“Alaric!”
He disconnected the call. I stared at the screen taking this as his confirmation he had a hand in why Chloe cut all contact with me. I rubbed my brow and looked out the window towards the ocean.
What was this man planning?
CHAPTER SEVEN
Curiosity was a good thing.
Until it wasn’t.
Catalina was like an ornery kitten. No pun intended. She couldn’t simply sit aside and allow me to complete this last part of the deal without hindrance.
When this was all out of the way we would be free to truly begin creating a life together. There was so much to learn about one another and even more for her to slowly be revealed.
I could not dump all the truth on her at once. I said I wanted to give her a small push over the edge, not throw her off like I was pitching for an MLB team. She needed to retain who she was at her core, simply allowing the more debased parts to wake up with my continued help.
With Rebecca fucking up monumentally for herself, it was best to move things a bit quicker than I initially intended. Things were becoming rather tedious and annoying.
I sent out three texts.
One to Johnathon Peen.
The second to my brother.
And a third to Catalina’s cunt of a mother.
Things would have to play out accordingly from here.
CHAPTER EIGHT
I purposely waited until fifteen after before walking out the door. The warm air felt good on my skin. I’d put on a chevron sundress with some basic black sandals and redid my braids.
There was no sign of Rebecca, her piss puddle and heel, or her car. Demitri must have dealt with it per Alaric’s instruction. I didn’t feel any sympathy for her. Had she just left me alone she wouldn’t have embarrassed herself like that.
The two men were standing near the open trunk of an Audi. When I was spotted, Alaric slammed it shut and said some parting words to his loyal friend before circling to greet me.
He wrapped his arms around my waist and placed a kiss on my lips. “You look cute.”
“Cute? What am I, twelve?”
He smirked. “Considering you just childishly made me wait fifteen minutes for you to come out here, the age matches the behavior.”
“I didn’t.”
He lightly slapped my ass and released me. “I know everything you do, Cat. Come on, get in.”
He led me to the opposite side of his sleek car and opened the passenger door for me like a gentleman. I got in and buckled my seatbelt, settling against the cool leather seats. He got in the driver’s seat and made a quick U-turn in his driveway.
“Why aren’t you driving that one?” I pointed to the luxury car I’d seen the first day I got here.
“Bianca is only driven for special occasions. Like the first time I take you out.”
“You’ve got it all figured out, huh?”
“Yes,” he answered matter-of-factly. “You’re going to live a good life. No more hiding away from the world. I want you to experience everything.”
There was a silent with me in there.
“I don’t like airplanes or people.”
“You don’t need to like anyone but me. I only need you to tolerate my brother, respect my mother and father, and be kind to the few friends I do have.”
Woah. My head spun in his direction. “Alaric, I think you’re getting a little--.”
“As for the plane, we can fly by private jet.”
My disbelief turned into a scowl. “That’s not being resourceful with your money.”
“I’m going to fuck my fiancé all over the world. What better investment is there?”
This man was truly something else.
“Do you need a rundown of everything that’s happened so far? You were drugging me. I can’t remember half the things I did in that state or how much of what was done really happened or not. I’m not going to magically forgive you or get over it.”
He nodded, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. “I didn’t say you should do any of that nor did I disregard your feelings.” He slowed and took the car around a tight curve. “I can be a terrible fucking person. That’s a matter of opinion. At the end of the day, I’m all you’ve got. I’m yours and you’re mine. We might as well make the best of life together.”
Holy hell. I knew he didn’t see anything wrong with how this relationship transpired or all the things that were unspoken between us.
It was a whole different matter to have that validated. There was no point in arguing with him over this. It wouldn’t get me anywhere.
“Where are we going?”
“To get you some closure.”
That was the last thing he said before he reached out and tapped on the car’s center screen to put on some music.
I stared out the window and watched the changing scenery.
He pulled into a lower parking deck and maneuvered his car into a spot that had been reserved just for him.
“Why did you bring me here?”
“Closure,” he repeated and got out.
I unclipped my seatbelt and did the same. There weren’t many cars parked here. All the ones I did were worth a pretty penny. Alaric waited for me to reach him and then took my hand.
“Wasn’t there something in your trunk?”
“…There was,” he answered slowly.
We walked to an elevator which he accessed with a special key card that had his Dream Garden logo imprinted. The lift took us down to a level four. Exiting the elevator, he firmed his grip on my hand and led me deeper into the building.
“This is where you work?”
“My pride and joy.”
“This is a clinic? It’s the size of a small hospital but doesn’t look like a hospital.”
“That’s what we were aiming for.” He glanced over at me and winked.
I looked all around in stupefied awe. My house wasn’t even this luxurious.
The floors were shiny and sleek. Beautiful dark photography decorated the walls. A melodic tune played from the loudspeakers overhead.
