Chapter 509: I Know Enough
"You don’t know anything about us." Vee snapped.
"I know enough."
"You know nothing," she spat. "Luca never had to steal my mind from me. He never had to drug me to make me stay. He never had to chain me to a fucking wall." That last part was not true but she wasn’t about to tell him that Luca had indeed chained her but she loved every second of it.
"When Luca is dead," he said, "you will see me. I will not need to keep you trapped."
Veronica let out a sharp laugh. "You are delusional if you think anyone would ever love you."
"I don’t need you to love me." David’s voice softened. "I can love you enough for both of us."
"Oh my God..." she sighed.
The words left her with a shudder of exhaustion. Her shoulders sagged in the sick realisation that reason had no place here.
She wasn’t getting anywhere with this lunatic. "How can you love me?" Veronica asked. "You don’t even know me."
"I spent the past couple of months getting to know you," he said softly smiling as if he were remembering something beautiful. "I was there. You just didn’t see me."
Her stomach turned. He said it with such quiet pride, such intimate certainty, that for a moment she could not breathe.
"You were always so gorgeous," he continued, almost to himself. "Perfection. Even when you were training. All that anger you put into fighting..."
"You have been stalking me."
David did not deny it. "At first, I wanted to kill you...My sister thought if anything happened to you, she would be the first suspect," David continued. "She was right, of course." His smile faded slightly, grief flashing across his face before obsession swallowed it again. "She only wanted you broken. That was the plan. Break you until you left Luca, just as Carol left Massimo."
"And then..." David’s voice dipped. "Then she promised me I could kill you. But you couldn’t be broken, could you?" he murmured. "Everything I did, and you only got sucked deeper into Luca’s orbit. You let him overshadow your darkness."
Veronica’s fear twisted into anger. "So what? You want to help me become a psychopath like you?" Vee asked sarcastically.
"You would be beautiful," David said, his gaze moving over her with that nauseating softness he seemed to mistake for affection. "Beautiful and mine. All that darkness Luca keeps caged. That fire..." His mouth curved. "I will help you unleash it. Embrace it. You would be free."
She truly had no words. David had made absolute lunacy sound like a motivational speech. A chuckle escaped her. "I’m afraid you have a screw loose...Several, actually. The whole fucking toolbox is missing. But that is not going to excuse what Luca is going to do to you. I know my husband," Vee continued. "And he has never failed me."
David smiled. "We’ll see." He reached for the shopping bag. "Now let’s get you dressed, uhn..."
Her entire body went rigid. "Don’t touch me. Don’t you dare touch me."
David paused, the bag hanging from his fingers. He looked offended, as if she had insulted his hospitality. "Don’t worry...I told you I will not fuck you until Luca gets here."
She forced her face to stay hard, even as fear dragged icy fingers down her spine.
"I will enjoy it better, love," David added, smiling.
"You’re sick," she whispered, disgust burning through every word, "and you don’t even know it."
"You think so now." He stepped closer before she could move away, catching her by the arm and pulling her up. The chain jerked against the wall hook, pain flaring through her wrist. Vee stumbled but caught herself, teeth clenched, refusing to fall at his feet. David leaned in. "You need to get properly dressed so we can call your boyfriend."
"My husband!" Vee lashed out. "My rock. A much, much better man than you are. You do not even begin to compare, you lunatic. And I will be damned if I invite him here to his death."
"You and I both know whether you invite him or not, he will come."
The certainty in his voice chilled her because he was right. Luca would come. Luca would tear through every wall, every trap David had stacked between them. He would come because he loved her, because the man had never once met danger without deciding it looked like a personal invitation.
Which was exactly why she had to survive long enough to ruin David’s plan. David stepped closer and reached for the buttons of her shirt.
He pulled at the buttons, one after another. "You’re so beautiful," he said, his gaze dropping. "So perfect..."
Vee swallowed against the violent urge to gag. When David realised he could not remove the shirt properly without unlocking the cuff, irritation flickered across his face. Vee thought he might actually free her wrist and she could get a chance.
Unfortunately, the bastard adapted. He stepped away and crossed to the office desk at the far end of the room. The drawer screeched open. He rummaged through it, then returned with a pair of scissors.
A few minutes later, her ruined shirt lay on the floor in pieces, and Vee stood in the outfit he had chosen—a fitted tube top zipped at the back and a small skirt, both selected because they could be put on despite the cuff and chain.
Every brush of his fingers against her skin made her body revolt. Her throat tightened, nausea rising so sharply she had to turn her face away. Her shoulders shook with the effort not to be sick.
Once she was ready, David urged her to eat. Vee stared at the food, hatred burning behind her eyes. She was famished. And if she was going to get herself out of this, she would need her strength.
She reached for the burger and fries he had brought. Every bite tasted like humiliation.
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