Chapter 13
Shadow
Sienna's soft, even breathing tells me she is sleeping. And peacefully from her expression. But that only comes with the help of sedatives. Otherwise, she is thrashing about, her tormented moans sitting deep in my heart, lodging themselves in the darkness that resides there. Festering.
I don’t mind. Fuel for the rage. And fuck if it isn’t consuming me, enveloping me in its toxic presence until I drown in it.
I feel like a pressure cooker. The warning whistle is the quiet, sizzling restraint tethering me to the edge. Waiting for the time when I will be unleashed, soaking myself in the blood of the walking dead man who dared to touch her. To make her feel anything but good.
Who tried to steal her light.
Fuck, he would pay. In all the ways I had visualized and all the ways that only snapping could conjure up—losing control so that all that remained was chaos and questions about how someone could do something so heinous. So fucking deranged. He made me this when he touched my rainbow.
She blames me. And that’s fine. If this is what she needs from me, I will be the villain in this scenario. I always have been. But there is another. And his obsession dwells in the realm of the mentally insane. Though some would no doubt relegate me into that category as well.
My obsession was different. I would never hurt Sienna.
The other psycho stalking her has proved he will.
And based on the timeline and contents of the book pages he has sent her over the last two months, I fear this situation would have arisen regardless of the place.
With one last look at Sienna, I leave the room.
When I walk into her living room, it looks like an IT department, with all the equipment and computers on her dining room table. I couldn’t leave her, so I brought the investigation here.
Head of IT, Jordan, and one of the best hackers in the world, Kai, have been here for hours, their hands flying over their keyboards.
Coffee cups are scattered around them, which irks me even at the office.
Why they can’t just re-use the same cup is psychotic in its own right.
At this moment, though, I couldn’t give a flying fuck.
If this is what sustained them while working, I would buy a fucking Starbucks to keep them happy.
They don’t even bother looking at me as I make my way over to the bar, pouring myself a lowball of whiskey from a bottle I brought from my place just across the hall.
I owned this building, Requim Heights, and had given Sienna one of the two penthouses on the top floor. The other one is mine. I wanted her close to me, but I doubted she would move in with me so soon. It would happen eventually. But for now, this was the next best solution.
“Damon, we have something.” Jordan's tone tells me that I will not like what I hear. The lilt of his British accent is more pronounced when he is going to tell me something that might result in a dead body.
I can’t say I wasn’t opposed to the idea.
I had been easing the slowly building pressure by torturing a guy Bob apprehended shortly after Sienna and I left the hospital.
Bob forced him off the road as he tailed us while I brought Sienna back here.
He wouldn’t tell us his name, and he was a fighter.
For all five minutes. He managed to draw blood.
The little scratch on my cheek courtesy of the ring he wore on his left hand and a lucky swipe. But then so did I. Repeatedly.
Now, he was barely alive, and we still knew nothing—even after Gavin had a go at him. Whoever sent these guys was leaving no trail, adding to my frustration.
So if Jordan was going to give me another meat bag to take my anger out on, or even better, Sienna's rapist psycho stalker, I was all in.
“There was a camera in the bathroom.” Jordan's words steal the blood from my body as a chill runs along my skin.
“Lady Chatman said she didn’t have cameras in the bathrooms—infringement of privacy.” If she was lying to me, she was as good as dead. I was already doing her a favor by not killing her son for putting his hands on Sienna. This would be unforgivable.
“It’s not hers. It isn’t even linked to her system,” Kai says as I approach the table, handing me a small black device no bigger than a remote battery.
“We retrieved it a couple of hours ago when we identified the connection. We pulled twelve from each bathroom in Lady Chatman’s mansion except for the staff quarters and then a couple in the more public areas.”
I roll the tiny camera between my fingers. It’s expensive, and no manufacturer's marking identifies the source.
“It’s unlike anything I have seen. The signal is untraceable and is being bounced using dark web servers worldwide.
Whoever installed them and is watching does not want to be found.
It's hard to track. Even for me.” Kai’s words come out clipped, and I can understand why.
