“They sold me to another man,” I whisper, sniffing. “As a bride.”
His eyes widen, and he sinks back into the bed; his body slumps like his spirit has left his body, and all that remains is meat and bones.
The box in his hands slowly slips from his fingers.
“You’re getting married,” he mumbles.
I nod. “I hate him. But they left me no choice in the matter. I had to flee their home to get out.”
“Flee? I thought you had your own home. Where’ve you been all this time then?”
“I’ve been staying at the coffee shop. I couldn’t go to my own home. They know exactly where I live. They’d be waiting for me there.”
He frowns and makes a face. “You should’ve told me. You could’ve crashed here.”
“Tell the man I love that I’m out of a house, and that a sick old man has paid money to make me his wife like a slave? I can’t,” I say in my best English. More tears well up in my eyes. “Don’t you understand how humiliating this is? I didn’t tell you because I couldn’t face the thought … and seeing you like this …” I grab his arm, trying to reconcile, but he pulls it away. “It hurts.”
“Don’t,” he says, sliding off the bed. “Who is it?”
“Gregory Warren,” I reply.
He’s quiet for a moment.
“I love you,” I say. “I really do.”
“Don’t say that!” he yells. “If you do, run away with me.”
“I can’t … He said he’d ruin the coffee shop if I did. I like my boss and my co-workers. There’s no telling what he’d do to them. And my parents will kill me if they find out.”
His face is that of pure misery, and it tears my heart into tiny, shriveled up pieces.
“Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”
“I just couldn’t … break your heart,” I mutter.
“It’s only more broken. I thought I was the one to marry you.”
“I’m sorry,” I say. It’s hopeless. I screwed up—big time.
He walks to the window and stares outside. It’s quiet for some time before he speaks again. “You … care about them all more than you care about yourself,” he mutters.
I look down at the sheets, numb from the realization that I can’t escape the pain, no matter how much I try.
“You have to marry him,” he repeats, still not looking at me.
I’m surprised he’d let me.
Surprised he realizes why I must.
“I have no choice,” I say, getting out of the bed too. “And I know it’s only a matter of time until he finds me and takes me.”
I pick up my clothes and put them on, but he’s not saying anything, so I grab the rest of my stuff and say, “I’ll leave.”
“Promise me you’ll do everything you can to fight him,” he says. “And if you want me to, I’ll help.”
I nod when he finally looks my way.
“I will always love you,” he adds. “Even if you don’t want me to.”
“I know.” I lick my lips, trying to stop the tears from running again. “I love you too.”
But before either of us can say another word, I run.
I run from the pain.
I run from the only man who ever loved me enough to let me go.
26.
Accompanying Song: “Technically, Missing” by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
Hyun
4 months before
The first time I saw him again since we separated was at my wedding.
I never expected him to show up.
I didn’t think he’d have the guts.
But there he is, right in front of me as I stare in disbelief.
“Nice dress,” he says, smoking a cigarette.
“Thanks,” I say, tears welling up in my eyes. “How’ve you been?”
He shrugs. “Great, considering the circumstances.”
I nod a few times, not knowing how to react.
He sits down beside me on the bench and says, “Mind if I smoke?”
“Go ahead,” I say, chuckling.
“What’s so funny?”
“You’re so different.”
He frowns. “What does that mean?”
“I mean … different … from Greg.” I look at him and see the change in his eyes. They’re much more fiery than I remember. “He never asks me anything.”
“Of course,” Drake scoffs.
“You also never used to smoke,” I add.
He squints. “Yeah? Bad habit.” He takes another drag and blows out a big breath.
“Why did you come here?” I ask.
“To see you.”
The blatant honesty in his words still has me breathless to this very day.
“Have you changed?” he suddenly asks.
“What do you mean?”
He cocks his head and puts his cigarette in his mouth as he speaks. “Are you still going through with it?”
I purse my lips and hold up my hand, showing him my ring finger.
“Right …” He looks away.
“I still hate him with all my guts,” I say.
“Yeah, well, if you ever get enough of him, you know where to find me.” He gets up.
“Do I?” I ask before he starts walking.
He looks at me over his shoulder and says, “If you leave him, I will find you.”
“And what then?” I raise a brow.
“Then … it’s time we played a game with them.”
I smirk. “What kind of game?”
He smirks right back. “If he hurts you, we’ll hurt him twice as bad … and your parents too.”
The smile on my face only widens. “I like the sound of that.”
“Good. I’ll know when you’re ready to play.” He turns and starts walking.
“How will I know?”
“Notes, Hyun. You know what my passion is,” he answers with a grin. “Never forget… I’ll always be watching you.”
