Page 15 of Obsessive Stalker

But the ownership I desire over Kristen isn’t the kind of ownership that Martin speaks of. He speaks of the subjugation of women, debasing them and reducing them to objects.

And there’s a vast, vast difference in the kind of ownership I desire.

I want all of Kristen. And that includes her pleasure, her joy, her happy memories. And I want to be responsible for Kristen, taking care of her every need and desire, ensuring that she is safe and protected. I want positive ownership over her, to care for her like the treasure she is.

But I can’t explain any of this to a man like him. It’s not something he could understand. His mind is old, decayed, stuck in its ways, rotted from the inside from decades of evil.

“Here’s the deal,” Martin continues, his face twisting into a smirk. “I scratch your back, you scratch mine. You want Kristen, fine. We’ll deliver her to you on a silver platter.”

“You don’t even know me,” I say. “And yet you’ll give your daughter over to me, a complete stranger? Never seeing her again, potentially? I could be a killer, a rapist, a…”

“Get off your fucking high horse,” Martin says, his face turning angry. “As though we’re not cut from the same cloth. You have your business, I have mine. I won’t ask why you desire Kristen, and you won’t ask why I need her to disappear.”

Disappear.

“What are your conditions?” I ask.

“Conditions?”

“Don’t fuck with me,” I say. “What do you get out of this? What are the conditions? You’re not giving your daughter to me for nothing.”

“Oh, myconditions,”Martin says, nodding his head. “I see. You’ll love this. My conditions are few, Damien. All I really ask is that you change her identity. A new name, a new social security number…everything must be wiped clean, with the woman by the name Kristen Redding presumed dead by the authorities. Of course, I will help you with this free of charge. As you know, I’m very good at making people disappear.”

He winks at me and I feel sickened. I want to cross this room right now and strangle him, right now. I’ve never wanted to murder a man more than I want to murder Martin Redding right now for the way he talks about his daughter, for the way he acts as though Kristen is something for him to casually discard.

But we’re on his turf, with his men just outside. So instead, I just nod.

“Of course,” I say.

“We’ll finalize the details next week,” Martin says with a dismissive wave of his hand. “You can go without the object of your desire for a little longer, yes? Just to give me enough time to get things in order.”

“Yes,” I say with a curt nod. “One week. No longer than that.”

He chuckles again.

“So eager,” he says. “Fair enough.”

“I still don’t understand what you get out of this,” I say. “Making your daughter disappear…”

Martin looks at me, his eyes dark and hollow even while his mouth curls into an unpleasant smile.

“We all have our reasons,” he says. “It’s best for everybody that you don’t go prying into mine.”

8

Kristen

I stayin the bedroom for hours after Damien leaves, pacing the room, exploring the closets, thinking about how the hell I’m going to get out of this situation.

But Damien seems to have thought of everything. He wasn’t kidding when he said he prepared for my arrival.

Not only is there a closet full of expensive clothing tailor made for my body, but there are toiletries in the bathroom that match my own set back at the house in Tahoe. This gesture feels almost…touching.

For a moment I look at the bottles of my preferred brand of shampoo and conditioner, lined up side by side in the oversized walk-in shower, and feel a warmth towards Damien that I haven’t experienced before. Not lust, not the hot desire that courses through my veins whenever he touches me. It’s a different type of warmth. Almost like love.

But then I remember Damien is my kidnapper, and I’m his captor.

Just because he’s made your cage comfortable, that doesn’t mean it isn’t a cage.

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