Page 27 of Carved Obsession (The Sanctum Syndicate #4)

My heart rushes on maddening beats as they reach up and pull off their face-covering, but the hood obstructs part of my view, and the downward angle doesn’t allow me to see their face. Thumps reverberate through my chest. Its beats echo in my ears, and I’m shifting to the edge of the seat.

Then that organ stalls behind my ribs as the hood falls back in an excruciating movement, revealing exactly what I wanted. Hoped. Fucking wished for.

Scarlet Brasa-Glass stands in my goddamn house, a serene, taunting smile curving her pretty fucking lips and crinkling her dark eyes.

A whirlwind of unexplainable sensations ravages my thoughts, my muscles, and worst of all, my soul.

That in itself is inexplicable. How can one feel their soul?

Or effects on it? It’s senseless. It does not exist.

Yet...it shivers and writhes beneath my ribs and deep within my consciousness, fighting to break free like a chained creature that has been waiting to be fed for eons.

And there, smirking inside my house, blowing a sultry, deviously taunting kiss toward the camera before she skips out of frame, is its first, only, and last meal.

“Holy shit . . .” Maddox whispers next to me.

Holy shit indeed.

The kitten has been playing with me all along, jeering with such expert precision and skill that I don’t know if I’m supposed to be furious or awestruck. I’m both. And more than that...I’m fucking hard.

Not all the way, but goddamn it, this—her—she gave me a fucking semi. But she stole from me. I would have overlooked The Divine Comedy , but my violin? My fucking precious Crimson masterpiece?

That has crossed a line carved with bones and drawn in blood, and she’s not getting away this time.

Scarlet won’t die, not unless she damaged my violin, but she’ll be punished until she’s a begging, sopping mess, crying for reprieve. Because I need to know why .

Why taunt me?

Why break into my car, my bar, my fucking house?

Why follow me? Steal from me?

And on top of it all . . . how ?

I have thick, high walls drawn in code, and I cannot think what skill level she has to match me so very well. What does she do for a living that she never sparkled on my radar? Where has she been hiding?

“I’m dropping you off,” I tell Maddox as I cross the seatbelt over my body and start the car before rushing onto the road.

“Is she a threat, Carter? To you?”

I ponder the question for a few long moments, stepping harder on the gas, the angry engine rumbling through my thoughts.

“None of what she did was an attack. On us or me.” I’m not making excuses. It’s true. There have been no actions beyond these taunts.

I could argue that breaking into my spaces and hacking into my systems are attacks in themselves, but logic prevails here; she hasn’t actually done anything. Definitely not to The Sanctum.

This has all been about me.

And it fucking nags me to no end that I haven’t figured out why.

Maddox chuckles, a low, vibrating sound that startles me. I glance his way just as he shakes his head, suppressing a grin.

“What?” I say.

“You don’t see it, do you?”

“See what?”

He’s laughing now, a gruff rumble as he presses a large hand over his belly. “She likes you.”

I frown, tightening my grip on the steering wheel. “You think she did this because she likes me?” That’s preposterous.

“It’s fucking obvious. Didn’t you see that sultry smile on her? The kiss she blew? If that doesn’t spell ‘ come hither,’ I’m not sure what does.”

Come hither?

Christ, I thought I was the only one going mad, but maybe he is too.

“You need to get laid, Maddox. Clearly, you’re seeing mixed signals all over the place.”

He’s not all that wrong, though, because I know she likes me. Well, she may not like me, but she is attracted to me. That, I can fucking guarantee.

“Don’t worry, I’m all set in that department,” he says.

Once again, I whip my head around, glancing at him before looking back at the road. “With?”

I have one obvious answer in mind, but I’m surprised he managed to hide it.

“Just a woman I met in The Fightclub.”

There’s no way it’s who I’m thinking of. She never stepped foot down there. But this makes it even more shocking.

“So . . . it’s a new thing?” I ask.

“A couple of weeks.”

So not a one-time thing. Strange. But I nod, shifting my attention back to the road ahead and the problem at hand.

I wish I could get there faster, but the wretched kitten knew what she was doing by leaving the puzzle where she did.

It’s out of town, on the opposite side from her house.

I’ll even reach Midnight before my house.

But I speed through the easing late-evening traffic, counting the fucking miles before we get to the speakeasy.

They trickle down, one by one, minute by minute, until finally, we’re in the center of Queenscove. Midnight is nearby, hidden in one of the old alleyways.

“Be careful, Carter. And...have fun.” Maddox swings the car door shut on a rumbling chuckle before I get to argue.

But I think I will.

I deserve some fucking fun.