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He shows me it is by brutally ripping the straps of my dress, shoving them and the rest of the fabric off my body.

I’ve disturbed him. Shaken his self-control somehow.

He’s here to reclaim it.

“Is the same reason Topher’s mom was locked in a cell in my father’s house over twenty-one years ago.”

I have no idea why she was there. What I know is he’s lying. To me. To himself, I think.

Why?

Doesn’t matter.

He’s done answering, it seems like. He has his belt out, looped around his hand.

A shiver runs down my spine. I point my feet, flex my muscles. Anything to stop the tremors.

The stretch in my shoulders is becoming intolerable. My abs contract as I’m trying to alleviate the pressure, and it helps. A little.

Nothing will help me against this threat.

The most alluring man I’ve ever met.

Fucking your forbidden, virgin cunt was all I could think of since the moment I saw you.

Does that mean he feels the same way I feel about him? That I might not die here after all?

His face. His predatory movements. His words. I have to look closely.

Studying him is how I survive this. No other way.

“Who was she?” I’m desperate for information that might keep me alive.

And I’m jealous of her.

I hate it. My stomach lurches, my body informing me it’s rejecting the strange emotion.

“You shouldn’t be jealous.” I hate that he can read my mind even worse.

He takes a step back, and I have a full view of him. Broad shoulders. Muscles that stretch the material of his T-shirt. Jeans that fall on his tapered waist. Another woman had that. Another woman gave him a son.

Another dead woman.

Oh.

Oh no.

“Am not.”I’m not, I’m not, I’m really not.

“Life didn’t pan out for her the way she imagined it would.”

“I said.” Being hung like this should put me at a disadvantage. I’m weaker, at his mercy. I raise my voice at James anyway. “I’m not jealous.”

He tips his head to the side in a gesture that saysBullshit.

Motherfucker. He doesn’t have to be this handsome when he’s calling me a liar. Before he kills me like he must’ve killedher.

“As to your question about her identity.” The leather of his belt makes an obscene sound as it smacks on his other hand. “She was a med student. Smart and objectively good-looking. A nobody.”