He is among the top three hackers in the world.
The other two work for the Government. Making them unlikely suspects.
That meant that there was a powerful player in the mix.
Only someone with money and contacts could pull this off.
“Is it still sending?” If it was, it could be useful in the right situation.
“It is, but we are blocking it. I am surprised that whoever is on the other side has not cut the connection. They would know by now that we have found them.”
Poke the bear, and he will lash out. As if those words summon a response, my phone pings with a messages.
Unknown
21:23
I see you have found my cameras.
It’s okay.
I got what I needed.
Confirmation that there is something you love more than yourself.
I didn’t think it was possible.
It is time you feel the way I did.
https://scorchingsienna.com/
Ice in my veins, I click on the link.
I immediately know what I am looking at .
A man in a mask enters the bathroom. 5’8”. Muscular. Armani suit and custom-made mask to fit in. No visible tattoos or scars. His mask covers most of his face but reveals hazel eyes, a shaved chin, and a smirk. One that makes even my skin crawl.
This was the closest bathroom to the hall in Lady Chatman’s mansion.
The obvious choice. This meant he knew the layout.
After what happened in the hall just minutes before, there was a relatively high probability that Sienna would need the ladies.
This fucking asshole banked on it, slipping into the bathroom and hiding behind a three-quarter wall partition at the rear of the room.
The video speeds up and returns to normal as Sienna walks into the room, shy of two minutes later.
From this angle, I only see her back.
She heads to the toilet on the left, just out of sight of the camera.
A minute later, the toilet flushes, and she reappears, approaching the basin with a small smile, deep in thought.
She peers at herself in the mirror, a flush suffusing her cheeks before shaking her head.
She is thinking about what just happened between us—a beautiful moment about to be tainted.
Her head dips, her eyes now not on the mirror but focused on her hands and the plug she is washing.
The perfect opening for the fucking coward to quietly leave his hiding spot. One second, two seconds, he is right behind her, one hand over her mouth while the other holds a Glock 9mm against her head.
She never told me or the police he had a gun.
She didn’t forget. No one forgets a gun held to their head.
Perhaps what I know is coming overshadowed everything else. Maybe something else.
She won’t mention it. She has a feeling attached to it that makes it difficult .
I have held a gun to someone's head more times than I have had one aimed at mine.
It is an intimate moment. As deeply personal as your first time having sex.
Or giving birth. Or being in the room when someone you love dies.
And because it is so closely connected to you, to your very fucking being, it could even be the most intimate moment of your entire life.
The one just before you die. Or think you will die.
Your very essence, every breath, every moment, leads to one where all of it resides in another's hands.
A person who is nothing to you has control in a way that is so fucking autocratic.
You are helpless, everything hanging on their action, their thoughts.
Especially when it is close range. Right by the temple. With no margin for error.
Sienna's eyes are wide with shock, and a piece of my soul splinters.
“If you make a sound, I will be forced to hurt you, baby. Do you understand?”
She nods vigorously, not hesitating as tears fall from her eyes, running the short distance to meet the skin of his hand covering her mouth. That spot will be the first spot I cut. And then again and again, for every tear that leaves my rainbow’s eyes.
“I’m going to remove my hand. If you scream, I will shoot you. Understand?”
Terror-filled eyes and another vigorous nod. Splinter.
The dead man removes his hand slowly and steps back.
“Take off your stocking.”
“Wh-what?” It comes out high-pitched and sounds like someone else. Because I have never heard this voice before. She has never been this afraid around me for it to be used.
“Your stocking. Now. And your panties.”
Sienna looks at the door briefly and then back at him, her hands trembling. Splinter .
“Now.” He raises the gun, his hand steady. We will see if the tremble is gone when he is on the other side.
Tears and more cuts stream down her face as she obeys, the sicko watching her with a smile on his face.
He is getting off on this. On being in control. The bulge in his pants grows with every second. He even has the fucking audacity to lick his lips when Sienna reveals one of her thighs as she removes her stocking. Splinter.
He grabs them from her, making her jump in fright.
“Mouth open wide.”