Page 14 of My Sweetest Obsession

“Whoa. Here, let me help you,” she said, as she licked her dry lips.

“Wh-who are you?” I managed to croak as I tried to sit up. But a sharp pain, like a knife twisting in my back, forced me back down, and the chains clattered.

Kneeling beside me, she placed a tentative hand on my back, gently easing me into a sitting position. I groaned, dropping my head against the cold stone wall, the chill seeping into my bones.

I glanced around and saw this was no ordinary room. “Where are we?”

The oppressive darkness seemed to possess its own life, with the only light filtering in from an impossibly tiny window near the ceiling. We were locked behind iron bars, the air thick with an acrid stench of dampness and despair. I saw no food, no water, no blankets; just the hard, cold ass floor beneath me and a collar around my neck.

“I don’t know exactly where we are,” she whispered. “But this has been my home for years.”

I froze. “Your home?”

She shrugged, leaning against the wall, her knees drawn tightly to her chest as if trying to shield herself from the reality surrounding us. “He’s an evil man.”

“What happened to you?” I asked, wrapping my arms around myself, trying to conserve my body heat.

The woman’s gaze drifted to the bars as if commanding them to bend to her will. “I was protecting someone I loved and for the blood running through my veins. So, instead of killing me, he kept me as his prisoner as punishment and for his own sick, twisted pleasure.”

“How could he do that do you?” I asked. “What about your family? They must be worried about you.”

She shook her head, and I saw the tremor in her lips. “No,” she said, her voice breaking. “My mother died here with me.” Tears shimmered in her eyes, threatening to spill over.

My heart raced as I followed her gaze to the corner of the room, and that’s when I saw it.

A human skull.

And beside it, a tangle of skeletal remains.

I gasped, a wave of nausea rising in my throat.

The monster had left her mother to rot in this hellhole while her daughter had to bear witness to the horror of her body decomposing into nothing but bones.

What kind of person did that? This was like a twisted horror movie.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, my heart aching for her, unsure of what else to offer beyond simple words.

She shrugged. “So, what about you?” She sniffed, wiping her eyes with the back of her dirty hand.

“I live in Chicago. Assuming we’re still in Illinois.”

How could I explain that the man I fell for—trusted—tied me up in his basement for reasons I still couldn’t fully comprehend, only for me to be kidnapped? I settled for, “I don’t remember how I ended up here.”

I patted my pants, searching for my phone, but my fingers only brushed against the empty fabric.

“Shit,” I muttered.

Of course they would’ve taken it. And why, for even a moment, did I allow myself to believe that the universe would grant me a shred of hope?

I groaned, letting my head fall against the wall.

A suffocating realization washed over me: No one was coming for me. I had no idea where we were or how long I’d been trapped in this hellish nightmare.

When I closed my eyes, I saw the explosion that threw Serafina and Enzo against the wall, the impact echoing in my mind. And Tabi—Oh God, I hoped she made it out before she was sold. Tears slipped down my cheeks.

No one was waiting for me on the other side of this darkness. Only death awaited, lurking in the shadows, ready to claim its next victim.

Me.