Page 63 of Intense (Beneath The Blaze #3)

STEPHANIE

T he wood cuts into my skin as I writhe in this guillotine. I scream out his name. And as I do, the blade crashes against the wood on top of me.

My body goes into a mode of shock. I’m shaking and trembling, and I can’t breathe.

Pure confusion. Terror and pleasure.

He keeps his mouth on my pussy, reminding me he’s there. My heart is racing so hard my head goes fuzzy.

“Finn, fuck,” I cry out.

My body is on such high alert, every swipe of his tongue sends a jolt through me.

As I ride my climax out over his mouth, my body starts to get a grip of itself.

My breathing steadies as he lets me out, helping me to my wobbling legs.

He spins me to face him, saying nothing. Just looking into my eyes.

“How did that feel?” He grins.

“Fucking terrifying, but I nearly passed out I came so hard.”

He nods and strokes my cheek.

“Did you enjoy it? The fear? The trust?”

“I did.” I smile.

But there is one burning question I wonder if he will answer. The other girls did this to win a new life. I’m doing this for him. To unlock things about myself and him.

“Finn, what do I get if I pass the trials? If I win?”

“If you pass the next trial, I’ll tell you. You have to earn your answers, remember,” he says bluntly.

I wrap my arms around his waist, and he moves out of my hold.

“Have I done something to upset you?”

I can’t ignore this nagging feeling in my chest that he’s mad at me. Or is this part of the game? Playing his part to test me.

He tips my chin up.

“I never get upset, love. I’d need to have feelings for that,” he says coldly.

“You’re not a robot, Finn. I’ve seen you.”

His stare hardens.

“I sometimes wish I was,” he whispers.

I place my hand on his cheek.

“You don’t need to be, not with me,” I tell him.

He lets out a breath.

“That’s what I thought too,” he mutters, and without another word, he takes my hand and drags me out of the room, back down the hallway to the room opposite the first one.

He stops before putting in the code and turns to me.

“I’m giving you one hint to come out of this room unscathed.”

I nod, swallowing hard at the seriousness of his tone.

“I’ve studied you for years, Stephanie. I have a notepad full of observations. Never lie to me.”

My heart hammers, the weight of the world falling on me.

There is no way he can know who I am.

He opens up the door and nods for me to go in. I stop and take in the room. Set up exactly like his office at work.

A desk with a chair and a bed, but this one has chained restraints. Next to it, an ECG machine. No windows.

Just white walls and floors and a fucking sink.

“On the bed, please,” he asks.

My feet don’t move.

Something feels different about this room. A shift in the energy. It’s colder, it’s more serious.

His words playing heavily on my mind.

I close my eyes; I don’t have time to figure a way out. I don’t think there is.

There is only one explanation for this.

One reason why he is torn between hating and loving me.

Finn knows the fucking truth.

It hits me like a ton of bricks. What if he broke into my office at home? I was asleep by the time he came back to bed.

The whole needing the truth.

Doing the wrong thing.

He’s been teasing this moment this entire time.

He knows what I do.

But does he know what I did to him? Does he know I framed him?

He kills people.

He is part of the mafia.

If he knew, would I still be alive?

Bile rises up my throat. I have to play the game to survive. This wasn’t a joke or a test.

This is really fucking real.

He leads me over to the bed, and I blindly follow him and get up on the bed.

I’m numb.

As his fingers trail across my chest, removing my bra, a tingle of life jolts through me.

He fixes my wrists into the chains on the bed railings. He places the pads on my chest for the monitor.

The ECG whines to life, filling the room with the steady, loud thud of my heartbeat. Too fast. Too revealing.

I stare at the ceiling, my pulse hammering against my ribs.

The game is over for me. I lose no matter what.

Because when I tell him the truth, he’ll leave.

And that will hurt more than anything.

I’ve spent my life pushing people away, clinging to my independence because I’m the only person I can count on.

And now? All I want is to grip my husband and beg him not to go.

Being with him is the first time I’ve felt safe in my life.

Giving him my heart was never a decision.

But it is his to crush.