Echo (Bleeding Hearts #1)(25)

When I got to my desk, there was something waiting for me. A single blood red lotus.

I glanced around again, but nobody was paying any attention. How the hell was he delivering things to my desk without somebody noticing? A better question was, how did he even getting into the building?

The answer popped into my mind and quickly expanded into all-consuming terror. Did he work here too?

Matt chose that moment to walk over and say hello, and I eyed him suspiciously. Was it possible he could be…

No. It definitely wasn’t Matt.

But then someone else popped into my head. Someone that made much more sense when I thought about it. If I was being logical and didn’t believe in coincidence, then there was someone else. A real possibility…

But that just sounded like more of my brain’s twisted way of thinking. I stopped myself right there. I was seriously going crazy, and I needed to stop. I needed to put my blackmailer out of mind. So that’s what I did. Until later that afternoon.



***





My job at the Bennett Corporation consisted of work I could do in my sleep. I didn’t have to focus too much because it was all repetitive, monotonous busy work. This had its pros and cons.

My mind kept drifting back to my blackmailer. Sadist. Whatever the hell he was. I’d only been playing his game for a week, and I was already losing… bad. So far, he’d seen my every play before I even made it. Knew my motives for wanting to touch him. For wearing awful clothing to meet him. He could even see that some sick and depraved part of me liked the things he was doing to me. I needed to gain back my control, and I needed to do it fast.

Six months wasn’t a life sentence by any means, but every day that passed by on the calendar still felt like too much. I couldn’t stop imagining Brayden sitting in his cell, depressed and alone.

Now that there was finally a light at the end of the tunnel, six months may as well have been an eternity. But if there was something I could do to speed the process up, then by all means I would do it. So I thought about bartering chips, of which it turned out I had none. Or at least that’s what I thought. But then my big head got this idea in it. This crazy idea that if I could convince my captor that I was truly invested in our time together, that perhaps he would be lenient.

It wasn’t a great plan if I was being honest. Brayden always told me I was the worst liar ever. He said I was too nice to be convincing, and the guilt always showed on my face. It was true.

But what did I have to be guilty for in this situation? I’d done nothing wrong. And after seeing the evidence, I realized Brayden hadn’t either. So who was the real monster here?

There was something my blackmailer said that rang true. My bloodline was tainted with darkness. And yet my whole life, I’d let everybody push me around. Always worried about offending them. Of letting them think I was like Norma. Or even worse, Frankie.

But maybe in this game, I needed to be more like them for a change. I needed to channel the darkness that ran through my veins and embrace it. To play this game better than this man ever could have predicted. After all, I’d only been with him twice, and already I could see his weakness.

His weakness was me.





Chapter Ten



When lunch time rolled around, I stopped by Nicole’s office to see if she wanted to grab a bite with me. She’d been distant the last few days, and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t overstaying my welcome in her apartment. We’d agreed I could stay for a couple months until I found my own place, but maybe that had changed. Either way, whatever was bothering her, I wanted her to know she could talk to me.

As I was about to duck into her office, I saw she was on the phone. The door was cracked and she couldn’t see me. I wasn’t sure if I should wait or go on in, but as her words drifted into the hallway, I couldn’t help but listen.

“It wasn’t supposed to be this way,” she hissed. “You never told me how far you were going to go.”

She clamped her mouth shut and rubbed her temples as she listened to the voice on the other end of the line.

“Of course I want that, but it doesn’t feel the way I thought it would. I know he wouldn’t have wanted this…”

Her words drifted off as a strong pair of hands gripped my shoulders from behind and I let out a squeal of surprise.

“Eavesdropping, are we?”

I spun around and smacked Matt in the chest, embarrassed I’d been caught out. I gestured to the break room and we started walking.

“I’m worried about Nicole,” I said defensively.

Matt frowned and shook his head. “It’s you I’m worried about.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Just that you’re a lamb amongst wolves here, and I think you need to be careful who you associate with.”

“Is there something you think I should know Matt?”

Stacey chose that moment to walk into the break room, eyeing us both accusingly.

“I need to get back to work,” Matt said gruffly. “I’ll see you around, Brighton.”



***



“You’re going to be away the whole weekend?” Nicole frowned.

“Yep.” I mustered up my best fake smile. “But before I go, I wanted to talk to you.”

“About what?” she pulled a coconut water from the fridge and perched on the bar stool across from me.