47. Epilogue Part I To own is to… Redeem
Chloe Three Years Later
I bring the tiny cup full of far too much caffeine for me to handle to my lips, sipping it gently. The bittersweet tang of expertly ground coffee explodes on my tastebuds, forcing a wanton moan from my lips. The clearing of Sir’s throat is the only warning I get before another jarring buzz sets off deep in my tight hole. I flinch, pain beginning to edge the pleasure in a way that makes me want to crawl over the small café table separating us and impale myself on his cock. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve come today, my thighs slick with my arousal, hidden beneath the floor-length skirt I’m wearing. Shortly before he guided me to the café, I’d all but sobbed in the couture boutique dressing room, begging him to let me take the plug out of my ass.
He declined.
Adamantly.
The smug asshole sets it off again, and this time, I poorly disguise my whimper under a terribly fake-sounding cough. I don’t need to look up from underneath the wide brim of my sunning hat to feel the displeased look he gives me. Those hazel eyes are filled with warning, with promise. My heart skips a beat as he leans forward, his muscular, inked arm stretching toward me in the most tantalizing way. Our eyes meet, making my stomach fill with butterflies and my core clench. Even as exhausted as I am…I want him just as badly as he wants me.
Warrick’s fingers skim across my wrist the way he always touches me—adoringly, with an underlying threat that drives me fucking insane with need. To anyone else at the nearby tables, that’s all this looks like: a man enamored with his woman. They aren’t wrong, but there’s more. I watch him, my teeth prodding at my bottom lip as he slips another one of the black diamonds across the band of my bracelet. It’s a beautiful piece he had custom-made for me before this trip. Excitement and a good amount of fear settle in my belly, low and deep, that stunning diamond joining the steadily growing line of ones to the right.
My master is keeping score.
Every time I let someone hear me, I get a mark.
At this rate, I won’t be able to sit for a week, and the bustling streets of Paris are oblivious to my plight.
“Tsk. Sweet pet, you’ve nearly run yourself out of diamonds,” he taunts before lifting my hand to his lips, brushing them across the back of it in featherlight kisses.
I try to glare at him, I really do.
“If you would let me take this fu—” I’m cut off as an older woman approaches our table, her entire vibe screaming luxury. She looks kind, her weathered hand pressed against her chest, keeping her tiny bag in its place on the crook of her arm. I don’t miss the way Warrick’s hand on mine goes from adoring to possessive, the way he tenses. Always ready, always waiting. I suppose, as a notorious criminal, he should be.
“The two of you are simply darling. I’ve been watching you since you were seated. Such love would make for a beautiful addition to the gallery I’m putting together. It is nude, of course, but with such young, supple bodies—”
I stifle my sudden burst of laughter as Warrick cuts her off. He’s warm and charming, turning her down in such a skillful way, she beams at him like he just handed her the world. I grip his hand back, letting my nails dig into the flesh on his wrist. He doesn’t need to be that charming.
The older woman doesn’t falter, her thick French accent carrying around the sunbaked veranda. “I notice there is no ring. Why have you not married this stunning girl? She could be a model, young enough to be your daughter… You are very clearly in love.”
That makes me laugh, a blush blooming across my cheeks as I glance at Master.
He returns it with a loaded look, making the woman gasp. “You have asked her, but she said no?”
“Only fifty-eight times.” He chuckles, the sound smoothing over my soul.
I roll my eyes at him, quickly tugging away my wrist so he can’t give me another demerit. Of course, he has been keeping track.
This time, she addresses me, tugging a chair over to our table. “You must tell me why. He is so handsome! Impeccably dressed, so certainly, his finances are not lacking.”
I laugh again, my cheeks growing hotter yet, and it has nothing to do with the unseasonably warm weather. “The handsome, nicely dressed man has to guess where I want him to propose before I’ll say yes.”
She makes an exasperated sound. “And he has failed sixty times?”
“Fifty-eight,” Warrick corrects sullenly. “I have flown her all over the world, taken her to see the wonders, the most lavish events and venues, and I’ve yet to earn her hand.”
The woman purses at that. “Poor dear. At least you have her heart. Keep guessing; men are clueless creatures, but eventually, they get there.”
It’s crazy how easily laughter flows between us now, like it has always been there, like we’ve always had each other. We stepped into forever in the blink of an eye, long before either of us knew how badly we wanted it.