And that’s the last I hear from the man in the hoodie.
My man.
My only man.
Drake Bryant.
***
Now
The stories we tell aren’t always as clear-cut as they seem.
From the first time I saw him following me, I knew it was him.
As he sat on the bench across from my house.
As he appeared in front of me in the parking lot.
As he stalked me in my very own home.
I always knew it was him.
I just didn’t know if, after all this time, he was still the same man.
If I could trust him. If he still loved me or if he hated me for what I’d done.
If he secretly worked with my husband to spite me.
Those were my fears … the only ones … and they were unfounded.
And as he began to send me notes, I was intrigued. I didn’t know where it was going, but I knew it was something important. Something I had to keep close in case they became useful. And they did.
When my husband kept harassing me, all I could do was hope that Drake would protect me when the time came. Of course, I wanted Greg dead. However, I knew I would never be able to prove myself innocent if I killed him outright. So I didn’t.
Instead, Drake’s notes made it clear to me that we were on a different path.
One where we would forge our own story.
A story where a husband stalks his wife.
Repeatedly threatens her.
Leaves cigarettes in her bin.
Sends her indecent notes.
Wiretaps her to keep her in check.
Takes pictures of her and keeps them in his home.
Murders her parents when they tell her the truth about her marriage to him.
The neighbors went along so well, reporting they saw Greg banging my door and yelling at me repeatedly, even spotting him stalking me.
And every time I found a new piece of evidence placed by Drake so diligently, I went along with it. Even if I didn�
��t know it … like the cigarette. It was part of Drake’s plan. Because who would believe a woman faking a surprise? No one. He had to make it look real.
So real, he even went as far as to wear clothing that matched Greg’s, complete with mustache and all, as well as renting the same car model as Greg has. And Drake kept sending Greg pictures of me so he would get pissed off and come to my house. Even told him where I lived.
I’m not sure if I liked that part, but at least it got me the alibi I needed to kill the son of a bitch.
I didn’t know Drake had wiretapped me. I had honestly believed it was Greg. But he told me just now he did it. And it can only make me grin.
Another thing he never told me was that he used to be a teacher. Drake was always very quiet about his past, and when he finally came clean to me, I felt so much closer to him.
There’s no one in the world I admire more than I admire him.
Together, we concocted a devious plan no one would see coming.
Greg ruined my life, and in exchange, I would ruin his. That was the promise I made to myself the moment I stepped onto that bus and left his house forever. Drake agreed upon that the moment he stepped back into my life.
As he said, he never really left me.
He was always there, watching over me.
The only thing we weren’t prepared for was my husband hiring someone to shoot me. Luckily, his plan didn’t succeed. But I bet he knew exactly what was coming for him. That’s why he thought he needed to get rid of me first. He was right.
When Drake gave me the audio tape, I knew it was time to choose. My parents or my life. I chose me. I gave them a chance, and they didn’t take it. I don’t regret having Drake murder them. Not even for one second.
They never loved me … and when I realized that, I renounced my love for them.
I closed my heart and let them feel the pain they made me suffer all this time.
I hope they learned their lesson.
And I hope Greg learned his too.
I killed him … with my own hands.
For weeks, I prepared.
Each time he came to my house, I let him in a little further, showing the cracks in our relationship to the whole neighborhood. I needed them to witness the extent of his violence in order to justify my actions.
In order to make it sound believable when I said I killed him out of self-defense.
Because that … is a lie.
I killed the son of a bitch because I wanted to … So damn desperately. It was all I could think about, day and night, until the moment finally arrived.
And as the showerhead wire wrapped around his neck, I whispered into his ear, “You should’ve signed the divorce papers when you still had a chance. Now, I will take everything you own. Your money. Your house. And even your dignity. You’ll be known as nothing more than a disgusting rotting body in the ground.”
And then I smiled.
I smiled as I watched the life drain from his body.
Because I realized, there and then, that my plan had succeeded.
We played a dangerous game, and only one of us could win.
That person was me.
Epilogue
Accompanying Song: “Technically, Missing” by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
Drake
A week later
Before she was Mrs. Warren, she was supposed to become Mrs. Bryant.
She was my girl.
My only one.
After she had left, I didn’t find love. Not a single time with not a single person other than her.
She was the only one I wanted … and now, I finally have her back.
Once I picked her up from the cemetery where her parents lie, we never once went back to her home or mine. She didn’t want to live there in that house that reeked of his stench one more second. And my cabin? Well, it was a means to an end anyway. I only rented it to be close to her, and now that I finally have her back … I don’t need that place anymore.
My old apartment is already rented out to someone else, so we opted to find a different place to live. Somewhere entirely different, in a new-to-us city, a place we can start anew.
