DANGEROUS OBSESSION

21

LAUREN MOSS

The room is quite large.

I sigh and grab the bag, which has a bunch of labeled clothes. I don’t know when he spoke to someone or how that person found clothes in my size, but thank you very much.

I take the pajamas and the underwear—because there’s also underwear—and head to the bathroom. There are even slippers here.

I undress and step into the shower. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep without scrubbing a thousand times the spot where that disgusting man touched me.

And that’s exactly what I did.

I put on the underwear and then the pajamas.

There was nothing to remove my makeup, but it came off during the shower. I just didn’t touch my hair.

So sleepy, I simply stored the things in the bathroom, went to the panel, and turned off the light. I found the bed and fell asleep.

BLAKE WRAY

I couldn’t rest. Moss’s daughter manages to torment my mind, even while she’s already asleep. I simply took a shower, did my hair, got dressed, and left my room.

She’s definitely asleep. She went to bed at four, which is about the time we arrived, and now it’s six in the morning.

I could have done countless things by now.

But I don’t intend to leave here without her. I won’t leave her alone in my house. I go downstairs, calling Samuel.

“Blake,” he answers after a few rings.

“How’s Amanda?” I ask, entering my office.

“The gastric lavage was successful. She’s out of danger and resting now,” he replies, referring to his younger sister, and I feel relieved.

“And did you find him?” I question.

“Yes, he’s behind bars now, and I don’t intend to let him out,” he says, and it’s not as if I’d agree with anything else.

“Ah…” I hear him sigh on the other side of the line.

“Lauren?” he asks, and I sigh.

“She didn’t seem well,” he comments. “Did you take her back to the base?” he questions.

“She’s here,” I reply, and the few seconds of silence translate into surprise.

“She’s with you? At your mansion?” he asks, incredulous.

“That’s what I said,” I reply, impatient.

“A perfect opportunity to start the second part of the plan,” he says, and I sigh deeply.

“The closer you are to her, the faster things will go,” he adds, as if I didn’t already know that.

The only issue is that it’s about her.

“Oh! Hailey would freak out if she knew you brought another woman there, and on top of that, that woman being Lauren Moss,” he says, trying to provoke me, but it’s not like I care about her either.

“What time will you return to the base? You need to interrogate Eduard,” he asks, and I sigh.

“I should be on my way now. However, Moss’s daughter is sleeping, and I don’t intend to leave her here. For starters, she shouldn’t even be here,” I say, glancing at some files.

“You’re not going to wake her?” she asks, and I look at the watch on my wrist.

“In an hour,” I reply.

“She’s a nice and very talkative girl. If you get close, she’ll surely innocently tell you everything we want to know,” she comments, and while I finish what I have to do, we chat a little more.

When I needed to hang up, I saved the files and left my office.

“Good morning, Mr. Blake!” my housekeeper greets me.

“Good morning!” I reply.

“I just wanted to let you know that I’ve set the breakfast table for your guest,” she says, and I nod.

“Great, I’ll come down soon,” I say, and she nods.

“Excuse me!” she says and leaves, and I go to the guest room to wake Lauren. I knock on the door once, twice, but she doesn’t respond.

So I enter and find her sleeping, hugging the pillow.

She’s in a deep sleep, and her face, extremely angelic, doesn’t look like that of someone as sassy as she is when awake.

“Lauren…” I call, and honestly, I’ve never seen anyone sleep as deeply as she does.

The agent managed to enter her room without her noticing, until she was taken from the bed. She will definitely need more training, because under normal circumstances, she could have already been dead, if that were the case.

“Lauren…” I call again, and now she hears me, as she simply shifts position, taking the pillow with her.

Patience is required.

It feels like I’m waking a five-year-old child.

“Lauren, wake up!” I say, and she rubs her face.

“Just a little longer, please…” she asks, nestling deeper into the sheets, extremely sleepy, while I notice her cheeks turning pink.

“Don’t make me repeat myself,” I say, and she sits up on the bed, still with her eyes closed. She moves her hands from her face to her hair, sleepy, and I’ve never found that… attractive in any way before.

She puts her feet on the floor, fills the glass of water on the nightstand next to the bed, and drinks.

“Good morning…” she says, opening her sleepy eyes and standing up.

“Good morning,” I reply. However, my eyes do not obey me, and I make no effort to restrain them.

Her body is slender, definitely attractive, and manages to be even more so—and perhaps too much for my taste—in that pajamas and with her hair like that. Too much, because it makes me have thoughts I definitely didn’t want to have about Moss’s daughter.

I raise my gaze to her face and find her extremely flushed.

“I’ll be downstairs. Be quick,” I say, and she simply nods. Then I leave the room.

Please, Blake…

LAUREN MOSS

I’m not Miriam, nor is my sister. I wouldn’t be inventing this for no reason. The tension is real, definitely.

A reckless, obscene tension… It’s not just me feeling this.

Or is it?

“Lauren, for God’s sake!” I mutter to myself, walking toward the bathroom.

My body is on fire. He’s extremely attractive and, to make it worse, he was staring at me… like that.