We reached a check-in area where an elderly woman with dyed hair had to grant us access to pass. She had a Root Beer in one hand and a copy of the Sheik’s kidnapped Bride cradled in her other. She noticed we were standing there and quickly lowered her book to buzz us through.
“Lisa, Catalina. Catalina, Lisa,” Alaric introduced off-handedly as we passed.
“Nice to meet you,” she called after me.
“Why’d you drag me away so quick?”
“Because that woman will talk to you for a good forty-five minutes about trivial bullshit and I’ve already been stuck with her twice today.”
“Oh.” I glanced back and took note of how reinforced the area was that we just came through. “Um, what is this place? I mean, the level we’re on specifically?”
“You’ll see in less than ten seconds.”
We kept going, breezing by door after door with square block windows. Something in a room on the left caught my eye but Alaric gave me no time to stop and look inside. He slowed two doors over from that one, at room numbered eight-zero-six.
“Look.” He let go of my hand and motioned for me to come forward.
“Am I allowed to just look in these rooms?”
“The owner of the clinic personally brought you here. What do you think?”
“I think of HIPPA.”
He ignored me and took hold of my shoulders to physically place me in front of the door.
I stared through the window not sure if what I was seeing was real. A noose hung from the ceiling just above a step stool. Rebecca was inside too, stripped naked and her hair a wild mess.
She was walking the room with her hands reaching out like a zombie. This was a stark contrast to the confident and proud woman I sat with at the dinner table.
“We can see her, but she can’t see us. The window was designed that way. For her, it's pitch black. The temperature will go from hot and freezing to mild. There�
��s music playing too, we just can’t hear it. Rooms soundproofed.”
“Are all these rooms like this?”
He laughed lightly. “Of course, not. Only this one. There are legitimate incurables here getting high-quality treatment. That’s why it’s designed so comfortably.”
Moving on from him calling these poor people incurables, Rebecca was not one of them. She wasn’t sick.
“W-why is she in there?”
“Because I’m going to help her free herself of this burdensome life.”
My entire body went rigid. He said that so nonchalantly as if announcing he was going to go swimming tomorrow.
“Hey, relax,” he soothed, placing his hands on my hips. “I would never do this to you.”
I wasn’t sure I believed those words. He’d known this woman much longer than he had me.
“I thought she was your friend.”
“She was someone that took advantage of the chances I gave and tried to sabotage the life I’m creating.”
“No one is allowed to take you away. Do you how long I waited for you to show up?”
I didn’t. I had only pieced together that my arrival on his doorstep had little to do with my sister. He pieced together a strategic plan to take complete possession of me and control over my life, and then he executed it.
I fully believed it was my mother who helped him. He said he purchased me. It would’ve been from her. For a man who killed his dinner guests, the purchase of a person would be rather trivial in terms of right and wrong.
“How is this giving me closure?”
He kissed the side of my neck and nuzzled my cheek, speaking softly in my ear.
“I wanted you to see where your sister killed herself. It was a bit different than this. I think the bullet hole is still in the padded wall.”
I didn’t dare turn around.
I couldn’t if I wanted.
He’d told me to relax, but my body was going through a million different phases. My heart was about to fly out of my chest.
“Meg said she was sick…”
“She was sick. How do you think she wound up here?”
I swallowed around a thick lump in my throat. I think I got the gist of what he was saying. Meg was mentally ill. I didn’t know if it was because of her being hitched to Alaric and him playing his game with her, or it was due to her truly being unwell. The outcome was beyond screwed up no matter which way I looked at it.
“How will you do it?”
I was morbidly curious about this.
“I have an intercom and the room's surveillance system linked to some devices I keep handy.”
“So, when you’re bored you just whip them out like a Switch and get to playing? This is so…”
Hold it together, Catalina. Don’t freak out now.
He turned me around so that I was facing him, pressing my body against the door with his. “They all deserved this, Cat. You didn’t know them like I did.”
“I…I know,” I stuttered, taken aback by the coldness in his eyes. “Good.”
His flip switched and he smiled softly, pressing my mouth with a firm kiss. I wasn’t going to deny him. Not after seeing all of this.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back, pressing my pussy into his cock. He pulled away with an inquisitive look on his face. His eyes went to just above my head and he seemed to be looking at something.
“Let’s get you home. We’re not done talking yet.”
Nodding, I took hold of his arm and started walking back down the hallway. I glanced behind me in time to see Rebecca staring right at us through the glass block window. The look in her eyes was something I’d never forget.
CHAPTER NINE
I didn’t know anymore.
There was simmering chaos bubbling in my mind. I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience, not unlike the ones I had after consuming a cocktail.
But I hadn’t drunk anything.
Vanilla scented bubbles swirled around in the tub as the water got higher. I stared at them blankly until a pair of strong hands gently began to remove my sundress.
He hadn’t said too much and neither had I. What did you say to someone after a trip like that? If I saw that ward in twenty years, it would be too soon. I lifted my legs and kicked my underwear off once they slid down.
