Stalkers: A Dark Romance Anthology

by Ally Vance

  I had planned this place so that each guest felt as if they had their own private room. So there was something exclusive about it, which was reflected in the price.

  I knew that if Kate showed up at the restaurant again, despite the cost, she would be mine.

  The next Friday, the waitress pointed out that someone had occupied a table directly in the back of mine. This was something I wanted to be informed about. When my employee described what this person looked like, I waved it off and took my usual seat.

  Kate was quiet as a mouse, yet I could perceive her as we ate dinner together. I heard her breathing, her minimal movements as she ate and drank. She was within reach. But I still had to practice patience.

  Never before had I enjoyed luring a person into my trap. I could hardly wait to take the next step.

  First, I had to plunge her into darkness and feed her sadness so that she would think I was the light.

  Kate loved structure and tradition, and I made sure that Friday nights with her back to me became just that: a ritual. She managed to save face during meetings at the office and ignore me almost as much as I did her. Because she had something to look forward to.

  I listened to her as she became more confident and spoke louder to the waitress, as she became less careful not to be noticed by me. When she finally asked for the bill in front of me for the first time, I knew it was time.

  For weeks I had nurtured her, sunned her, and given her wings. Now it was time to show her what her life would be like without me.

  I watched her through the security cameras in my apartment. From the many times I had watched her, I could read her usually closed face very well. I could feel her suffering, the desperation growing inside her.

  Suddenly, I was overcome with doubt—something very unusual for me. Should I have just taken the usual route? Should I have asked Kate out on a date? Rory James probably would have told her not to. He would have been skeptical. Maybe she would have gone out with me anyway. When I thought about how easily she had turned into a stalker, she probably still would have gone on a date with me.

  Would Kate have agreed to become a double agent, too? Would she have turned her back on her hard-won life just like that?

  “I can see you, little hummingbird,” I whispered in her ear as she sank down into my arms.

  Why I called her that, I didn’t know. Maybe it was because she felt very delicate, light, and fragile in my arms as I carried her to my car, waiting for me just outside the alley.

  Chapter Three

  Kate

  When I awoke, I was surrounded by a strange darkness. Golden rays cut across the gloom past me and bounced on the dark floor in front of me. Instinctively, I winced as I remembered my last waking moment. Only then did I realize the strange position I was in: I was suspended in midair! I was hanging so strangely that I couldn’t even look down at myself to determine how I was bound. I couldn’t feel my clothes either, which gave me a chilling thought. I wasn’t cold, so I had no idea if I was naked or not. But once that thought settled into my head, I couldn’t get rid of it. The second shock came when I realized that my mouth was gagged with a cloth. It was also in my mouth. On top of that, I couldn’t move my limbs at all. Every time I tried, my entire body began to shake. My arms and legs were crossed in strange poses. I could not muster the slightest strength to fight against my restraints.

  With that thought, despair took over my mind, and I literally swung myself up—not just figuratively, but literally. Even as nausea made me hold still because I would be sick in my throat, my body still swayed back and forth. A new fear gripped me as I realized that I would bounce face-first should the anchor my body was suspended from come loose due to my wiggling. I quickly closed my eyes to steady myself. Through the breeze I caused, I realized that I did indeed appear to be naked—at least partially.

  My renewed panic was replaced by the shock of hearing something rustle. Was it a garbage bag? At least that’s what it sounded like. Again I wrenched my eyes open and found to my horror that it was the dark floor from which the sound came, for it was topped with black plastic.

  Two highly polished black leather shoes entered my field of vision, and a hand dug into my hair to pull my head up. I could hear a pulley reacting to this movement, and my weight shifted.

  “Are you finished?” the man, who had hidden his entire face behind a simple black mask, addressed me.

  Goosebumps ran over my body: the man spoke Japanese!

  Was this one of Tanaka’s men, or one of his competitors? Didn’t the Yakuza work together against criminal organizations of the other ethnicities?

  “Kate,” the man said icily, and instantly I shivered.

  That voice! I knew that voice!

  Hiro

  When I called Kate by her name, her eyes widened. I knew immediately that she had recognized my voice. I had expected nothing less. After all, Kate had been sitting right behind me at dinner for months, Friday after Friday. It would have been strange if she hadn’t recognized me. That being said, it was a test.

  “Do you know who I am?” I asked her, and that beautiful face turned abruptly red.

  Typically, she was quite capable of hiding her feelings, but not here and not now. Anything else would have surprised me. I just wanted to know if she would lie.

  Kate’s reaction decided her fate. Whether she was aware of it, I couldn’t tell by looking at her.

  I let go of the back of her head so she could answer my question. As she slowly nodded, her eyes filled with tears. Tears that I wanted to lick up as soon as they fell.

  “Good,” I praised and took off the mask.

  Just at that moment, a lone tear ran down her cheek, but it didn’t drop to the floor. That sight did something to me—to my body, to be exact—that I couldn’t control. It had been so damn long since this had last happened. I hated it. I loved it.

