Blackmailed into the Billionaire's Bed(9)

That voice…that voice…she knew it…she recognized it, but she didn’t want to recognize it, because more than anything else in the world, it frightened her.

When she finally spoke, her voice trembled from her lips in short sharp pants. “Who is it…please?”

The crazy demonic laugh that came back at her further reinforced what she already knew.

“As if you don’t fucking know.”

“Karl?”

“Got it in one, whore.”

“You’re…you’re out.”

“Let out early for good behavior.”

Karl Graves was an animal in human form. Incapable of empathy or remorse, he was a man without a soul, an individual unable to tell right from wrong. It was her evidence some six and a half years ago that had put him behind bars. He hadn’t been incarcerated in any ordinary prison either. The judge in charge had thought him too dangerous for that, and she couldn’t help but agree. No, he’d been caged up in the Attica Correctional Facility, a godless place that housed prisoners, or should that be inmates who blurred the lines between everyday criminals and all-out nutjobs? Karl Graves was dangerous in the extreme, and she’d hoped never to hear his chilling voice again. She instinctively placed her hand over her mouth to stop the rising bile that threatened to spew from her.

Kendall remembered the day of his sentence as though it were yesterday. Judge Barnes had given him twelve years, which was the maximum the law allowed, but after only six and a half it seemed he was out. How the hell had he obtained her personal number? People who knew what this animal was capable of would change states just to avoid him.

Hating the silence on the line that now existed between them, but despising the sound of his voice even more, she tried to compose herself as best she could. A skill she’d always prided herself on in times of extreme stress.

“Karl?”

“Still right here, bitch. I ain’t going nowhere.”

She put a hand to her mouth again. God how she hated this guy. She knew it sounded uncaring, but after he was put away, she longed to hear that he’d been killed by the other inmates. Guys who were as crazy as he was. It never happened. However crazy the other guys were at the Attica Correctional Facility, he was even crazier, and she figured during his time inside, he’d scared the shit out of even the hardest lifers in that godforsaken place. Now, on the other end of the telephone line, he was scaring the crap out of her.

It unnerved her that he had access to her telephone number. What else did he know about her? Did he know where she lived? For her own personal safety, she’d moved home several times since his trial, becoming almost paranoid about what would happen when he was finally released. Well, that time was right here, right now.

Was he calling her from across the street, or worse still, standing in the corridor outside her apartment, waiting to break down the door and do to her what he’d done to her best friend? She could tell from the aggressive tone of his voice that he wanted payback for her involvement in his sentence.

The thought that he could be less than fifty feet from her made the panic rise within her, and she shook so much she could barely hold the receiver to her ear.

“Karl…Karl…” She didn’t want her voice to tremble, well aware that it empowered him, even to the point of turning the sick fucker on. “Please, listen to me. I had to give evidence against you. What you did to Ashley was sick. You needed help.”

“Fuck you, bitch. Me and Ashley were just fine until you stuck your fucking nose into our affairs.”

Ashley Masterson was her best friend. It had been that way since they had first met at kindergarten when they were just five. They’d spontaneously gravitated toward each other without any effort whatsoever, and had been inseparable ever since, confiding in each other as only genuine friends who shared the same wavelength could. That was until Karl Graves had come on the scene. Initially, he’d charmed her best friend, charmed her even, but then wasn’t every psychopath charming? But as their relationship had progressed, she’d seen through him, and what she found underneath worried her, making her fear for Ashley’s safety and well-being. She’d been right to be suspicious, because his charm offensive hadn’t lasted long, and as the weeks became months, the sadistic beatings he gave Ashley became increasingly more brutal, causing her best friend to need hospitalization on a regular basis.

Why the hell hadn’t Ashley seen through this guy, because I sure as hell did? Perhaps love really is blind.

Such was the power he exerted over Ashley, he controlled every aspect of her life. What she wore. What she ate. Where she was allowed to go. Whom she was allowed to meet. The sick bastard had extinguished the life force that had once burned so brightly, forbidding her to even make contact with friends and family.