“Now, tell me how the two of you met. I need inspiration, an epic love story, if I cannot photograph you in the nude. ”
“It is quite epic. Don’t you agree, my pet?”
I stumble over my words. “I- Y-yes.”
“Go on then!” She urges, her attention unwavering, making me glance nervously at him.
My mouth nearly gapes when I see that devilish glint in his hazel eyes.
A dare.
One thing I’ve found is that we are perfectly matched, giving when needed, pushing, pulling, sometimes screaming, and most often, fucking. It’s a dance we perform flawlessly, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. Since the moment I met my master, I wanted nothing but to be consumed by him, and consume, he has, taking and taking before filling me up to keep me from whitling down to bone. Every second has been fucking electric. Every touch, every kiss, every I love you whispered soul binding. So, when he dares, he knows I’ll take the bait.
I give her a sweet smile, trying to will the flush from my cheeks before I deadpan, “He bought me from a sex slavers' auction.”
She smiles for a second, waiting for the punchline of what would certainly be a very bizarre joke.
The silence stretches, pregnant, nearing full gestation, before Warrick puts me out of my misery. “It’s been a pleasure meeting you, but I have many more locations to try, and we have a plane to catch. Come now, Pup.”
I dip my head, mumbling out an, it was nice to meet you , leaving the stunned and rightfully horrified older woman to stew as he helps me from my seat. The plug goes off right as I stand, the sensation making me buckle, a gasp escaping my lips. I cough again, as if it would help anything as he places money on the table, his arm snaking around my waist. Sir leads me away from the café, his fingers tickling my inner arm, absently tracing the scaled outline of the snake tattooed there. It’s a gift I couldn’t stop sobbing long enough to receive the first try as the artist covered the lily.
Branding me a serpent.
Nothing has ever felt more right.
His lips brush my temple, the world stilling just for us as he inhales me. “Chloe, my love, you are in so much trouble.”
I shrug against him. “You dared me to.”
“I did no such thing.”
Hypnotic by Zella Day
Two Months Later, Warrick
I make eye contact with Stuart in the rearview, a knowing, tense look passing between us as nerves flutter in my stomach, an odd and uncomfortable feeling I’m not yet accustomed to. My fingers skim over the cuffs of my suit jacket for the hundredth time since we arrived here.
Pup fidgets at my side, and for a moment, my chest wrenches, guilt burrowing up to the surface. My brows furrow as she tilts her head back, trying to steal a peek at her surroundings. “Stop cheating.”
She huffs, crossing her arms in the most adorably petulant way.
I roll my neck before staring out at the familiar rolling, grassy hills. If I’m not fucking right this time, the jet is already on standby to take us to the nearest chapel. I don’t care if it’s under duress. Chloe will marry me. The constant rejection has wounded me irreparably. Her infuriating little game is almost as maddening as watching the pure enjoyment she gets out of tormenting me, and torment, she does. She figured out all too soon that despite my frustration and grumbling, I’ll play along.
I am well and truly wrapped around her finger.
By the time we hit the circle drive, my chest aches ever so slightly at the broken, burnt, and abandoned state of the home I labored over, planned, helped build. It has sat like this ever since that night. Sure, the valuable things and information were moved out, but it’s the bones that were left to rot. No way could we return safely after the FBI raid, yet another favor called in to Harun’s insufferable ass. There is truly nothing I wouldn’t do for her. I can tell from the moment the car pulls to a stop and I step out, walking around to open her door, that part of me will always hurt for the life I pictured us having within these walls.
Anywhere, even the pits of hell, would be blissful with Chloe, but I had always pictured us right here.
A chill runs over her as she shifts on her feet, the cool wind sweeping the loose strands of her braid around her beautiful, blindfolded face. I decide I can’t stand one second longer of not seeing all of it. My fingers whisper across her lips. “This is my final guess, Pup.”
Her chest rises and plunges, anticipation building in my stomach alongside the nerves as I undo the blindfold. It takes her eyes, especially the sensitive one, a moment to adjust to the light, but when they do, crystal tears well in her wide brown depths, and I know I finally got it right.
All this time…
These past few years of dragging her across the world, and all my girl wanted was to come home.
