring at him with annoyance. "People will look for me, you know."
"Oh, will they now. Maybe I'll just make you write a note to let them know you're okay."
"You're sick." My lip curls at him in disgust. "You're a monster."
"I've been called worse, Dove."
With those words, he leaves me alone in the room of mirrors. I close my eyes and lean back, wishing this wasn't real. Wishing he would have let me come. Wishing for him to never take me away from here... Because it means being with him. And my sick heart yearns for nothing more than to be his unwilling toy.
***
I'm going to die in this room, alone.
A shiver travels down my spine, chilling me to the bone. I don't know how long I've been alone in here for, but it feels like hours. I've tried to keep count of the minutes ticking by, but I have no real idea of time here, with these mirrors on every wall instead of windows. I found the bathroom which was small as Nox described. I washed up. I drank water. I wished I were brave enough to end my own life.
But Nox was right. There's nothing like one's life being put in danger to put things into perspective. And I'd never been more eager to survive.
He reappears what feels like hours later. The entire time, I’d lain on the mattress in the corner of the room, eyes firmly closed so I didn’t have to stare at my own reflection on the ceiling.
"Having fun?" Nox asks as he enters the room again.
"Fuck off." I refuse to open my eyes. I don't want to look at him, don't want to see him. All I care about is time passing, because it brings me one step closer to someone suspecting something's wrong. Someone coming to rescue me. I will never trust a man again after this, of that, I'm sure. I grit my teeth together refusing to look at Nox even as he kneels next to me, gently brushing his fingertips over my face.
"I have to lock you in the bathroom for a while," he tells me. "I'm not going to hurt you. But I have something special planned for you, to make you feel less alone in here. Come with me."
He pulls me to my feet and guides me to the bathroom. There's a hole drilled in the door through which he feeds the chain before reattaching it back to the wall on the other side. I wait listlessly in the room while he gets everything ready in the mirrored space. I hate him.
I eye the glass I drunk out of earlier. I could break it. But am I really capable of killing Nox?
My heart and mind both say no, and I know as desperate as I am to get the hell out of here, I won't be able to hurt
him. Not like that, not permanently. A big part of me still has feelings for him. Wants him to love me, like I once loved him. But I'm not letting that part win. Not now that he's kidnapped me.
I weigh the glass in my hand, contemplating slitting my own wrists. But for once, I don't feel the pull of that temptation. I've spent a lifetime hurting myself, but this is the first time I don't long for the cuts on my skin. I want to get the fuck out of here so I can have my revenge on Nox. I want to punish him not just for everything he's done to me, but for everything he's threatened to do to the people I love, too.
"Almost ready," he calls out from the other side of the door. "I think you'll like this, Dove. I thought of it especially for you. Just give me a couple more minutes."
My teeth grit together in anger. I don't answer. I have nothing else to say to him, the monster from my nightmares. He finishes up in the mirror room and again unclips my chain. Finally, I decide to go through with it. Right before he enters, I smash the glass against the sink, holding a shard in my shaky hand as he enters the bathroom.
"What are you doing with that, Dove?" he asks with a grin when he sees me. "You really think it'll take some glass to bring me down? I survived Hawaii, I can sure as fuck survive you, too."
"Get away from me," I hiss, waving the shard at him as he attempts to come closer. He raises his arms, chuckling, the chain still in one of his hands. "I'm going to hurt you if you ever touch me again, you sick bastard."
"Don't threaten me, Dove," he mutters. "I don't fucking like it. Don't you want to see the surprise I'm giving you? Don't you want to see how much I care about you?"
"No," I get out through gritted teeth. "I don't want anything to do with you. Just leave me the fuck alone."
"I can't," he admits. "Now put that glass down before you hurt yourself, and come with me."
"No." My hand tightens around the shard, the glass digging sharply into my palm. I know I'm bleeding, but I almost don't notice it. I'm too focused on hurting Nox. I need to get rid of him. Maybe not kill him, but hurt him badly enough so he won't touch me ever again. "Don't come any closer or I'll fucking kill you."
"While I'd love to see you try, I've had enough of these childish games," he grunts at me. "Now, put the glass down. You've already cut yourself, silly girl."
Tyrant Stalker: A Dark Forbidden Romance (Tyrant Dynasty Book 2) Page 16
