Page 96 of Merciless Obsession

“Would you have told me the truth?”

She stayed quiet, but her eyes narrowed and her mouth pinched together.

The email Emmet sent me showed she had spent two weeks in a psych ward when she was seventeen and when she wastwenty-two. From there she’d been on anxiety meds, sleeping meds, and, at one point, anti-depressants.

Ziora pushed out an exasperated breath and faced forward. She nibbled on her bottom lip and ran her hands over her thighs.

“I had a mental breakdown after my sister was killed. Things at home with my parents got worse and I didn’t cope well with everything.” She grew quiet and rubbed the center of her chest. “I tried to kill myself, pills. Ironically, my mom found me and called 911. It was the first time I think she showed she gave a damn about me. Then, when I was twenty-two, I had another meltdown on my sister’s birthday, knowing she should be turning eighteen and would never get to see it. I didn’t try to kill myself that time, but I wasn’t well either. I was fucked up, got put on different meds until they found some that helped. Sometimes I still suffer from anxiety and panic attacks and those meds you found help.” She pushed out a heavy breath. “Only Inaya knows and now you. So yeah, there you go.”

Ziora turned back to me. “Your turn. Tell me and I want the truth.”

“I cloned your phone. Well, I had someone clone your phone.”

Ziora’s mouth dropped. “Excuse me? You did what?”

I shrugged. “It was either that or implant a tracker in you. I figured you would appreciate this way more.”

“A tracker? In me… What the fuck.”

My mouth curled into a grin. “I told you, you’re mine and I wanted to make sure you were always protected and I always had access to you. I’m selfish with my things, Bumblebee, and I couldn’t trust you yet. So certain measures had to be taken.”

“How long?”

“Since I first took you.”

Again, her mouth dropped. “You’ve been tracking me, reading my texts, and…wait, the night I went to the hotel…Are you the reason the guy never showed up?”

“Hotel? Guy?”

Her eyes cut into slits. “Don’t bullshit me, Ezra! I know when you clone a phone you get everything the main phone gets. Did you kill him?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Bumblebee. But if you were meeting a guy at a hotel and he didn’t show up, then luck was on both of your sides.”

“What if I told you I didn’t want to sleep with you anymore and wanted someone else?”

I smiled, but nothing about my smile was friendly. My blood ran hot. “The fact that you think we’ll ever be over is comical. It’s even funnier that you believe I’ll ever let you be happy with another man or allow anyone but me to get that close to you. If you want to see proof of my love, then try me.”

Ziora snorted. “Love? You don’t love me, Ezra. I don’t even think you know what love is. What you feel for me is obsession and possession. You think of me as an object and not a person. That is not love.”

“Call it whatever you want.” I shrugged and stroked her chin. “But know I’ve never felt like this before. You and you alone are my muse, my masterpiece, my toy, mybeautifulobsession.”

She inhaled a sharp breath.

“Since I was a kid I’ve been told to act, look, and be a certain way in the public eye. Every day I wake up and put a mask on and be someone I’m not. I love both of my jobs, but even with my brothers I don’t show my true self.” My hands moved back to her ponytail and I wrapped it around my hand and pulled. “With you I’ve removed that mask and have shown you therealme. Only someone special to me gets to see that side of me, Bumblebee.”

Her eyes fluttered when I pulled her ponytail again. “I don’t ever want to hear about you trying to take your life again. I don’t take well to my toys being taken away from me either.”

Ziora needed to realize just how deep my feelings ran for her. The more I was around her, the stronger they grew. Her accepting that would make things easier.

“Get rid of the phone,” she said tightly.

“I’ll think about it.” I leaned over and pecked her lips before releasing her hair. I had no plans of getting rid of the cloned phone, but that would be my secret. “You done being mad at me?”

She rolled her eyes. “I was never mad at you. I was mad atmyself.”

That statement confused me.

The truck grew quiet while more bodies started to clear out of the house. Eventually Winston’s house emptied. The lights went out and the house fell silent.