My teeth score my bottom lip, keeping the appendage from betraying the depth of my emotions as I kneel, pulling out the ring from my suit pocket. “Chloe, will you marry me?”
She laughs, and God, it’s a beautiful sound. “Yes.”
Yes.
Three tiny letters are all it takes to undo me.
My eyes mist and burn as I slip the ring onto her delicate, scarred finger, watching it go, savoring every inch. I take in every moment of this, basking in her, because there is no one, fucking no one, who could ever compare. They wouldn’t even come close. The moment the ring is in its place, I’m on my feet, slamming my lips against hers in a bruising kiss, the only kind we know how to give.
Everything with Chloe is fire, brimstone, blazes, embers. She makes me burn . If it is my fate to die in flames, she’d better be the one holding the match. We don’t break our hungry, desperate kissing until the lack of oxygen forces us to. Her doe eyes are lidded with heat and so much fucking joy. In the early days, I’d wondered what it would be like for her to look at me just like this, what I could ever do to deserve it. Emotion clogs my throat as she beams at me. “I love you.”
“I love you too. So fucking much.”
I’m still riding my high when she sprints back to the car to celebrate with Stuart, who tries his best to look annoyed by it all, but I don’t miss the wetness in his eyes.
She’s making the both of us fucking weak.
She throws open the car door, fumbling around inside before she jerks out a cell phone. Hers or mine, I’m not sure, but I don’t need to hazard a guess at who she’s calling. It rings as she excitedly paces, finally making her way back to me.
The deafening screech that leaves her is matched by the other one on the line as she tells Mahari, I finally got it right.
Stuart takes that as his cue to barricade himself inside the car, and I watch her for a few moments longer. She has changed so much in the last few years, and I only seem to adore her more each day. She takes full advantage of it, the spoiled brat. She barely notices me as I stalk up to her, gently taking the phone from her hand and lifting it to my ear. “Your friend will see you next week for your show.”
“Make her forget how to walk!” Mahari shouts back before I end the call.
And oh, I plan to .
I drop the phone to the ground, making my sweet little pup go still, her wide eyes following its descent. How she maintains that breathtaking innocent quality despite the absolute debauchery I subject her to is beyond me, but it makes my cock throb nonetheless.
“Warrick?”
I shake my head, shifting out of my suit jacket, making her pale brows furrow.
“Warrick….”
I don’t shake my head again; she’ll find out soon enough that’s not what she needs to call me right now. I loosen the button at my collar, then my cuffs, and all the while, her eyes follow my every move, making my heart sprint in my chest.
It’s not until I’m comfortable that I meet wide doe eyes still pinched in confusion .
“Run.”
Another simple, three-letter word, and it’s all I offer her.
She glances around, as if there’s some threat she’s not aware of, as if I’d be letting her stand there if there was. As much as I hate seeing her nervous, something about it… Her fear makes my cock press against my zipper painfully, demanding release.
“You’re going to run, and when I catch you, I’m going to fuck you in the dirt like the desperate little mutt you are.”
All at once, understanding flutters across her pretty features, then heat.
I don’t have to tell her twice as she spins on her heels and takes off.
But she doesn’t dash into the open planes like I expect her to. No, my sweet little pet takes off toward the house. I give her a head start, counting to ten in my head, watching her ass as she runs. Her blonde hair whips through the threshold as she makes it inside.
Part of me worries she’ll get hurt. The FBI and my cleaners really did a number on the place, so with that, I take off, hitting the threshold just as she bounds up the stairs, taking them two at a time. A smirk fills my face as I realize where she’s going. Adrenaline dumps in my veins as I chase her, a squeal leaving her mouth as she turns, seeing I’m quickly gaining on her. Chloe stumbles on rubble as she hits the landing, but she quickly scrambles back up. Her sweater hanging off her shoulders. She nearly gets to the end of the hall, passing the room where I want her.
Nearly.
My hand snags on her braid, jerking it, making her cry out as I release her. Taking hold of her arm, I use her momentum, her fight, to all but shove her into my office. Her peaked nipples match the puffs of chilled breath that leave her with each pant, her eyes wild and daring as I stalk her. The next time I lunge for her, she takes me head on. My hand captures her throat, slamming her into the dust-covered desk, and that’s where I fuck her.
Right where it all began.