  But I enjoyed the fact even more that Kate didn’t allow herself to sob, even though her chin was quivering. Her gaze avoided mine. Rather still, she looked to the floor as if she already knew that I was now her lord and master.

  I concentrated on her face.

  It had already been a challenge to undress her, tie her up in the art of shibari, and finally hang her without losing my composure. I knew if I allowed myself to look at her body now, my fingers would want to touch the scars she had carried from the car accident. First and foremost, the scar on her neck and on the right side of her body. They were all cuts that came from glass. Still, I had doubts about some of them if they were really from that accident.

  “Are you hurting yourself, Kate?” I wanted to know from her.

  Kate winced, causing her free-hanging body to sway again. This time I placed my hand more gently on the back of her head to stop the swaying.

  Every time she moved and bounced because of her emotions, I would be the one to stop the nausea-inducing dangling. It was a well planned conditioning. It was how she would learn that I was her calming influence, the order in her chaos.

  She looked at me with wide eyes, and neither shook her head nor nodded.

  “Promise me you won’t scream when I remove the gag,” I warned her.

  Kate

  This voice, this wonderful voice that had always echoed in my ears when I dreamed.

  In my dreams, Hiroshi’s voice whispered the sweetest promises in my ear and the most insinuating commands.

  How could I ever resist that voice when all I wanted was for him to speak to me? He could read me the phone book, and his voice would still do the same things to me.

  The sheer thought made me blush and feel all the more keenly what else he had put that rope over.

  I nodded cautiously as he extracted a promise from me that I was all too happy to make. Without hesitation, he unfastened the gag and pulled the piece of cloth from my mouth. Strangely, my jaw didn’t feel stretched.

  “Well?” he asked me again in Japanese.

  “Before, yes,” I answered honestly because I had a fee
ling he would know if I cheated. “Not anymore,” I added as if it would make a difference.

  I looked at Hiroshi, unable to tear my gaze from him, even though I was afraid of the way he was looking at me. Or was it something else?

  I felt as if my imagination was mixing with reality. How many times had I dreamed that he would show up at my apartment in the middle of the night to seduce me?

  Even now, being kidnapped, tied up, helpless, at his mercy, I wanted him. The fact that I was naked and he could take me with an ease as if I were throwing myself at him seemed to leave him completely cold. It unsettled me.

  “Why did you do that?” he asked me.

  He didn’t sound like he was blaming me but sincerely wanted to know what had driven me to inflict injury on myself.

  “To feel something,” I answered, without hesitation. “And to feel less. If that makes sense.”

  “That’s why you don’t drink,” Hiroshi said, and it sounded more like a statement than a question.

  Had he been watching me?

  Had he been aware of me following him?

  “I just don’t like being drunk,” I replied flippantly. “That’s why I don’t drink.”

  Even before I finished the sentence, I was already afraid of being punished for my tone. The look Hiroshi gave me, with a raised eyebrow, was only a confirmation to me. For some reason, this one was even more terrifying.

  Would he just take me if I didn’t behave? Would he use me? The thought alone broke my mind.

  But I kept silent, doing my best to hide the filthy fantasies of my imagination.

  Hiro

  Even though I could tell she was terrified of her own reaction, it reassured me a little because it said so much about her. Kate Smith wasn’t living because it was what you did. Despite everything, she hadn’t given up on herself.

  I turned away from her not because I wanted to punish her, but because now was not the time to allow her to see me smile.

  So I left the room and locked the door behind me.

  Actually, I had intended to start the questioning, but those many small scars had distracted me. I hadn’t even had them for a day, and already they were messing with my head.

  I had left Kate alone in her room without putting the gag back on her. If she was loud enough, that would possibly draw attention to us. We were at my house, but it wasn’t out in the sticks by itself.

  As I prepared this room to bring her here, I already knew it would be a mistake. But I didn’t want to waste time traveling back and forth between my home and her prison, as I usually did. No, I wanted her close to me. Watching her through the screens wasn’t the same when I knew she was just a few doors away.

  Hell, I was already obsessing over her a lot now. I would love to turn around right now, storm into that room and sink my cock deep into her.

  I had never had these thoughts before.

  Until now, I had been amused by these guys who fell for a woman’s skin and hair. Now, I was in the position myself. At the same time, all I had been doing was watching her, getting to know her at a distance. That brief exchange of words between us already had me softening for her. That was unacceptable.

  I would be her master and not the other way around.

  Chapter Four

  Kate

  Hiroshi made me wait, and although I was sure that hours had passed, the lighting did not change. It did not get brighter or darker. It had to be a lamp. I wonder what time it was now?

  Was it nighttime? Or already tomorrow?

  How long would he keep me here?

  What was he going to do with me?

  When Hiroshi finally returned, he had a bottle of water in his hand. Again he did something with the ropes, and my weight shifted. At first, I was relieved, until I realized I was in some kind of sitting position, but with my legs spread so that my most intimate part was exposed.