“Get in,” Alaric urged gently.
I walked the few steps to the tub and climbed in, gingerly taking a seat near one of the jets. I pulled my legs to my chest and sank back to brace myself. Bubbles accumulated around me and did a good job of covering most of my nudity.
The warm water was like a balm to a war-ravaged soul. I could slip under right now and allow it to cleanse everything away, but then I would have gone through this for nothing.
“Catalina.”
“Hm?” I looked at him and noticed he was holding two glasses in his hands.
One red wine and another of water. There was a look in his eyes that had me giving him my undivided attention.
“This is your usual beverage of choice. This is mine.” He lifted the water and then the wine. “We can be done with this tonight. I’ll get rid of all the vials first thing tomorrow. First, though, you have to give me what I want.”
We were back to this again. I dared to ask. “What happens if I don’t?”
“Then you’re going to drink every drop of water in this glass each night until you’re so confused about your existence that you become what I want you to be anyways, with some slight side-effects.”
“…I…”
“We can do this the easy way.”
“And what is that?”
“Promise all the things I asked you to and allow me to help you be yourself for once.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Let me fully wake up that beautiful, demented woman you’ve suppressed. The person you become when you’re toeing the line of reality is extraordinary, but you’re also the beautiful woman I’m talking to right now.”
Did that mean my dreams weren’t dreams? Did I have a split personality or something? I didn’t think that was the case. Perhaps it was something like it and he wanted to bring the two halves he was speaking of together. Alaric did a wonderful job of confusing the shit out of me while making perfect sense only to himself.
“I just want to live a life of peace and quiet. I don’t want to wake up every day wondering if I’ve lost my mind or if the man, I love has slipped something in my drink.”
“The man you love?” He beamed at me.
I sank deeper into the water. “It was a figure of speech.”
“Doesn’t matter.” He went to the sink and dumped the water out, leaving the glass behind on the vanity. The wine was placed on the thick ledge of the jacuzzi tub. He flited over to his bathroom cabinets and retrieved a small brown bottle. That was placed beside the wine.
He removed his clothes, standing stark naked right in front of me. My attention went right to his muscled body, sweeping down every defined outline to the that even semi-hard, was impressive.
“Let me know when you’re done,” he intoned jokingly.
“You shouldn’t put it in my face like that then.”
“Catalina, if my dick was in your face, it would be between those pretty pink lips.” He walked over to the tub and climbed in with me. He placed his body beside mine and easily pulled me over to rest between his long legs, nearly on his lap.
I rested my back against his chest, slightly angling my head so he had somewhere to rest his chin.
“I’m scared,” I admittedly quietly.
“I know.” He kissed my cheek and slid one hand slightly lower. “You don’t ever have to be afraid. As long as you love me and stay by my side things won’t be much different than this. I promised you.”
Had he? He’d presented me with two choices and only one was viable even if it didn’t make a lot of sense to me right then, but this was the best route for self-preservation. “You know what I’m going to choo
se. It’s going to be you.”
A deep breath expelled from him, like a weight just lifted, and dropped another kiss onto my shoulder. “Get on your knees, Cat.”
He let me go so that I could follow his command.
I inched forward and did as he asked, causing my breasts to be all the way exposed and a little cold.
“Bend over the side of the tub.”
“Um…” I trailed off and scooted over to the edge nearest me. I repositioned so that I was sitting on my knees and placed my elbows on the rim of the tub. “Like this?”
“Perfect.” He palmed my ass, methodically kneading the flesh. “I’m going to fuck you just like this.” His hands moved up my sides, skimming back down again to play with me.
He reached for something I couldn’t see. There was the sound of a bottle opening, and then a cool liquid was being squirted between my two globes. Alaric ran his fingers through some of it, teasing the excess into my ass. I sucked in a breath as he added a finger, and then another. He teased the rim, gently stretching me.
“How’s that feel?” His fingers thrust in, slowly coming back out.
“Diff…rent,” I replied with a moan as he repeated the motion.
He rose up and positioned himself behind me, adding more lubricant to my entrance and slathering it on his cock. The bubbled bathwater sloshed with a mini-wave as he lined himself up with me. I closed my eyes and swallowed, grasping the side of the tub.
“Just breathe,” he coaxed, easing in inch by inch.
I was already focused on that. If I tensed up it would hurt more. There was almost like a resistance pushing back at him. It wasn’t necessarily a bad pain, more of intense pressure and strong pinching sensation. He eased out and then thrust one last time, shoving his cock fully in my ass. I closed my eyes, unable to repress a shocked cry.
He grabbed the back of my neck, bracing himself with his other hand on the side of the tub I clung to as he fucked me earnestly. Water sloshed in every direction, some of it onto the bathroom floor.
As he continued pounding into my ass the initial feeling faded and a surprisingly nice one took its place. So nice I began asking him to go harder to make it stronger.
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