Shattered Obsession: Book 3 of the Obsession Trilogy

by Sinclaire, Roxy

  He gave her a nod and turned away from her so she could reach the wound. He had already pulled off his shirt, so she started to carefully undo the bandages.

  It wasn’t until she’d peeled a few layers of the bandage that she saw some spots of blood, so that was promising. She pulled the bandage all the way off and took a look at the wound.

  “Well, it looks like it’s stopped bleeding, at least.”

  “Really?” Adrien said. “Then why does it hurt?”

  Probably because there’s still a bullet in it? she thought to herself.

  Though, there could be more than that. The wound might no longer be bleeding, but it was seeping, and didn’t seem to be healing much at all. It had been more than a week, probably closer to two, and she didn’t think that was enough time for the wound to be closed completely, but it didn’t look like it had even started.

  “It should be fine if you took some painkillers,” she said. Although, antibiotics might be better. Good thing we don’t have any, at least I don't think so. “Wounds tend to hurt while they’re still healing up, you’ll be feeling the pain for a while. There are stronger painkillers in your med kit than the Ibuprofen we have around the house, right?”

  He sighed. “I don’t think so. I haven’t really seen any in there, but drinking does help.”

  Camila arched an eyebrow. Was that the reason he was almost always drinking now? But there could only be so much alcohol around the house, right? They were going to run out eventually.

  Well, not that she cared. If she wasn’t wrong, the wound was going to be a problem for a while. By the time they ran out of alcohol, he should be weak enough that she could take him on easily. It would take a while, though.

  Why haven’t I been found yet?

  Just how well had Adrien covered his tracks? It couldn’t be that great, considering he had both an injured shoulder and a passed out woman with him. She didn’t think he’d received help from anyone from the time he got to the mansion and kidnapped her or it wouldn’t have just been the two of them.

  “I’ll clean around the wound now,” she said. “I’ll do my best to be careful and you can find something for the pain afterwards.”

  “Does it really look okay?” he asked, suspicious.

  Camila froze for a second. “I mean, it’s not like I’m a doctor or anything, you know, so I can't tell if it’s okay or not, but it’s usually good once blood stops flowing out, right? That’s about as much as I know.”

  Adrien looked at her out the corner of his eye for a long moment, but didn’t argue.

  Lucky me it’s somewhere he can't easily check up on, she thought, relieved.

  She folded the bandages properly then tossed them to the floor. She would have to burn them, probably, just in case. She didn’t want to actually fall sick herself. She picked up the medical wipes from the bag and started wiping around the wound like before, making sure not to touch it.

  If I add spit to the bandages again, would the wound get worse faster? It’s not possible for it to just heal itself, right…

  “Are there any more canned goods down in the basement that could be brought up?” she asked, to keep him distracted. “We’ve been here for a while and we’re in the middle of nowhere. I know our meat supply is getting low in the freezer. Once our food is gone, what are we going to do?”

  She deliberately said ‘we’ so he wouldn’t suspect her, or be upset. She was also hoping for an answer that would be beneficial to her. If he left her here to go look for food, that would be best for her. At the same time, though, he might try to incapacitate her before leaving so she wouldn’t run away while he was gone. If he decided to take her along, she might find chances to get someone’s attention to her plight, but what if she just got someone else stuck in her problems?

  If she had an idea, she would at least be able to make plans ahead of time.

  “We’re fine for now,” Adrien said dismissively. “There’s plenty of canned stuff, and besides, we’re on a farm, right? If it comes to it, we can just eat from the farm. There’s animals out there, cows or whatever. If we really have to go out for food…then I’ll come up with something.”

  “Hmm,” she hummed.

  Camila was a little disappointed. This reduced her chances of helping herself. She was growing tired of waiting for some miracle to happen by this point.

  She picked up the bandages and unrolled them, then found some scissors and cut at a good length.

  “Aside from food, what are your plans? You must have had a few when you brought us here, right? For example, exactly what it is that you want from me, Adrien? The specifics. Don’t just say to be husband and wife, we already tried dating and it didn’t work out.”

  “That’s only because my brother interfered,” he said with a snort. “As long as we’re away from Samuel everything will be just fine. That brother of mine… has always ruined everything for me since the day we were born, just because he was some minutes older than me.”

  Camila arched an eyebrow at him. She wondered if this was how he had always thought about Samuel. It was wrong, though, at least the part about Samuel interfering between them. That only happened after Adrien went out of control. He ruined what they’d had all on his own, especially after she made the mistake of picking him over Samuel.

  He really was delusional. She would bet he had been delusional for most of his life.

  “You can’t think he won’t do anything, though,” she said. “Especially after what you did to Brianna and taking me while he watched.”

  Adrien chuckled, a wide, happy grin on his face. “Oh, he’ll probably try, but there’s nothing he can do. Big brother always thought he was so smart, but I’ve always been smarter. I haven’t been idle in the time since he returned from the army. I’ve done a lot of things to prepare for this. There’s no way he can beat me.”