It’s the perfect way to celebrate the end of a chapter to a story that should be written. The only question is … will it be me who pens it down?
I suppose that question is one I will answer later. But for now, I’m content with having her by my side, wherever I go.
A few days ago, we finally found a small place we can call home. It’s a small, rural home with an ample yard and a white picket fence. It’s not big, but it’s perfect for us. We don’t need to live larger than life. We just need to live exactly the way we want to … with all the money we could ever dream of.
Will I work again? Maybe. But for now, it’s not even needed. We can live royally off the money we clawed away from Greg. And as for her job? Well, she’s still working at the library three times a week, but only because she loves books so much.
And right now, it’s time for celebrations …
In the middle of the night, we light a campfire in our backyard and bring out all the things that we used to trick Greg. The clothes that I hate so much. All the notes we never shared with the police but kept secret. The prepaid phone I gave her that she hid in a compartment underneath her bed. All the pictures I took of her that I kept with me. Even my gloves along with several other items.
We throw it into the fire.
I smile at her, she smiles back, and I kiss her on the lips, knowing that finally, she is mine and mine alone. And as my arm is around her shoulders, and I pull her in tight for a hug, we watch the fire eat away our sins.
There’s one lesson I learned in this game of cat and mouse.
Never play them with a scorned wife.
###
The end
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Loved reading the Indecent Games Duet?
You may also enjoy: CAGED, a Savage Dark Romance!
Read on for an excerpt.
They call me savage. An untamed beast.
I was born in the cage. Born to fight. Born to carry its name.
Locked away, I’ve spent years waiting for my mate.
I'm pent up with need. Brimming with desire.
All I want is her... That beautiful girl from the picture on my prison wall.
Now she’s finally here, sharing a cell.
So close. So hard to resist.
But one thing’s for sure…
Even if she doesn’t know it yet, she’s already mine.
Note: This STANDALONE novel contains disturbing content that may be offensive to some readers. Complete at 120000 words. NO Cliffhanger. Book 1 in the Savage Men Series.
Excerpt of CAGED
Prologue
Cage
My thumb brushes over the reflecting image of a girl with hair so white it could blind a man like me. Licking my lips, I stare at her delicate shape in the white dress, her soft posture as she leans into the green trees around her, and the way she wistfully stares at the blue sphere above her head. One moment is all it takes to capture her beauty. And I know I’ll have a lifetime to discover it.
I smile, cocking my head. “Her.”
That’s all it takes. That one word … and she becomes mine.
I can’t stop staring at her eyes. Those soul-crushing blue eyes seem so pure. So vulnerable. Unlike me.
But when the image is snatched out of my hands, my smile immediately dissipates. I turn my head and watch him take the pictures down from the glass, one by one, until nothing’s left but a gray stone mass behind it. No life. No green. No blue. No nothing.
I sigh out loud.
A hand touches my shoulder, squeezing. “Don’t worry … You’ll see more than just a picture soon.”
The hand disappears, and I’m left alone again in my cold, dark space.
But
one thing has changed.
Me.
One
Ella
The scent of freshly baked bread enters my nose and fills me with joy. I point at the loaf I want and smile.
“That one?” the baker asks.
I nod, and he grabs it from the shelf and wraps it in paper then puts it on the counter. I already have the money ready to pay, so I place it next to the loaf. He swipes it off and stuffs it into the cash register.
“Thank you very much,” he says. “Enjoy!”
I smile again while picking up the loaf and tucking it into my bag. Waving, I leave the store and face the sunlight again. I love how the warmth radiates over my skin, how it makes me want to close my eyes and take a deep breath. Summer is the time I come alive.
On my way back home, I take a detour through the park and pick up all the flowers I like. Red, pink, yellow—as many of the crazy colors as I can gather. Their aromas waft through the air with every summery breeze, and I love to just take it all in. Like a moment frozen in time, where everything is exactly the way it should be.
Untouched.
Perfect.
Unlike me.
***
Twelve Years Ago
I pick up two rocks and stuff one into Suzie’s hand. “You go first.”
“No. Why do I have to go first? You know I’m not good at this,” she whines, putting out a pouty lip. “Why can’t we just do it my way?”
“Because we already did that yesterday. Now, we do it my way,” I say, frowning. “Now c’mon. Throw it.”
She sighs, so I rub her back. “You can do this. Just throw it like this.” I bend my arm and chuck the stone at the pond, and it skips across the water like a bug until it sinks.
“Wow, that’s far!” Suzie yells, her face full of amazement. “But wait ... I was supposed to go first, right?”
Indecent Games Duet - Boxed Set Page 38
