Page 118 of Twisted Temptation

Jeremy’s amusement vanishes, and his eyes change because I just conjured his inner demon. His darkness rises to the surface, and I know I’m staring at his monster.

The one that lives inside him and lusts for pain and power. The one that tells him he can have what he wants whenever he wants it.

"No," he says. "I jerked off over her naked body after I wrapped my fingers around her throat and she passed out."

The room tilts, and everything in me goes white-hot.

My vision narrows. My hand moves toward my gun, but I stop it.

I stop it because that's what he wants.

He wants to see me crack. This sick fuck is waiting for me to lose my composure so he can have one last moment of control before the end he already knows is coming.

Smug fucking psychopath.

He wants me to break.

But I’m not going to break.

I steady my nerves and temper my rage with a slow breath.

Then I lean closer and place my mouth near his ear.

"I want you to know," I say, "that what comes next is because of what you did to her."

I pull back.

He looks at me. That dark thing still swimming behind his eyes.

And he decides to be exactly who he is.

"I did to her what she wanted me to do," he says. "And she fucking loved it. Begging me with those fuck me eyes. Wanting to choke on my dick while on her knees⁠— "

My gun is in his mouth before he finishes the sentence.

Steel clicks against his teeth, and his eyes go wide.

"Fucking choke on this."

But I don’t pull the trigger.

That would be too good for this predator.

I just wanted to see him piss and shit himself.

From the dark stain spreading across his sweatpants and the foul smell in the air, my task is accomplished.

Jeremy doesn’t get a quick death.

He gets to come home with me. To the basement at Fortune, where I can take my time with him.

I want to show Sunny that she doesn’t need to be afraid of him anymore.

52

SUNNY

"Charles, he's clearly a ghost," I say into the phone.