Page 11 of Sinner's Obsession

I lean into Sawyer, the chief of security.

“Everything cleared,” he informs me.

Shaking hands and small talk is a must in maintaining the façade of someone who cares. I only care about what they can do for me. Women hang on their arms, never their wives or girlfriends.

I am so fucking bored with the scene. Sex, alcohol, gambling, drugs. It never changes, just the players from time to time.

I give Cato and Cameron a sign that I am out. There is no challenge for me here. Nothing jolts me from this permanently comatose state of functioning.

I go back to the office and stare at the picture. Ever since I saw Hayden Carrera, my brain has worked overtime to piece something together. But the fucking puzzle won’t reveal itself.

Friday approaches like a panther, biding its time to claw the jugular of its prey. Dread fills me as I wake up to a white silk dress hanging over my closet door. I haven’t stopped staring at the revealing fabric. Marie steps inside and I point at it.

“Your father chose it for you.” She gives an apologetic shrug as I hop out of bed.

It’s not that it isn’t beautiful. It’s almost elegant if it weren’t for the slit on the side. But it’s a bit too much. It’s also backless.

“I am sure you will look beautiful in it.”

“I’m going for a run.”

I need to clear my head. Not even a few days back, and the walls are confining me, trapping me with no way out.

As I change into my running gear, she says, “Don’t be late. The hairdresser will be here soon.”

“I won’t.”

The moment I step outside the mansion, I inhale the fresh air and push my legs to exertion. I zigzag through the forest, AirPods blaring with music. I come to a stop and bend over, putting my hands on my knees, my lungs grappling for a breath of air. Leaning onto a tree, I look at the dense trees corneringme.

Panic hits me. I have no idea where I am. I have never ventured so far into the woods.

How long was I running?

I lift my arm, realizing I forgot to put a watch on. Hysteria bubbles inside of me, making me bow over and laugh. Maybe this forest will swallow me, and then I can be free. Free. What a foreign concept, elusive and so alluring.

After the initial panic, I take in my surroundings, but the trees don’t provide the answer I need. With resolve, I run in the direction I came from. When a road appears, I loosen up. I reach a fork in the road and decide on the right path, running until sweat gathers at my temples, and I collapse on the ground.

On my back, I smile at the birds chirping and circling the forest, the tips of the trees caressing the morning sky. In and out I breathe, and I close my eyes. It’s peaceful, serene, a reprieve.

A shadow falls on my face, and I peel one eye open, then blink wide awake.

First thought, it’s not a bear.

Second, do eyes like that even exist?

They’re blue with flickers of green. Like the ocean and forest fought hard but neither won, so they compromised. I remember those eyes. I remember those eyes very well. Those eyes once looked at me with candor. Now there is a layer of coldness that settles on my skin.

“Are you all right?”

“I got lost.”

He extends a hand, and I grip it. A zap shoots through me at the contact. The images of a younger version of him flash before my eyes. But now, he’s all man. His impact on me is even more poignant.

The boy was beautiful. The man is something completely different. And it makes my legs wobbly. Hard edges on asculpted face, a body oozing power, thick thighs behind gray sweatpants, muscular arms behind a shirt that does nothing to hide a carved torso.

“What are you doing here?” His voice is a deep timbre, ending on a husky note.

Really, he doesn’t remember me?

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