thecutedara

Kidnapped, Taken to a private island. I never thought this could happen to me. I never imagined one chance meeting on the eve of my eighteenth birthday could change my life so completely.

Now I belong to him. To Julian. To a man who is as ruthless as he is beautiful - a man whose touch makes me burn. A man whose tenderness I find more devastating than his cruelty.

My captor is an enigma. I don't know who he is or why he took me. There is a darkness inside him - a darkness that scares me even as it draws me in.

My name is Nora Leston, and this is my story.

Two Heart

To my huge relief, he looks surprised. "Hate you? No, of course I don't hate you, my pet."


"Then why?" I ask again, determined to get some answers. "Why did you kidnap me and bring me here?"


He looks at me, his eyes impossibly blue against his tan skin. "Because I wanted you, Nora. I already told you that. And because I'm not a very nice man. But you already figured that out, didn't you?"


I swallow and look down at the sand. He's not even the least bit ashamed of his actions. Julian knows what he's doing is wrong, and he simply doesn't care.


"Are you a psychopath?" I don't know what prompts me to ask this. I don't want to make him angry, but I can't help wanting to understand. Holding my breath, I look up at him again.


Thankfully, he doesn't seem offended by the question. Instead, he looks thoughtful as he sits down on the towel next to me. "Perhaps," he says after a couple of seconds. "One doctor thought I might be a borderline sociopath. I don't check all the boxes, so there's no definitive diagnosis."


"You saw a doctor?" I don't know why I'm so shocked. Maybe because he doesn't seem like the type to go to a shrink.


He shrugs. "Because I thought it might help."


"No, Nora." He gives me an ironic look. "If I were a true psychopath, nothing could help that."


"So then what?" I know I'm prying into some very personal matters, but I feel like he owes me some answers. Besides, if you can't get personal with a man who just fucked you on the beach, then when can you?


"You're a curious little kitten, aren't you?" he says softly, putting his hand on my thigh. "Are you sure you really want to know, my pet?"


I nod, trying to ignore the fact that his fingers are only inches away from my bikini line. His touch is both arousing and disturbing, playing havoc with my equilibrium.


"I went to a therapist after I killed the men who murdered my family," he says quietly, looking at me. "I thought it might help me come to terms with it."


I stare at him blankly. "Come to terms with the fact that you killed them?"


"No," he says. "With the fact that I wanted to kill more."


My stomach turns over, and my skin feels like it's crawling where Julian is touching me. He has just admitted to something so horrible that I don't even know how to react.


As if from a distance, I hear my own voice asking, "So did it help you come to terms with it?" I sound calm, like we're discussing nothing more tragic than the weather.


He laughs. "No, my pet, it didn't. Doctors are useless."


"You've killed more?" The numbness encasing me is fading, and I can feel myself beginning to shake.


Chapter 28