  However, he didn’t seem to mind.

  “Who do you work for?” asked Hiroshi, confusing me.

  I immediately told him the name of the firm, but he repeated the question.

  “For Rory James,” I replied, and he approached me to gently place the bottle to my lips.

  Instinctively, I opened my mouth, and he poured a sip of water into it. Only at that moment did I realize how thirsty I was.

  Was this how it was going to be now? Would he reward me for every correct answer?

  I wanted to ask Hiroshi what this meant. All he had to do was tell me what he wanted from me. I would give him whatever he asked for.

  “I...” It tumbled out of my mouth even before I could stop myself.

  Hard and unexpectedly, his hand landed on my pussy. The pain coursed through my body and yet was arousing at the same time. My clit pulsed on top of the pain, an incredibly pleasurable rush following its wake.

  Immediately heat rose to my face as I realized I wanted more.

  Quickly, I bit down on my lips.

  Hiro

  Spanking her pussy had not been part of the plan, at least not yet.

  Initially, I had wanted to introduce her to this feeling, slowly. But I had not known that she had hurt herself earlier.

  I needed to know how she reacted to it, and, more importantly, something more likely to cause her harm.

  Kate’s reaction was the one I had hoped for. Blushes rose to her face, and the sight of her biting her lower lip made me want to give her another slap.

  “I thought you already understood that you are not allowed to speak unless I ask you to,” I said in a clipped voice, but she didn’t seem to notice.

  Kate nodded quickly and exhaled through her mouth in a controlled manner.

  How much more had that spank done than she was showing me?

  My imagination began to run wild. All the things I wanted to do to Kate while I masturbated returned to my mind. I had hoped that pain would give her pleasure.

  But first, I had to get her to make a more significant mistake.

  Kate already had to know that my family belonged to the Yakuza, and with it, so did I. Now I had to make her not care.

  Was it perhaps already?

  The brief glance I took at her pussy seemed to confirm that. Kate was wet. From a slap.

  “If you tell me what I want to hear, you will be rewarded,” I told her what she had already learned. “But if you lie to me, I will punish you. If you lie to me too often, I will kill you, do you understand, Kate?” I asked her, and she nodded quickly.

  God, Kate seemed so innocent, beautiful, helpless, and fragile, just like a little hummingbird with a broken wing.

  “If you are obedient, I will allow you to ask me for something,” I added, something I had intended to tell her at a later time.

  Her eyes widened again. This time there was hope but also ambition in her gaze.

  Was she perhaps really the one who could satisfy my particular appetite?

  Kate

  From what Hiroshi told me, I could assume that this wasn’t just a terrifying interrogation. It was about more than that. That fact was somehow arousing because it sprouted a very definite hope in me. The one that my most intimate wish could perhaps come true after all. I had always wanted to belong to a man with every fiber of my being. A man who put my well-being and protection in the first place, to whom I could submit myself completely without being afraid.

  I wished so much that Hiroshi Tanaka could be that man. Never before had I dared to go in that direction. In the online forums, women had warned me that too many men confused dominance with having the authority to do violence to a woman at will.

  Although I had been trying to find out everything I could about the firstborn son of Yoshihiro Tanaka for the past few months, many things led me into the areas of the internet that were too dangerous.

  Was this the reason I was here?

  Did the Tanakas suspect that I was a spy?

  Questioningly, I looked at Hiroshi, whose face was above mine. Silently, I begged him to say more, to give me a chance to explain my
self.

  His right eyebrow rose warningly as I opened my mouth.

  “It’s too early to ask for a wish, little hummingbird,” he spoke.

  Was it just me, or did he sound hoarse?

  I quickly pressed my lips together.

  “First, tell me why you really work for Rory James,” he demanded.

  Suddenly, I felt his thumb on my lower lip. He pulled it down. I hardly dared to breathe. Hiroshi’s gaze turned sinister and gave me goosebumps. I hadn’t said anything; why had I suddenly upset him?

  Hiro

  What was my damn thumb doing on her lip? Pissed at myself, I pulled my hand away, almost forgetting that I had asked Kate a question.

  My research had turned up no evidence that she was working for anyone other than Rory James. However, this was not the first time that the FBI or the police had tried to plant a mole. This was also why my father was so quick to sentence someone to death just for mere suspicion. Currently, the situation was dicey enough that I couldn’t afford to spend all day with Kate.

  Now I realized that this was a good thing to do if I wanted to starve her for my attention.

  “I work for Mr. James because I speak Japanese,” I heard Kate reply. “He never told me, but it was obvious. He wanted me to tell him everything that wasn’t translated.”

  “Is that all?” I asked coolly, but I only succeeded because I didn’t look at her.

  “Yes!” she replied with lightning speed.

  My body was screaming at me that I didn’t have to follow through with my plan down to the last detail and step.