“Should I go down?” Demetri asked, entering the room with two cups of coffee, handing one off to me.
“No. She’s disoriented and confused. I’d imagine humiliated, but she isn’t close to suicidal.”
“Should she be allowed to have her phone?”
“Taking that from her would do more harm than good. She isn’t going to tell anyone anything. And we don’t have to worry about her calling the police. She won’t.”
I took a sip of coffee, letting its warmth flow down my throat.
“If you’re sure…”
“Demetri, have I ever been wrong?”
“No,” he was quick to answer, adding after a minute, “Does this mean I should I call the officiant now?”
I grinned. “Not yet.”
The buzzing of my phone cut into our conversation. I reached in my pocket and retrieved it.
“The she-devil herself,” I announced, swiping my thumb across the screen. “Mindy.”
“Alaric,” she intoned warmly. “Should I be concerned my daughter is calling me at this hour?”
“As per what we discussed, you shouldn’t be concerned about her at all whereas I’m involved.”
“She’s still my daughter. You know I did all of this for her.”
“That’s touching, and irrelevant because she’s mine now.”
She cleared her throat. “We also agreed you’d help her. How is--.”
“I am helping her,” I interjected coldly. “You worry about Jonathan and I’ll worry about Catalina.”
“I know what I need to do,” she toted.
“Do you? Because how are you possibly talking to me if his dick is supposed to be in your mouth?”
My phone buzzed against my ear. The haughty bitch had hung up on me. It would do her good to be more grateful. I had to do all the hard work. She simply needed to swallow some come and spread her legs. She’d been fucking her ex-best friends’ husband for years now, its not like this was hard on her.
I suppose I could thank her for being a whore and not just a nanny. If she’d refused to fuck her employer, I wouldn’t have Catalina.
If they hadn’t failed as parents, she wouldn’t be so wonderfully fucked up.
Unlike Meg and all the others who I’d purposely made that way. Demetri having heard the whole conversation shook his head from beside me. “Are you certain this is all worth it?”
“I get full control of DG, a beautiful new wife, and a chance to play like I never have before. For keeps this time.”
He bobbed his head. “You’re right, how could it not be?”
“I’m always right,” I reiterated, staring out past my patio.
Catalina had taken to sitting in the sand, her head on her knees. I could watch this woman for hours. I’d been doing it for nearly a year. I wonder if it’d scare her to know she was my muse. She was the inspiration for all my art.
For all the melodies I played to soothe my darker urges after they’d been indulged.
I coveted her madness. I wished to be the master of her suffering so I could break her apart and make her acknowledge how fucking perfect she was. I needed her dependency to ensure she’d never want to leave me.
Deciding it’d been long enough; I sat my coffee cup down and made my way to where she was.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
There’s nothing quite like being at war with yourself. I thought I was fine. I’d been good for so long a few days shouldn’t have set me back, not to this degree.
“Are you going to stay out here all night?”
I hunkered down further into my little ball wishing a sinkhole would appear. I’d happily roll myself right into it.
“I can still see you.”
I scowled at my sandy covered toes. How could he sound so amused?
“Ignoring me isn’t going to get me to go away. I can talk all night without you needing to say a word in response.” He moved to mirror my position, taking the spot next to me in the sand. I felt so much smaller next to him.
“I can leave by sunrise if there’s any early flights to Atlanta.”
“If you can’t get rid of me, I’m not getting rid of you.”
“Why are you so persistent? I just accused you of being a serial killer and now I’m seeing things that don’t exist. I’m legitimately fucked in the head. You shouldn’t want to be anywhere near me.”
“Those all sound like pretty damn good reasons to keep you around, in my opinion.”
“You won’t have that same opinion if I get worse, which I can. This has happened before. The freezer full of body parts is nothing compared to....”
“Compared to?” he urged. “Know what? It doesn’t matter that’s just even more reason for you to stay here with me. I can help you. I want to help you.”
“How?” I dared risk a glance at him. He was staring out at the ocean, the moonlight making him look like some kind of dark angel.
He shrugged lazily. “You’ll have to stay to find out.”