Chapter 11
The Mask
My little bird was learning how to hunt.
I watched her through the uncovered camera tucked high in the corner of her ceiling as she sat cross-legged on her bed, laptop balanced on her thighs, dark hair falling around her face while she tore through article after article like a woman starving for answers.
She was close now.
Too close.
And she didn’t even realise it.
The image on my monitor flickered briefly as she clicked onto another article about my family, her brows drawing together in concentration, her mouth pursed softly as she read.
She had bitten most of the lipstick from her lips hours ago.
The remaining stain clung to the centre of her bottom lip, tempting enough to make my fingers flex against the arm of the chair.
She looked exhausted.
Beautiful.
Paranoid.
Mine.
She’d found the article on my mother. I had her laptop cloned and could see every move she made.
I should have shut it down sooner. The second she started digging into Maria, I should have stepped in properly, but I was curious to see what conclusions she’d draw.
I’d already messed with her spreadsheet, sending her around in circles. I wanted to see what she could remember.
I wanted to see how far she’d get. Wanted to watch her put the pieces together. Wanted to see that brilliant fucking mind work.
My little bird had spent her whole life being underestimated. Handed dresses instead of information. Smiled at instead of listened to. Kept soft and ignorant while men made decisions around her.
And now she had started clawing at the truth.
The thought made something dark twist pleasantly in my chest.
Even angry with me, she was magnificent.
Even frightened.
Especially frightened.
My eyes drifted to the second monitor, the frozen image still paused from three nights ago.
I’d erased all evidence of that night from the Carbone system, replacing it with a loop of a previous recording. But I’d kept the original for myself.
The number of times I’d watched this. Seeing her beneath the couch, her tear-stained cheeks, her eyes wide and fixed on me in the darkness, shining with terror.
A groan escaped me and my cock jerked beneath my trousers.
The video should not have affected me the way it did. And yet I hadn’t been able to stop replaying it.
The way she had stopped breathing when I crouched in front of her. The way her pulse had fluttered wildly beneath the delicate skin of her throat. The way she had looked at me like I was death itself.
Fuck.
My cock hardened, memory and obsession tangling together into something ugly.
I had enjoyed her fear. It had been so thick I could almost taste it.
I wanted that again. I wanted her beneath me, terrified and alone, her eyes begging for mercy as I took her, showing her who she belonged to.
But she already knew. Because for those few minutes beneath that couch, she had belonged entirely to me.
Not Adrien.
Not her father.
Not Luca.
Me.
Every breath she took had been for me. Every terrified little tremor. Every desperate heartbeat. And when I brought my finger to the mask, when I silently told her to stay quiet…
She obeyed.
Fuck.
Before I could stop myself, I pressed play again and unzipped my trousers, watching her from the beginning—the confident way she entered the secret room, her frustration at the computer being locked.
And then her panic. Her terrified run as she fled from me.
Sliding her luscious body along the floor and under the couch.
I groaned again, fisting my cock as the angle changed, switching to another camera. I could see her under there, her body shaking, the tears spilling down her face.
Fear looked exquisite on her.
I gripped my cock harder, stroking up and down rapidly as I imagined licking the tears from her face—after all, I was the one who put them there. It was only right I got to taste them.
My cock jerked again and my hips thrust upwards as she locked eyes with me on the video, and I imagined her here, hiding under my own desk, knowing I was coming for her, knowing I would take her, knowing she would never escape again…
With my teeth gritted, jaw clenched, and hand pumping my cock, I came with a guttural growl, my cum spilling over my fingers, my breath heaving.
Soon, little bird,
I looked at the video, seeing me crouched in front of her, my finger on my masked lips.
Soon I’ll bring you to where you belong.