Veiled Obsession(36)
“The night I met you was the best day of my life. I’d been following you for months and then finally, my chance came. You finally fell right into my lap. I couldn’t let you go. I wanted to keep you, to own you forever. I’ll never let you go.” He closed his eyes, sighed, and opened them again. “I love you enough, Haley, to give you another chance. If you try to leave me again, if I even suspect that you’re up to something, you’ll end up right where those two are. Or I’ll call the cops on you and tell them what you did.”
My road had finally ended. I was headed nowhere but toward death. If I stayed with him, I would die inside. If I left, I’d end up dead too. Jude was sick and obsessed. How do you fight against a sick man, a man who was so damaged he wouldn’t think twice before taking another person’s life?
“How did you find me?” I asked even if it didn’t matter anymore. Nothing did.
“I own this town. Almost everyone who came in contact with you is on my payroll. Even the taxi driver who drove you to your wonderful friend Diana’s place. I was in Serendipity even before you, thanks to the tracker in your phone.”
All warmth left my body and I closed my eyes as I dreaded asking the next question. One last question before the handcuffs clicked. “Diana?” My words tumbled out in a broken whisper.
“I paid her to be your friend. Everyone has their price. A struggling mother with mounting debts and bastard mouths to feed wasn’t hard to buy. I paid off her debts in one day, and offered her more money than she made in two years.”
“The luxury apartment.” I was in so much shock I didn’t even realize I’d spoken the words aloud. She had lied.
“Yes, that’s right. That whole apartment building is mine.” He took my hand and held it up to his lips. “Forget what happened. You’re back now. Just don’t try this nonsense again. I have eyes everywhere. And I don’t have a conscience when it comes to punishing those who betray me.”
I sank to my knees and wept for a long time until I could only heave.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
His hands slipped underneath both my armpits and he lifted me to my feet. With no energy left, and aching all over, I couldn’t stand. He didn’t care. He dragged me out of the room, through his office, and up the stairs as if I were a rag doll. I felt every bump, every scratch on my naked skin, until we entered the bathroom where he lifted me and attempted to lower me into a tub filled to the brim with water.
Thinking he was about to drown me, fear surged through me and I found a hidden resource of energy and fought against him, kicking and screaming and clawing at the air. As usual, I was no match for him. He didn’t even break a sweat as he managed to settle me into the suds. As the water surrounded me, I was still screaming and kicking, sending water splashing everywhere.
He slapped me hard across the face, and I stilled.
“Shut up,” he said through his teeth as he tightened his grip under my arms. “I’m not going to kill you. Not yet.” He reached for a sponge and threw it at me. “You stink. Wash yourself and come downstairs for lunch.”
Nodding, I took the sponge and noticed the burns on the top of my hand. They were not as big as I thought they would be, but my brain remembered the hot oil pouring onto my skin and the pain followed. I bit it back.
Jude left the bathroom, closing the door behind him.
Finally alone, I did the one thing I desired most. I turned on the tap and drank until I could no longer squeeze a drop into my stomach. With quenched thirst, some of my strength returned. Then somehow, with a broken finger and a burnt hand, I managed to wash my face and rest of my body.
Climbing out of the deep, massive bath was a struggle that landed me on the thick bath mat.
I pulled a gown from a rail and pulled it on. Then I looked myself in the mirror. I saw a different woman, a battered women with a fat bruise under one of the red, swollen eyes, and pale skin. How could he do this to me? How could he claim to love me and hurt me this way? I couldn’t let him do this to me again. Now that I knew what he was capable of, that he was a murderer, I had to do everything he wanted. I couldn’t be his next murder victim.
***
He was sitting on our bed when I entered the room, a white first aid box next to him.
He asked me to sit so he could treat my burns and put a splint on my finger. Then he led me downstairs to the dining room. The table was laden with all kinds of food.
“I ordered it all for you. You must be hungry.” He pulled out a chair for me and I sat without a word, my eyes not leaving the pork chops. I couldn’t wait to stuff my face.
He didn’t eat, just watched as I piled my plate with food and ate it all. When I was too full to eat anymore, he poured me a glass of sparkling water, but since my stomach was already filled with water from the bathroom, I just cupped the glass with both my bandaged hands and gazed into his evil eyes. “What do you want me to do?”