  While he was busy talking, Camila put a lot of spit on her finger and wiped it on the bandage. She’d slept on the floor, too, and she hadn’t brushed her teeth, so if she’d picked up any more germs, she didn’t mind gifting them to him. If only she had something else she could use to properly contaminate his wound, this would go even faster. She’d just have to put up with this much.

  Placing the contaminated area of the bandage over the wound, she started wrapping it once more.

  “You know Samuel probably went to the police, right?” she said. “Out-smarting Samuel is one thing, but you can't do that for the whole police force, right? Considering Samuel is involved, they would be coming at you with everything they’ve got. I wouldn’t be surprised if the FBI got involved.”

  “Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” he said dismissively. “There’s one thing I’ve got going for me. Samuel would never show my face on the news and tell people to be on the look-out for me, or that I’d done something illegal and the police were after me. Because we have the same face. It will not only ruin the business, it will ruin the family, including his and Brianna’s futures.” He chuckled again. “If they still have any. Brianna, anyway.”

  Camila felt her heart clench and her hands freeze as he brought up something she’d told herself not to think about. She didn’t know what happened to Brianna. There was no way for her to even know if she survived the fall from the stairs. It wasn’t that long a trip before she was caught, but what if she’d snapped her neck first?

  She didn’t have the luxury to worry about others, so she tried not to think about it, but how could Adrien talk so callously about his own sister? Especially when he might have killed her? She really wanted to pick something up and stab him in his bullet wound. If she thought she would get away with it, she would have done it.

  Brianna is fine, she thought, trying to convince herself. She has Samuel and Mom to look after her, no way anything would happen to her. Just focus on Adrien for now.

  “What if he gets really desperate?” she said. She had paused with his previous words, and she continued wrapping him up.

  “No way. No
matter how desperate, he’ll chose that brat and the family name over coming after you. You only mean so much to him, you know? He doesn’t care about you like I do. You’re my wife.”

  Her hands spasmed as she was hit with the urge to hurt him once more and she clenched her fingers together to stop herself.

  “Besides, it’s been a while and I haven’t heard a thing on the tv about us. No one has come for us, either. That should tell you everything, right?”

  “What if they found some leads to where we are?” she asked. Her hands were trembling a little, but she doubted he could tell, anyway.

  “Don’t worry about it. There is absolutely no way for them to know we came all the way out here, and it’s the best place to hide out because I will be able to tell when they’re coming close. As soon as the police get too near, we’ll just pick up and take over someone else’s house.”

  He didn’t give any specifics, so she didn’t know whether to believe him or not. They were out in the middle of nowhere, so how would he know when the police were coming close? Did he have people working for him who were keeping an eye on things? That thought scared her even more.

  Camila finished wrapping his wound, feeling quietly horrified as he laughed about his perfect plan.

  Chapter Five

  When Camila woke up, she was alone in the room and the door was closed. At first, she was confused. Until she remembered.

  He still thinks I’m sick.

  She was keeping up the lie really well, and Adrien clearly didn’t want to get near her while she was still sick any more than he had to. He had looked around the place but had only come by some more of the Ibuprofen, but nothing that would be of help against the flu. Because he didn’t want to catch it from her, he was allowing her to sleep alone.

  So instead of dragging her out of the main bedroom, he’d taken over another room. Only, he took a moment to nail down the window so she couldn’t think to escape that way, and locked the door behind her once she was back in there. With the door closed, she didn’t get much heat from the fireplace in the living room, so she was really cold, even with the blanket.

  If I’d known he would nail down the window, I would have at least aired out the room first.

  Her breath wheezed a little, which meant she’d probably inhaled a heck load of dust in her sleep under the bed the night before or she really was getting sick. She needed to get out to drink some water. She slipped out of the bed and walked over to the door, but just as she’d thought, it didn’t even budge.

  She thought about knocking for a second, but decided to wait. In the meantime, she looked around the room. Just maybe, there might be something around that would be useful.

  It wasn’t that big of a room. There wasn’t much in the room, either. The bed, a nightstand, a dresser and closet, and the bathroom. Camila went through everything in the room, but there really wasn’t anything to find, not even clothes that would fit her. She didn’t think it was Adrien that cleared the place, either. It was probably just that Tansy hadn’t thought she’d need a weapon of any sort.

  “Now what,” she whispered, standing in the middle of the room and looking around.

  There was nothing else for her to do. She didn’t even bother going to the window. It was too small for her to get through and impossible anyway since Adrien had nailed it shut. She would bet some of the other rooms had better windows.

  When she heard the sound of footsteps outside, she froze, before hurrying over to the bed. She got back on it and lay on her side, pretending to still be asleep. She tried not to tense up when she heard the click of the lock at her door. When the door opened, she felt her body shiver, and she covered it with a cough as she curled into herself.

  Adrien didn’t try to walk further into the room. Instead, he knocked on the door.

  “Camila,” he said. “You need to get up and eat. I’m leaving your food at the door. Let me know if you’re okay to come out today or not.”

  She pretended to stir up and rolled over, squinting her eyes his way. Seeing she was responding, he left an opened can of beans on the dresser where he could reach, and turned to leave. He closed the door behind him. He didn’t lock it, but it wasn’t as if she could freely move around while he was awake.

