Page 24 of Dual

I grunt low in my throat, then open the door that rarely gets to see any light in this new house I bought for my would-be wife.

Not another bedroom.

Not the primary suite.

Theotherroom.

The dungeon.

It's not in the basement in this house, in case there were any bad memories left over, and I made it bright in here instead of dark. With one flick of a light switch, the gray walls are lit with warm, yellow glowing sconces at intervals all along the wall, highlighting the equipment like works of art.

My stomach clenches, having Madison here with me, collared.

"Has Anna seen it yet?" she asks.

But I won't play that game.

She clicks her teeth at me. "So protective."

When I glance down, she's looking up at me again. "But I don't want to be protected tonight. I want you to hurt me."

I feel myself frown. She's so beautiful and so vulnerable there on the ground. I can't be the completely cold, sadistic bastard I once was. I see that now.

Which, again, she must read on my face because I hear her exhale. "Wow. We really have changed you, haven't we?"

"At least make me cry," she amends, voice softer. "Loving you hurts too much without the pain to balance it out."

My jaw clenches. She's the only person in the world who makes me feel so vulnerable and can call me out on my shit. But maybe it's only fair. For once, she's baring herself to me. Wasn't that what always made me fall for her? Because, as good a liar as she is, I believe her right now.

The next words out of her mouth only cement all the reasons I love her.

"Without some bitter to balance the sweet," she whispers, "it starts to not feel real."

She searches my face. "But you already know that, don't you?"

I swallow hard and nod. I do.

My eyes lock on her dark ones, and like always, I feel the arcing energy spark between us.

I reach down and cup her jaw?—

But not sweetly.

My voice is husky, thick with promise.

"Stand," I command. "Hands above your head."

She rises in one fluid motion, and I quickly lock her wristsin the hanging cuffs I had installed on the ceiling in the center of the room. She has to go up on her tiptoes to have any contact with the floor, and her eyes go bright as she drops her head back, giggling and lifting her legs off the floor.

So that she's dangling completely from the ceiling.

My ready sacrifice.

NINE

DOMHNALL

I start slow,working her ass with my softest floggers, then up her back in an X pattern. And she barely writhes or responds. This is definitely Madison. She's far less reactive than when I had her in my last dungeon. But things were different then, weren't they? Mads was mostly repressed when Anna had amnesia.