Page 13 of Their Stolen Obsession (Phantoms and Obsession Duet #2)

Her Predator

Sin

“ S in. I don’t want to watch this again,” Saint complained for a second time. “I’ve watched it over and over, and there’s nothing.”

I grabbed Saint by the shoulders and pushed him down onto the sofa.

“You haven’t watched the video with me,” I argued and sat down beside him with my cellphone in my hand. “Sometimes you need a fresh pair of eyes.”

“This is only wasting time, Sin. Let me go back in there and shock him again. He’s weak, disoriented and—”

“Sebastian is useless! He’s trash and not willing to talk. He’s been rotting away for over a week, and we can’t afford to fuck around,” I interrupted and stared Saint straight in the eyes. “He doesn’t care about anyone but himself.”

Saint stared right back. His mouth clamped shut, but his mind seemed to reel with questions. Questions I had no answers to. Not yet.

Saint asked, “Did you kill him?”

“No.” I shook my head and tapped on the screen. “We’ll leave his sorry ass for Liv when she comes back. Understand?”

“Understood.” Saint gave a reluctant nod.

Saint didn’t agree. I didn’t either, but the decision was final, and the right thing to do. No matter how much we wanted Sebastian dead to keep Liv safe, the choice was hers, and we’d keep it that way.

My hand trembled as I laid my forearms on my legs and tipped the screen up so Saint could see. We were about to view our girl’s last moments.

“Are you ready?” I asked, my finger hovering over the play button.

“I’m ready to get her back,” Saint replied, and that was the only answer I needed.

I hit play.

I hated watching this damn video. Even though the contents contained our obsession, she wasn’t herself. Sebastian had broken Liv down, prepared her to marry into misery for the rest of her life. Her family had forced her to comply with a devil she should never have been with because she was ours .

We viewed each frame, every reminder that she was gone. She was weak, fragile, and taken. Stolen from us. The pain of her disappearance ripped a hole in me I never thought was possible because I had one too many. But this one was a crater, slamming into the depths of my dark soul.

“I can’t wait to strangle this fucker,” I whispered hoarsely when the video ended.

The last image was of Liv’s father desperately yelling for his daughter.

His concerned face immediately showed shock as he realized a struggle had occurred; then, upon seeing our necklace, he fell to his knees.

The chain discarded on the carpet as he picked it up with tears in his eyes.

His pain was almost unbearable to see. I understood his agony too, and my heart was up in my throat.

Goddamn it. I rewound the video back, unable to take anymore. The first round was useless. I was too fucking distracted by my pain to focus. My will to want to reach through the screen and break that motherfucker’s neck who took her away.

“I got nothing,” Saint whispered, his voice hoarse with heartbreak.

“Let’s watch it again,” I insisted, even though my heart broke too .

“Wait…” Saint expressed as he put his hand on my arm and peered at me with concern. “Are you sure you can handle this?”

“Of course I can fucking handle this,” I muttered as I pushed his hand off me, and I ran a hand down my face. “Why are you looking at me like that? Do I have something…”

My hand was wet. Fuck. Tears.

I wiped the wetness away. Angry at myself for getting fucking emotional and crying like a goddamn baby. I wasn’t a pussy, but Liv made me into something I had never been before: vulnerable. She was my weakness.

“It’s nothing. Jesus. Can we focus? Please?” I asked, but it was more directed at myself.

“Yep,” Saint answered with a pop of the P .

The video played again, and it took everything inside of me not to smash my phone in half. I held all the pain, vulnerabilities, and pure disdain back, searching for anything to give us a lead.

“Let me go, asshole! Help—” Liv screamed from the top of her lungs before her kidnapper silenced her with his hand over her mouth.

Fuck. I hated hearing her plead for help that I knew would come too late.

Jesus Christ. My heart hammered like a drum in my chest, and I almost wanted to throw up, but I held the bile collecting in my throat back.

Shit! Fuck! The only satisfaction I received was from Liv biting his hand and his curse of pain, but I already knew what was coming next.

Chloroform. The fucking cloth covered her mouth. Her eyes fluttered shut.

Jesus. I hurt so damn much.

The image shook until Liv’s necklace fell off.

I held my breath and braced for the end.

The last time I’d see her fucking gorgeous face.

Until we had to watch this shit all over again and suffer through till the next ending.

A finish line that would never conclude because we couldn’t get a damn answer!

Saint was right. This bullshit video was pointless. Another bad fucking idea on my part. To relive the most torturous moment in our entire lives.

“Stop.” Saint held a hand up. “Go back a few frames.”

“What?” I exhaled, my heart beat even faster. “What did you see?”

I went back ten seconds. Saint didn’t speak. I went back a few more.

“There! Pause it…” Saint slowly shook his head back and forth in disbelief. “I can’t believe I hadn’t noticed it before.”

I blinked repeatedly after I paused the frame and glanced from the video back to Saint. Adrenaline seared through me, ready to blast me into overdrive. I couldn’t sit fucking still. I was on the edge of my seat, fidgeting.

“Quit fucking around! Tell me, goddamn it!” I yelled at Saint and peered back at the screen.

All I could see was the terror on Liv’s face. Her beautiful eyes were wide as her worst nightmare played out before her and the motherfucker held a rag over half of her face. I pondered what her final thought would’ve been prior to the ether-like scent taking effect and doing the trick.

“Lights out, bitch.” The bastard’s exact words were on repeat in my head, making me want to punch him in the face.

Multiple times until his lights went out, and he was dead.

Shit. I could almost picture him on the ground while I pummeled him and saved Liv from a grim fate.

I wished I could’ve been there to rescue her and be the hero.

The protective fucker I knew hid underneath all my scars.

“The ring,” Saint whispered.

I shook my head. “But Liv doesn’t have her engagement ring on.”

Saint smacked me over the head. “No. Dumbass.”

“Fuck! What the hell was that for?” I asked, rubbing the place Saint had hit.

My best friend took my cell phone from my hands. He pinched two fingers together on the screen and zoomed right in. Straight into Liv’s kidnapper’s hand.

Saint wore a giant grin. “Not Liv’s ring. His ring.”

I stared at the sorry bastard’s palm smothering Liv with chloroform, and I saw the ring. It was a gold band, a chunky piece with a letter P on it.

How the fuck did I not see that?

Saint and I had both missed the clear evidence right in front of us all along.

Shit! Of course, now I recall seeing the ring the first time I watched the video.

Dumb fuck. We had been so stupid! Caught up in all we had lost. Our grief had blinded us from the one answer we had sought. A fucking piece of jewelry.

Our heavenly father, we had sinned upon you more times than I could count, but Lord Almighty, have you finally come through. Hallelujah! Sweet Jesus! Not that I believed in Christ, but some fucker had showed up.

“Saint. You blue-eyed genius with goddamn hawk eyes! You did it!” I exclaimed with the biggest goddamn grin in my entire life. “We have a lead.”

I slapped his shoulder, and we rejoiced. We laughed like two crazed psychopaths, ready to cock our weapons and hit the road. Guns blazing, ready for vengeance and starved to kill.

Saint cut the crap. “I’ve seen this ring before. ”

I stood, crossed my arms, and prepared for the takedown. “Me too, buddy. Me too.”

We were one step closer to getting our girl back.