7. Tyran
SEVEN
TYRAN
For weeks, I chased fragments of Sienna Baldwin that always seemed to disappear just when I thought I was getting close. But all those clues led to Ireland.
Joseph had been the gatekeeper of my little castle here. He was trustworthy and I could count on him not to ask questions that he had no business knowing the answers to. Our calls were usually brief.
Until earlier this evening, almost as an afterthought, he’d mentioned a new resident in the area. A new neighbor who wasn’t exactly new since she’d been here for five years.
A young woman with blonde strands and soft brown eyes who frequently took long walks in the forest that belonged to me. He wanted to be certain I was okay with it, and assured me she never crossed the walls of the castle.
And then he mentioned her name: Sienna Callahan.
I almost laughed when I learned she’d changed her last name to mine. A new name. A new life. A fresh little identity she could hide behind.
Anyhow, Joseph had no idea that I’d been searching the world for the woman he’d casually described strolling my property. I couldn’t decide whether to admire her nerve or laugh at the sheer stupidity of it. Probably both.
I scoffed softly.
Sienna had just made things easier for me.
Yeah, she’d finally get what she’d been begging for all those years ago. She’d get the monster I hid from her so she could have a good life.
But she fucking ruined it all by betraying me, and I had plenty of time while behind bars to decide exactly how I would collect.
She’d give me the same days and nights as the time I’d lost behind bars.
My lips curled into a cruel smile.
I couldn’t fucking wait to start playing with her.
I peeked through the narrow gap between the curtains of the private room in Joseph’s pub and observed Sienna.
She was older, twenty-five now, and thinner. Too thin.
Where soft curves used to be was now just skin and bones. I preferred her curves, but fuck, it wasn’t like I would wait for those to be back before I start punishing her. I’d make do with what she had.
Joseph slid the envelope to her, and the moment she opened it, her whole posture tensed. She sat rigidly on the stool, staring at the photograph in her hands, and started to shake.
Good, she knew exactly who it was from.
She mentioned once that she only drank whiskey with me and that I was the only one who called her by that nickname. Little blondie.
She slid off the barstool, never touching the drink I bought her. Her eyes lifted, sweeping the room and searching frantically, but she couldn’t see me.
I smiled.
Tonight, she’d meet the monster she unleashed.
She reached into her bag, said something to Joseph as she put money on the bar, then rushed out the door.
I waited exactly five seconds, then followed out the back door of the pub.
The cold night swallowed me the moment I stepped outside.
I pulled the collar of my gray tweed jacket tighter around my neck and followed the fading shadow ahead of me, my footsteps quickening as I walked beneath the pale, watchful light of the moon.
The air smelled of damp earth and fallen leaves, sharp enough to sting my lungs with every breath.
Somewhere in the distance, a dog barked once and then fell silent, leaving the street wrapped in an uneasy stillness.
She walked a good distance ahead of me.
The red wool coat made her easy to see against the darkness, a solitary splash of color moving beneath the bare branches of the trees. Black UGG boots pressed into the carpet of autumn leaves, each step producing a soft crunch that seemed loud in the quiet night.
Sienna’s shoulders were drawn tight beneath her coat, as though she were bracing herself against what she knew was coming.
Every so often, she turned her head. Whenever she did, the moon caught her hair, turning the loose strands around her face into a shimmering golden halo.
She seemed almost unreal, like someone painted into the darkness by the moonlight itself.
Then she would turn away again and the spell would disappear.
I kept my distance but didn’t bother hiding the sound of my footsteps, my boots pounding the road deliberately.
Her pace quickened. Mine didn’t.
When the last pub light disappeared behind us, the road narrowed between the trees. Her cottage was within her reach. I could see the faint outline of its roof beyond the hedgerow.
She was nearly safe.
I almost expected her to start running, but she didn’t. We were barely ten feet apart and I would catch up to her before she’d reach her home. Not that the door would stop me.
But she surprised me.
She stopped, and so did I.
For a moment, neither of us moved.
She stood beneath the moonlight with her back to me, a few golden strands of hair drifting in the wind that lifted the hem of her red coat.
Then, slowly, she turned and looked straight at me, her chest rising and falling beneath the coat.
I smiled coldly.
“Long time no see, Sienna.”
She took one step backward. I took three steps forward, bringing me close enough to her to inhale her perfume—crisp apples. She still smelled the same. My cock hardened, and that pissed me off. I fucking hated her, but apparently that didn’t matter to my dick at all.
“I told you this day would come,” I gritted. “Didn’t I?” She nodded slowly but remained silent. “What did I tell you?”
I watched her neck bob as she swallowed. “You said the bars won’t keep you, and once you were out, you were coming for me.”
I smiled darkly. “That’s right. And guess what, I’m out and it’s time for you to pay your debt.”
Her gaze flicked toward the cottage.
“You can run,” I purred, ignoring the red-hot anger boiling inside my chest and the aching of my hard cock that wanted to bury itself inside her. “In fact, I would prefer it if you did. I love a good chase.”
My lips curled into a menacing smile and I stepped aside, giving her a clear path past me.
Her eyes narrowed. “Then I won’t run.”
“Oh, but I think you will,” I drawled coldly as I reached into my pocket and pulled out a set of handcuffs.
I waved them in front of her face and her expression filled with horror. I laughed under my breath, brushing her already windblown hair with my other hand.
She reeled back, watching me with those soft brown eyes that once upon a time watched me with desire.
She finally learned what she should have known all along: to fear me.