Page 124 of Stalker

“You don’t own me, Wilder.” I watched as he moved to sit in one of his comfortable chairs, a king on a throne. He looked so damn handsome, his hair still damp from a shower. A shower he’d forced me to share with him.

Not that I’d minded.

I licked my lips in appreciation and tried to keep my mind on business. I needed to contact my office, but Wilder had made it perfectly clear I was to remain locked behind his fortress walls until he and his brothers apprehended and killed their father.

Patricide.

I honestly had no feelings about the man’s possible death one way or the other.

“Possession is nine tenths of the law. I assure you that I can and will keep you here. Now, tell me about the videos.”

Now he had the tone of a patronizing father.

My stomach churned from the continued swell of butterflies. Or maybe it was actually rocks. I stared into the glass of wine, returning to the window a few seconds later. He allowed me to remain quiet without pushing me into speaking. But there was no reason to keep anything from him at this point.

“You’re wondering why,” I whispered.

“Why?”

“Why I made the videos.”

“I’m sure you had your reasons.”

“At first, the videos were a way of helping pay the bills and nothing else,” I admitted. I wasn’t facing him. I couldn’t stand to look at his face. Not after what had occurred between us. There was no logical reason why other than I was unable to accept that Wilder was right about me.

That I was a completely different woman than I’d led myself to believe.

“Why not waiting tables? Why not flipping burgers? Modeling. Hell, you’re a fucking knockout.”

He made the questions sound so reasonable, so easy as if the answers should come to me easily.

They didn’t.

I pulled the glass of wine to my lips, wishing there was ice clinking against the thin crystal to ease the pain behind my eyes. I doubted anything could do that at this point. My headache wasn’t about what had happened on the beach, but what had captured my soul years before.

“Because neither paid enough. I had scholarships, but my parents couldn’t afford to cover the difference. Between room and board, I was drowning.”

He chuckled, the sound as if a distant echo.

Yet it burned into my brain.

“Perhaps a portion of the reality you face is what allows you to easily slide into a mask. No longer are you the respected attorney, but instead a woman only satisfied when embracing a more seductive personality. The enjoyment and satisfaction began to outweigh the tactical reasons. Why continue to try and fool yourself? What is the point in doing so after all these years?”

“Because…” I stopped before another lie could be told. A bitter laugh slipped up from my throat. “The money was the initial attraction. I couldn’t make in a week what I was able to secure for a single night working two jobs. I’d believed the videos were temporary, a few months only.”

“Something changed.”

I threw him a look, rolling my eyes. “Yes, maybe everything.” How was he able to drag my darkest secret from its protective shell?

“After the lure of cash was no longer the excuse, what then?”

“You’re such a bastard,” I whispered. His challenge was infuriating. “Fine. After that, I enjoyed the attention. I thrived on pretending, no longer caged by the insane belief I was required to be a good girl all the time. Every single moment. I valued the dip into depravity, savoring every moment of being someone else. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“I only wanted to hear the truth. There is nothing wrong with craving something out of your comfort zone. Nothing.”

“Said by a man who kills people.”

“A mere necessity.” He chuckled instead of being insulted.

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