“He must look at a thousand people like that. Surely he’s a womanizer, and you’re just going paranoid,” I murmur to myself, opening the sealed toothbrush that’s here.

My God, he’s so handsome… and he saw me like this.

How embarrassing…

I brush my teeth, undress, and step into the shower. Now I feel a thousand times better than yesterday.

I take my shower. There are all the hygiene products here, which makes me think he really doesn’t live alone in this huge place.

Because… why live alone in such a huge house anyways?

I wash my hair to remove everything they put in it yesterday. I finish the shower and get ready properly. I put on an outfit from the bag: black leggings, a long-sleeved top of the same color, a camisole, and slippers.

I put it on, and everything fits perfectly.

My hair will dry on its own. I just make the bed and leave everything tidy. He didn’t want me in his house, so I might as well try to leave everything as I found it, at least minimally.

I’ve tidied everything properly.

However, I washed my underwear, and of course, it hasn’t dried yet. I hardly slept, so I leave it and arrange the other pieces from yesterday’s disguise and everything else.

I grab my bag and leave the room with the clothes bag. I try to be as fast as I can.

Sleepy…

Now I can observe everything with a bit more clarity and much less pain. The decoration here is simply magnificent.

I barely reach the bottom of the stairs when the smell of breakfast fills my nose. “Good morning, miss!” a lady greets me as soon as she sees me.

“Good morning!” I greet her back.

“Breakfast is served,” she informs me, and I smile in thanks, trying to spot Blake with my gaze.

“Thank you!” I say. “And Blake?” I ask, setting the bag down beside the sofa, along with the bag we used yesterday on the mission.

“He’s in the office. You can have breakfast; he should come in a few minutes so you two can leave,” she says, and I nod, sitting at the table and observing everything carefully.

Honestly, this mansion is very beautiful.

“Isn’t he going to have breakfast?” I ask.

“Mr. Blake rarely has breakfast, and he rarely stays around this late. He only had the table set for you,” she replies, and my heart races.

It wasn’t necessary… or was it?

“Oh, thank you so much!” I say.

“Everything looks delicious,” she smiles.

“You’re welcome. Enjoy!” she says and leaves after I thank her. I’m hungry, so I just start eating. He doesn’t have breakfast…

Could he really not be some sort of lab creation?

He’s rude, cold, distant, calculating, impatient… everything a heartless person can be.

Like a chocolate cake with orange juice. The lady prepared a lavish table just for me, so I try everything I can.

And it’s all so good!

I’m eating a fruit salad—mango, strawberries, blueberries, and watermelon—when I smell him, very close.

He smells really good, that’s a fact. Right after, I feel his presence. He’s talking on the phone.

“Let’s go,” he says, still on the phone. This time, without really looking at me.

I sigh, standing up and trying to finish my salad, which I do while he heads toward where we entered earlier this morning.

“Goodbye!” the lady calls out as well, seeing me standing, grabbing the bag and purse.

“Goodbye! It was nice to meet you, and thank you so much for breakfast. It was very, very good!” I thank her, already walking toward where Blake went.

Hopefully, he doesn’t leave me behind.

“Thank you very much, bye!” she replies, and I just run after him.

Impatient.

Yesterday I saw all those cars, but now it seems like they’ve tripled.

So many cars!

He unlocks a Mercedes. Apparently, he likes sports cars.

He gets in, and I follow immediately, putting on my seatbelt still traumatized from yesterday and leaving the bag and purse in the space behind. It doesn’t take long before he’s already accelerating.

This mansion is on a private road. After leaving it, it takes a while before neighbors’ houses start to appear.

He lives far away from the human race.

“What’s wrong, Moss?” he asks, and I hadn’t even noticed he saw me watching him.

“Are you some kind of laboratory experiment?” I ask, genuinely curious. His gaze turns towards me.

My face flushes drastically.

Heavens…

“Why do you think I’m a prototype?” he asks, and I stare at him.

“Because you seem like one,” I reply. He just turns his attention back to the road, ignoring me. “Why are you like this…” I add.

“Kind of rude, impatient, cold, heartless,” I keep talking, and finally, his gaze returns to me.

I was talking when I feel his hand not just touch mine, but set my body on fire in the most absurd way possible. His hand led mine to his chest to feel his heartbeat, but did much more than that, and I’m boiling inside.

Now, heavens…

What is happening to me? This isn’t normal… at least, not my normal.

Lauren, have some decency.

“That’s called a heartbeat, Moss. Prototypes don’t usually have one,” he says, removing my hand from him.

His voice… He… I’m going to lose it…

It’s really hard to act naturally, and I don’t want to seem crazier than I already am. After all, we started with a homicide, heavy-level stalking, and intrigues… And oh…

For God’s sake!

“Can you slow down the air?” I ask after a while, feeling what I shouldn’t. I feel him smile.

But he does, and says nothing more, nor do I, turning toward the window to watch whatever is on the road.

Damn!



He started another call along the way, and I simply fell asleep from all the accumulated exhaustion.

BLAKE WRAY

How many hours of sleep does she actually need?

I park the car, and she hasn’t even noticed.

“Lauren!” I call out.

My goodness…