Page 66 of Cruel Delights
My nausea roils inside me, a warning I’ve got to get to the toilet soon, or wolf down some heavy enough food like bread.
I force away my shock and tell myself there’s a reasonable explanation. I escape the laundry room and start rushing down the hall. Still as stealthy as I can be, but with my footsteps significantly faster.
The only thing is, I’m no longer alone. As I flee down the hall, beelining for the bathroom, I feel a change in the air. IfeelKaden’s presence.
It looms over me, invading the hall, cloaking everything it touches with an unmistakable dark aura.
I stumble trying to stop. My breath’s caught in my lungs.
He’s behind me.
“I didn’t want to wake you,” I choke out. “I was… I was looking for a hand towel.”
Silence answers me, and then… the first measured pad of a footstep. Then another. And another, until he’s closing in and his aura’s so stifling, I feel dizzy.
But I still don’t turn around.
It doesn’t matter. Kaden stops directly behind me and leans in. His lips brush my ear. His voice is cool and controlled, eliciting an icy shiver from me.
“I thought I told you not to go wandering in places you shouldn’t be.”
16Kaden
Obsessed - Zandros & Limi
“Iwas grabbing a towel to wash my hands,” Lyra sputters. “Just really quick. I didn’t… see… anything…”
She trails off in a manner that reveals she hasn’t even convinced herself. Shedidsee something. It’s reflected in every stilted bone of her body and stiff breath she tries to drag into her lungs. Her words may be in denial, however, her voice drips of confession.
Lyra disobeyed my wishes. She went wandering in my penthouse when I explicitly forbade her to do so.
I’ve ended people’s existence for less. A viable option considering the task I’ve been given by the Owner. I was supposed to finish the job days ago—ensure Lyra was dealt with so what happened on stage would never be tracked back to the Society.
For now, Lyra will suffer a different kind of punishment.
My hands enclose around her upper arms, and I steer her down the path in the hall from which she came. Initially, for the first few steps, she resists me, trying to bear down with her feet and refrain from moving.
There is no choice in the matter.
I simplymakeher move, driving her forward despite her protests. Though I can’t see her face, I know where she thinks we’re going—she believes I’m returning her to the laundry room where she’d wandered off to against my wishes.
Instead, I catch her by surprise, and steer her to the second to last door on the left. I reach in front of her, and pry open the door. We enter a room that’s often hidden away. It’s a dungeon of sorts—filled with instruments that I use to derive both pleasure and pain. There are shelves with toys and devices Lyra’s probably never imagined. In the center is a leather bench that I’ve found great use in. That Lyra will soon discover can make her toes curl from euphoric highs or make her scream out in pleas of mercy.
My personal play room.
Few women have earned the privilege of venturing inside.
“What is…?” she begins, half turning.
I tighten my hold on her upper arms and keep her in place. “Take a guess. Look around you.”
Her uncertainty lives in how she follows my instruction; she glances from wall to wall and surveys the various devices on display. She’s standing still enough that I can sense her heart pounding in her chest.
“You said you’re into certain things,” she says in a quiet tone. “I’m guessing the things in this room.”
“Good guess. Now, can you tell me why I’ve brought you in here?”
“Kaden, I don’t… this isn’t my—”