Page 58 of Haunted

The ankle restraints strike first.

Metal coils around her legs, the titanium will be warm from the heated water, but unyielding. Her gasp echoesthrough the chamber as the chains pull taut and yank her vertically, submerging her momentarily until she breaks through the surface, gasping and trying to swim away, but held in helpless suspension by the chains around her ankles.

“What—” Her words cut off as the wrist restraints follow their programmed sequence.

More chains come out from the sides of the pool, capturing her arms. The system pulls her limbs outward, spreading her like a starfish vertically. Her head remains above the waterline—I’m not interested in drowning her, only in demonstrating the futility of running.

The red silk clings to her skin, translucent now from the water, outlining every curve as she tests the restraints. The chains hold firm, anchored to mechanisms thirty feet below. She could struggle for hours without loosening a single link.

“Xavier!” Her voice carries across the chamber. “Let me go!”

I watch her strain, muscles flexing as she tries to free herself. The system adjusts automatically, maintaining enough tension to keep her spread wide without causing injury.

Her breathing quickens as she realizes the hopelessness of her situation. The chains extend from anchor points designed to bear ten times her weight. She might as well be trying to break free from bedrock.

I place the tablet to the side and remove my jacket. The leather slides from my shoulders onto the floor.

Behind the one-way glass, I remain invisible to her frantic searching. She twists her head left and right,trying to locate the source of her captivity while the chains keep her in position.

My boots hit the floor with twin thuds that echo through the room. Then, the rest of my clothes and mask, leaving me completely naked.

The service entrance on the opposite side of the chamber opens silently, concealed behind decorative stonework that appears to be part of the wall. I slip into the warm water without a splash, submerging myself completely before surfacing behind her suspended form.

Her breathing fills the chamber, rapid and desperate, as she continues testing the titanium restraints that hold her suspended like an offering in the water.

She hasn’t noticed me yet.

I glide closer, my movements creating no disturbance in the heated pool.

My hands emerge from the depths and close around her hips with firm possession.

“NO!” The scream tears from her throat, echoing off the chamber walls as I press my hard length against the curve of her ass. The silk provides no barrier, it’s simply a whisper of wet fabric between us that’s bunched up below her ass.

Her body jerks against the restraints, sending ripples across the water’s surface. The chains hold her exactly where I want her—unable to escape, unable to turn around, unable to do anything but feel my erection grinding against her.

“Shh,” I murmur against the shell of her ear. “You signed the contract, Mira. You agreed to this.”

“I didn’t—I never—” Her words fracture as tremors rack through her suspended form.

“You knew exactly what you were getting into.” My lips brush her neck, tasting the salt of her exertion mixed with the pool’s mineral oils. “A brilliant journalist like you? You researched us thoroughly before walking into Purgatory.”

My grip on her hips tightens, pulling her back against me with deliberate pressure. The silk slides against my skin, slick and heated from the water.

“You wanted to uncover our secrets,” I continue. “Well, here they are. Every dark truth you’ve been hunting lives in this maze, in these chambers, in what I’m going to do to you.”

Her trembling increases, sending small waves through the water around us. I can feel the fear radiating from her body, but underneath it, want is there. A craving that makes my cock throb harder against her ass.

“Tell me, angel,” I whisper, my voice dropping to pure menace. “How does it feel to finally have the whole story?”

Her resistance crumbles like sand through my fingers.

The trembling that racks her suspended form transforms into surrender disguised as defeat, desire masquerading as desperation. Her back curves against my chest, pressing herself into me despite the titanium chains that hold her captive.

“Xavier,” she whispers, my name falling from her lips like a prayer and a curse combined.

I feel the exact moment her body betrays her mind. The tension in her muscles shifts, her hips tilting back to meet me instead of fighting to escape. The red silk has become nothing more than a suggestion between us, soaked through.

My cock slides between her spread thighs with silken ease, the heated water making everything impossibly smooth. She gasps at the contact, her head falling back against my shoulder as I position myself against her entrance through the flimsy barrier of wet silk.

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