what is going on 53
1382 Words
Chapter 53
Draya pov
I waited until the front door shut and his footsteps faded down the hall before I moved.
The silence he left behind was louder than any argument.
I stepped back into the shower and turned the water hotter than before. It burned, but I didn’t flinch. I scrubbed at my skin until it turned red, until it stung, until the steam felt like it was suffocating me. His scent clung to me like a brand. Like a claim.
He hadn’t even looked at me before he left.
Not a word. Not a glance... Is this how Penny felt every morning? Used… then discarded like she was just something convenient to warm his bed before work?..My stomach twisted.
If that’s how she felt, then she’s stronger than I thought. Because this…this felt humiliating...I pressed my palms against the tile and let the water pour over my head. I can’t keep doing this. I don’t want to keep letting him touch me like I’m some toy he picks up when he’s bored.
He thinks he’s in control…But he forgets who I am.
When I finally stepped out, my skin was raw, tingling from how hard I’d scrubbed it. I wrapped a towel around myself and inhaled deeply. His scent was gone…Good.
I dressed slowly, deliberately. Pulled my hair into a tight ponytail like armor. By the time I walked into his office, I felt steadier.
I dropped into his chair and leaned back, letting my head rest against it. If he knew I was sitting here, in his space, touching his things, he’d lose his mind…But this is my house…I do what I want.
I closed my eyes and reached for him.
Finding his mind was easy now. I was already threaded through it. A whisper behind his thoughts. A shadow in the corner of his awareness…He was distracted. Thinking about work…Good...Softly, carefully, I slipped inside.
I layered Penny’s voice into his thoughts first. Just faint enough to make him question it. A murmur. A laugh that shouldn’t be there.
Then I twisted it.
I pulled up the memory of the vampire who once tried to kill him. The one he barely survived. I painted her face clearer in his mind than it had ever been in reality. Sharper teeth. Colder eyes.
Watching him…Waiting…When he walked alone, he would see her in the corner of his vision. When he blinked, she’d be gone. When no one was around, she’d stand behind him..close enough to feel her breath.
He would think she came back to finish what she started.
Fear erodes pride.
And when fear grows loud enough, he’ll come looking for comfort.
For me.
I leaned back deeper into the chair, a slow smile tugging at my lips. Let him dread coming home. Let him hesitate at the door.
This time, things will be different.
He won’t storm in and try to take me like he owns me.
He’ll need me…He’ll seek me out…He’ll trust me.
And when he finally breaks… when the fear wraps tight enough around his throat..I’ll be there.Waiting…And this time, I won’t be the one scrubbing my skin raw in the shower.
Con POV
I went in early..Didn’t have to. I was the boss. No one questioned my hours. No one questioned me.
Still, I couldn’t sit at home for another minute.
I stopped at a deli I’d never noticed before. Strange. I knew every corner of this city. .. every building worth buying, every business worth crushing. Yet this place had slipped under my radar.
That bothered me…I ordered a BLT and coffee. Sat near the window. Ate slowly…And felt it…That crawling sensation.
Like eyes on the back of my neck…Not casual curiosity. Not admiration…Predatory.
I glanced up casually.. nothing. Just people eating, talking, living.
Still…..The feeling didn’t leave.
When I stepped outside and headed toward my building, it followed.
There it is again…Watching.
Waiting…I turned sharply toward the entrance behind me… caught a glimpse of someone standing in the doorway…Gone.
My jaw tightened. I wasn’t a paranoid man.
I didn’t imagine things..I took the elevator up to my office.
“Good morning,
“Mr. Cody. Would you like your coffee this morning?” Cindy asked sweetly.
“Yeah… put creamer in it this time. One sugar. You know the drill.”
She smiled like she always did. Eager. Predictable…Safe.
I opened my briefcase, trying to focus on the meeting ahead.
And then..Her voice.
“What do you want from me, Con? I’m the one who found you in the woods. I marked you so you could have your wolf back. Just tell me..what you want from me.”..My blood went cold.
I looked up…No one…That was Penny’s voice.
Clear as the day she stood in front of me.. desperate. Begging.
What did I want from her?
Peace.
Control.
Dinner ready when I walked through the door…Obedience. She left me.
Shaking my head, I rubbed my temples…Get it together.
Cindy returned with my coffee and cheese danish.
“Is there anything else you’d like, Mr. Cody?”
I knew what she meant. She stepped closer. Closed the door. Locked it.
I shrugged. “Sit.”
She moved toward me..And then…
“I promise I’ll take care of you. We’ll make you stronger. We’ll get our revenge.”..Penny again…But softer…More intimate…I flinched.
“Wait. Cindy. I’ve got a meeting. After.”
Confusion flickered in her eyes before she nodded and left.
Why was Penny’s voice in my head? Why now? The meeting.
This would ground me..Control. Numbers. Contracts.
Men I could intimidate.
“Gentlemen,” I began smoothly, “I’m here to make an offer. Sell me your building. Your people stay. Higher pay. Same jobs.”
They exchanged looks…The tall one stood.
“Mr. Cody. I’m Steve Manner.”.His voice was steady. Calm.
Dangerous.
“You and I both know that’s not true. The first thing you’d do is fire everyone who helped build my company. I told you…I’ll only speak with Mrs. Penny.”..My jaw flexed.
“She isn’t here,” I snapped.
“Exactly.”..He leaned forward slightly.
“The deal is a no. We don’t know you. And we don’t trust you.”
The others stood…Then he delivered the final blow.
“You should find your wife, Mr. Cody. It’s strange… she was here one day and gone the next.”
“She left me!” The words ripped out before I could stop them.
Silence filled the room.
Steve’s expression shifted.. not pity…Judgment.
“Maybe that was for the best. She didn’t look happy. If your own wife couldn’t trust you… why should we?”
They walked out..Didn’t shake my hand…Didn’t look back.
That f*****g b***h…Then—Movement…Out of the corner of my eye.
I turned slowly…And there she was…Pandora…The vampire I killed…Standing near the far wall. Smiling…Her hand stretched toward me…My breath stalled in my chest…She looked exactly the same…Beautiful…Dead.
“Why did you kill me, Con?” she whispered. “I was going to turn you. We could have stayed together forever. But you betrayed me. Why are you with her?”
My pulse thundered in my ears.
“No,” I muttered. “You hated me. You tried to kill me.”
She tilted her head.
“I loved you.”
The room felt smaller…Harder to breathe.
“Why are you here, Pandora? Why are you hunting me?”
Her smile widened.
“I’m here because you’re thinking about me.”..She stepped closer.
I stepped back…Her eyes… no longer glowing red.
Soft…Accusing.
“You can’t escape what you’ve done, Con.”..My chest tightened.
This wasn’t real…It couldn’t be..I squeezed my eyes shut.
Counted to ten…One… two… three…When I opened them…
She was still there…Closer.
Her fingers are almost brushing mine…I staggered backward, knocking into the table.
“No,” I growled.
I hurried out of the room, heart pounding, vision blurring.
Her voice followed me down the hall.
“You killed the only one who ever loved you.”..I slammed my office door shut…Silence…But the silence wasn’t relief…It was waiting.
Why now?..Why were they both in my head?..
Penny…Pandora…Past and present…Love and control.
Guilt and hunger…Something was breaking.
And for the first time in a long time. wasn’t in control.
- Writer
