Sapphire sat on the bench, admiring the view, and suddenly, her face brightened up in a smile as she tipped her head back, allowing me to admire her beauty in the moonlight, and for the first time in my fucked-up life, my chest squeezed.
Mine.
Mine! Mine! Mine! screamed the voice in my head and my cock hardened from the idea of possessing her.
In that moment, I understood Sapphire Blake wasn't an easy target, and she couldn’t be used in my carefully staged plan.
She was going to be mine.
Sapphire
The apartment.
He brought me back to the city? Without any words, Damian let me out of the car, took out the bags from the trunk, and guided us to the elevator. An older lady kept it open for us then chatted about the amazing weather, probably not noticing how tense both of us were. Finally, we ended up on his floor, he grabbed my hand as we exited the elevator, and we ended up in front of his door. He opened it quickly, but once we were inside, Damian let go of me, leaving me standing in the middle of the living room while he went to the bar and poured himself a glass of whiskey.
“We are in New York,” I said dumbly, and he chuckled.
“Yeah, I don’t decorate all my apartments the same way.”
Ignoring his sarcasm, I threw the scarf from my neck down and focused my attention on him. “What are we doing here?”
He sipped his drink, his eyes focusing on something over my shoulder. “I’m giving you a choice.”
“Choice?” A few hours ago, he made me constantly repeat that my body belonged to him, and all of a sudden, he was giving me choices?
“You can stay with me and be mine. Or, you can leave now and not come back. I won’t look for you, won’t force you to do anything anymore. You’ll have your freedom.”
I blinked, trying to wrap my mind around his words and failing to do so. “What?”
He turned his back on me, putting a few ice cubes in his glass. By the tension in his shoulders, I knew the conversation was affecting him as much as it was me. “I wanted you from the first moment I saw you. We had electrifying touches and glances, and there is chemistry between us. I dreamed of you being mine. However, I never imagined you’d compare me to those men who kept me hostage all those years.”
My body heated with shame remembering my words to him. Words said in the heat of the moment, when anger and humiliation over how easily he could master my body drove me crazy. Kidnapping me was on him, yes. But raping and using my body? No, everything had been consensual.
However, could I live with the man whose ultimate goal was to kill my father? A man whose hands were tainted with blood? A man with a lot of psychological issues, which would last a lifetime and might never be cured? Was I strong enough to be in this relationship?
Could my one and only be a serial killer?
Not having any answers to those questions, with one last glance at his back, I left the apartment and wandered the streets of New York, hoping the walk would clear my mind so I could make the right choice.
Damian
The view of New York at night from the penthouse was mesmerizing. Cars moving, people walking, lights illuminating all imperfection and the perfect rhythm. The city represented freedom for me, and I couldn't imagine living anywhere else. Twelve years ago, once I came back from hell, the idea that no one here would know anything about me thrilled me. The city gave me the opportunity to start fresh. No one could confine me here, no restrictions, no chains.
I remembered taking hours and hours going around the city, exploring every corner, discovering my favorite places ‘til my legs were numb and my feet were blistered. After the cage Dominic and I were kept in, a day hadn’t gone by without me doing some walking. The ability to do whatever the fuck a person wanted was taken for granted by many people, and sometimes I wanted to shake those people who sat on their asses and shout at them to wake up and use all the opportunities available to them, or someone could come and snatch it from them. New York centered and calmed me, always.
However, Sapphire was gone, and that was something even the sight of New York couldn't fix. Giving her a choice was essential. She was my singular obsession, possession, and my woman. But the words she threw at me in the dungeon—that I was the same as my captors using her for sex, keeping her against her will—snapped and broke a part of me. I had never wanted anyone to feel like that from my hands. My intentions were always for her to accept me for who I was, support me in my mission, and let me cherish her for the rest of my life, once the vengeance for my brother’s death was satisfied. Sapphire didn’t understand that my brain didn't operate normally. I was damaged inside and out. For me, she was my only salvation.