Page 56 of Monster's Edge

The two of us walk down the hallway, continuing in the direction we were headed. The hall divides and we turn right, making our way deep into the labyrinth that is Ian’s home. A few moments later we reach stairs. I expect that we’ll go upstairs, but instead, he leads me farther down the hall to a spiral staircase that leads down to a basement.

“Downstairs?” I ask as we start to move down the stairs.

“Downstairs.”

“Are you taking me to a dungeon?”

He chuckles darkly and looks up. “Is that what you want, little flower? You want me to take you to a dungeon?” He pauses, waiting for an answer from me.

I don’t want to say yes.

I don’t want to say because he’ll do it.

He’s taunting me, testing me, but right now, all I can think about is what I’ve lost. Everything. In one day, I’ve lost my future, I’ve lost my job, and I’ve lost my past. I’ve lost everything special that makes me who I am. My belongings are gone. My hopes are dead. I don’t have money or anything. I have nothing.

So as I stare at the man with the dark eyes and the pressed suit, I find myself nodding.

“Yes,” I whisper. I shouldn’t be telling him yes.

“Good girl,” he murmurs, and he starts walking again.

What the fuck am I doing?

4

He literally has asex dungeon in his basement.

Why am I surprised?

Ian Salucci has everything else he could ever want, so of course, he’s got a dungeon. He brings me into the room and stands me in the center. He closes the door, locking it, and then paces around me as he slips his jacket off. He’s silent as he walks around me, circling me like a shark, but I can’t find it in myself to feel scared.

I know that I’m a little scared, deep down. I should be, anyway. It’s just that what I’ve left seems so much worse than what I’m facing now. A little bit of time in a kinky dungeon isn’t going to kill me, as much as I might feel like it in an hour or two. I don’t know how hard he likes to go, but something tells me that nothing I’ve experienced before has prepared me for what we’re about to do.

“You’re a mystery to me,” he says as he walks around me.

“Is that a compliment?” My tone is harsher than I intend for it to be and he reaches out and flicks my cheek. Shit. It stings, and I fight to keep myself still. What I really want is to fight him, to punch him. I want to take out my sadness and anger on another person, and I want that person to be him.