Page 35 of Cruel Betrayal

I should snoop through his things and see if there’s anything here I can use against him, but there’s not enough time for that. There’s a loud knock on the door that sends me hurrying from the room before he can come looking for me.

I perch on the edge of the couch, and he comes back into the room, carrying a bag from my favorite burger place.

He sets the bag on the coffee table, taking off long enough to pull on a pair of gray shorts before coming back and joining me.

He sits down beside me, opening the bag and pulling out his burger. “We’re going to stay here tonight, but I don’t know what I’m going to do with you in the morning.”

“Does that have to do with the obsession or with who your family is?” I take my own burger, my stomach turning.

“Both.”

“Why are you obsessed with me? Why go to all this effort to get me? Why offer to let me go back to my family after going through all the effort of kidnapping me?”

None of it makes sense. Not that I think he’s going to explain, but he might let something slip. Just enough to give me a hint of where his mind is at, since it’s impossible to read him.

He smirks and shakes his head, eyes shining. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“I would.”

“And I’d like you to go to an event with me in two nights.” He takes a large bite of his burger, eyeing me before focusing on his food. “You’re my good luck charm, and I’m going to need it.”

I bite into the burger, savoring the taste of the apricot jam with the deep-fried goat cheese patty. Even if my stomach is turning, there’s no refusing the best burger in New York.

“Do I have a choice?” I already know what the answer is going to be.

“No.”

“Great. Just what I wanted.” I allow the sarcasm to drip from my tone before taking another big bite of the burger. I lean back on the couch, crossing my legs. “I thought coming here was supposed to be about me getting more freedom?”

“You don’t have a shackle around your ankle. I’d call that freedom.”

“I can’t do what I want.”

“No.” He finishes his burger and moves onto his onion ring. “But you’ve never really been able to do that, have you?”

The question is a mocking rhetorical. He knows that I haven’t, and he’s reminding me that I’m still powerless. That at the end of the day, I’m his to do with as he pleases.

I can’t wait until the day I get to sink a blade into his neck.

Maybe I’ll do it the next time he’s screwing me.

Chapter Eleven

EZRA

I glance around the warehouse,waiting for Noah to jump out of whatever corner he’s lurking in.

He’s definitely heard the rumors about me being at the party the other night with Jade, and there’s no doubt in my mind that it’s going to send him over the edge.

Which is why I’m still hoping I can spin this in his favor.

Jade shuffles along behind me, her lips pressed together in a thin line. Her shoulders are drawn close to her ears like she’s worried about what’s going to happen.

Good.

She should be worried.

I’ll do all I can to protect you, love, but there are going to be times when even the monster inside me isn’t enough.