Page 3 of Merciless Obsession (The Bloodline #2)

We continued to see each other and I made it known I didn’t want anything serious. We both were just wanting a good time. We never did anything outside the bedroom and never committed anything deeper than this. He didn’t even know my real name, only Ashley, the alias I went by.

One corner of his mouth lifted. “Why don’t you let me take you out then?”

My brows furrowed. “What?”

“Have you ever been out of Silver Stone before?”

I turned and reached for my phone that was silently lighting up on the bedside table.

“You’ve spent your whole life running away from commitment, right? That’s why you started that app I invested in, right?”

My hands stilled, fingers inches from my screen. His condescending tone made my muscles tense and a knot formed in my stomach.

“You don’t know anything about me.” I unlocked my phone and scanned the screen.

Deadline reminders popped up instantly. I had two hacking jobs I needed completed by the end of tomorrow night.

One was a piece of cake; a woman had hired me to dig through her husband’s computer because she thought he was cheating.

The second one would require a little more brain power, involving hacking into financial records and business plans between business partners.

It wasn’t impossible but I had to make sure I did it right.

Of course, I never made myself visible to anyone but I set up an untraceable portal where I could get job requests.

The money was always turned into a digital currency that couldn’t be tracked back to me either.

“I know enough about you to know that you’ve wasted the majority of your twenties being alone.

You’re too young to have that chip on your shoulders and—” I huffed out a laugh.

No one except my best friend and James knew about my app and I wanted to keep it that way.

James didn’t even know the main details, just that it was a hookup app.

He always asked and I avoided the question.

It was started under my alias, Ashley Smith, and a shell company on top of that.

“One date. It’s been five years and we’ve only ever met in this room. You don’t even let me come to your house. You can’t tell me you haven’t felt anything for me after all these years.”

I sighed. James wasn’t the only man I had sex with over the last five years. Occasionally, I would log onto my hookup app and meet with someone who was looking for a no strings attached arrangement. My only attempt at a relationship had been three years ago and it was draining.

“James, it’s not gonna work.”

“How do you know if we don’t try?”

“Because I do.” I scrolled through my phone. “We both agreed.”

“What if this isn’t what I want anymore. What if I’m ready for something deeper.”

I shook my head and tapped my screen a couple times.

A source of mine had messaged me. Just as I was about to open the email from her, a text message came through.

Confusion filled me seeing it was from an unsaved number.

The only person I talked to frequently was my best friend, and unless she got a new number, hers was saved.

Unknown

Tsk. Tsk. You’re being a bad girl, busy bee. Someone’s gonna get punished.

I zoned James out and stared intently at the phone.

Me

Who is this?

My tongue wet my dry lips.

In due time.

Picture attached.

My stomach churned and my pulse picked up as I stared at the picture of me. I was leaving my house with a blow pop in my mouth. It was taken today. Right as I was leaving to meet James.

My throat throttled and my heart slammed against my ribcage. I was sure this was the same man who had been leaving the roses and notes on my door. This was the first time he made direct contact with me.

My teeth scraped under my bottom lip when another text came through.

Now be a good girl. Get up and walk out that man’s house before you make things worse for everyone. My patience is running thin.

The message sent a chill down my spine and caused the hairs on the back of my neck to raise.

“Ziora, are you listening to me?” James’s voice broke me out of the trance I had gone into.

“I have to go.” I jumped up without addressing the previous topic. I didn’t want anything serious with him and that wasn’t changing.

“That’s it? You’re just going to leave without answering me?”

I looked around until I located my jeans on the floor. “Look James, if you want to see other people, be my guest. If you want to end this, that’s fine with me. It actually might be for the best; so do what you feel is right.” I picked my shirt up next.

Whoever this guy was, was toying with me.

I brushed the notes off, which wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but without going to the police I was a one-woman army.

The guy didn’t give me much to work with and I wasn’t sure if he was a threat, but I refused to cower.

Him texting my phone was personal. He had made a mistake not knowing what I was capable of.

Soon as I got home I planned on tracking his number and finally finding out who he was.

James was still talking, attempting to plead his case as I prepared to leave his room. I had long mastered the skill of dissociation. I could easily block those out around me for hours so I heard nothing he was saying.

Furiously, I tapped on my phone and pulled up my security app at my house, making sure to check both inside and out. Nothing out of the ordinary stuck out to me.

When I got outside James’s house, I looked around. His street was full of large highly-priced homes. All of the cars were expensive and mostly foreign in this area. I tried to see if I noticed one that didn’t match the criteria on the streets, but again, nothing stuck out.

Pushing stray pieces of hair out of my face and releasing an exasperated breath, I started toward my car.

“If you don’t stop being so closed off, you’re gonna end up alone and lonely,” James called out to me.

I tossed my hand in the air, waving him off. His words didn’t bother me. Growing attached to people only left room for you to get hurt. So his words didn’t reveal anything to me that I didn’t already know.