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CHAPTER TWENTY

At the same moment

I walk slowly past the prison gates, unable to control the erection that swells at the thought of her there.

The sense of power from having manipulated her life to bend to my will is nearly intoxicating.

What does she think about in that tiny cell?

If she knew I was the one who put her there, would she regret not choosing me? Would she wish she'd done it all differently?

Of course, I don’t intend to leave her here forever. What fun is there for the cat if the mouse is already trapped?

No, the time she'll spend locked up is just a lesson—for my own pleasure and for Marla to learn that you don’t say no to someone like me. She could have been a queen, not a poor wretch that smells like fish and raises the daughter of that bastard.

Thinking of Alexis makes my hatred boil. I despise her almost as much as I despised her father. She will pay for being born.

I'm in no hurry. I'm a chess player. Patient and precise.

Marla will be mine. I’ll turn her into a slave. Into nothing. I’ll make her pay for rejecting me.