  Still, this is good enough. I can last this way.

  She went to pick up the can that already had a spoon in it, and moved back to the bed to eat. She was a little miffed that he hadn’t even bothered to warm it and put it in a bowl, but at least he was feeding her, somewhat.

  There wasn’t much to do in the bedroom. There was no TV, and not even a radio. It made her wonder at times how the previous owner had lived there with barely any entertainment. Even the TV only had three channels that didn’t come in all that great. She came from the busy city, so all this silence was too odd for her.

  She didn’t want to spend all her time in her room, so eventually, she made her way outside into the rest of the house. Adrien was around, but he didn’t bother her.

  The next few days passed just like that.

  Pretending physical illness and some well-placed lies and acting kept her safe. In addition to her slow sabotage of Adrien’s healing, he hadn't tried to approach her sexually after that one time. He didn’t like that she couldn’t be at his beck and call like before, but at least, he couldn’t be too effective in being abusive, either.

  When she thought about it, she figured she could survive just like this until someone came to find her.

  The situation was still bad, she wasn’t suddenly falling into Stockholm Syndrome. But at least this way, she wasn’t spending every waking—and sleeping—moment in fear. She didn’t think she could last long this way, but she was sure she wouldn’t have to.

  It was only a matter of time.

  Adrien was doing a good job of holding out. He’d only made her help him change his bandages another couple times, and his wound looked worse with each one. It was growing a little disgusting and seeping even more every time she had to remove the bandages.

  Camila was still hoping that he would get blood poisoning and she could be free of him sooner, because it didn’t seem the police, or anyone, had come close to finding her yet, and she was getting impatient to be found.

  As the days passed, Camila silently watched Adrien’s decline. She noticed he spent more and more time sleeping. He was coming to unlock the door for her early in the morning, and locking her up early in the evening. He did his best to stay alert when she was around, but there were times when she would catch him staring off into space with a miserable look on his face. He didn’t even bother turning on the TV most days.

  She didn’t even once feel sorry for him. Not with what he was doing to her. And besides, she’d brought up going to the hospital, he was the one to refuse to go. Getting an infected bullet wound probably hurt like hell, and he was suffering, but there was a little part of her that was happy she wasn’t the only one suffering in this.

  Another couple days passed. Adrien now looked visibly unwell, though he was still trying to act tough. She didn’t bother trying to blow his cover, acting as if everything was fine. With one small change. Now that he was looking sicker and weaker, she acted a little less sick herself. In the condition he was in, she didn’t think he would try to pull anything on her regardless.

  “Camila.”

  She jumped a little when he called her name. They were in the living room, with Adrien sitting and not doing anything, while she moved around the place wiping away dust to keep busy. Just because things were getting calmer didn’t mean she was no longer cautious.

  “Yes?” she said, hesitantly.

  “I need you to look at my wound again. Can you do that?”

  His voice sounded subdued. It should be safe to be close to him now, right? She hadn't had to get so close in a while now.

  “I can,” she said quietly. “Will you get the supplies?”

  “Just get them,” he said gruffly. “I left them in the kitchen pantry last time so y
ou can find them yourself. Hurry it up. And give me some water for the painkillers, too.”

  She didn’t dare delay. He was physically weaker, but she was pretty sure he was still stronger than her. Not to mention, he walked around with the remote for the collar more of the time now, so he didn’t need to get ahold of her to hurt her.

  Camila went into the kitchen and looked around for the bag with the supplies, then got a glass of water. She hurried back into the living room before Adrien electrocuted her out of his own impatience. She set everything on the table, then gave Adrien his water and medicine, and went through the bag to pull out the supplies.

  After doing this several times since the first time, she was getting more comfortable with doing it. She wasn’t sure if she did it well, but as long as Adrien was happy with it, she didn’t care. He had some trouble pulling off his shirt, and she didn’t miss the wince when he had to move his injured shoulder. The painkillers must not have kicked in yet.

  “Let me know how it looks,” he said in a low mutter.

  “Of course,” she murmured back.

  “Is your flu gone?”

  She paused with her hands part way to his shoulder. After a quick second to think, she started unwrapping.

  “I’ve been feeling better,” she admitted. “I haven’t felt the urge to vomit in a while, so I think I’m getting there.”

  “That’s good,” he said.

  He didn’t speak anymore, and she watched him surreptitiously out the corner of her eye. She noticed the sheen of sweat on his face, the furrows in his brow. How he tensed his jaw as she undid the bandages around his wound. When she listened properly, she was pretty sure his breathing was a wheezing in and out of him a bit, sounding heavier than her own. She kept watching, until she noticed his face relax into relief, and his eyes closed.

  “The wound looks fine,” she said, lying through her teeth. “Not closing yet, but not gaping or anything. No blood.”

  She quickly wiped away the spill coming out of the wound. Adrien didn’t even make an indication that he’d heard her. Quickly, she finished wrapping him up, then put the supplies away. He probably wouldn’t need anything else from her, so she went back to cleaning around the place.