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Fallon

Breakfast consists of oatmeal and canned fruit. Markus doesn’t eat as usual but pours himself a cup of coffee, so I don’t feel as if I’m the only one doing something.

As I shovel food into my mouth, I think about the kindness he showed me this morning. How he washed my hair and body without asking for anything in return.

Everything told me it was a trap, but as I finish my breakfast, and he doesn’t jump across the table to take me like a savage beast, the thought fades. I find myself squirming in my chair as he stares at me across the table. Beneath his gaze, it feels like I’m under a magnifying glass, each move and word spoken, always given a second look.

Watching him murder that man without blinking made me see him in a new light. I was sure I couldn’t hate him anymore, that I couldn’t become anymore frightened of him, and then he did that. My body and brain were confused by him, pulled in two different directions by his whiplash behavior. I didn’t know if he was going to be kind or use me, and that left me on edge.

Now he’s worried we are being tracked, and I am too. How did that man find us? Why did he have a camera?

“Let’s go.” Markus interrupts my thoughts, and I look up from my bowl and discover that he’s finished his coffee. I peer down into my bowl and see I still have a little left to eat.

Looking back up, my lips part. I’m ready to tell him I still have some to eat when I find his features hard as stone. He’s on a mission today, and I’m along for the ride.

“Okay,” I murmur and shove out of my chair, making it scrape loudly against the floor.

Markus walks around the table and grabs me by the wrist. His hold is firm, his fingers branded into my skin, and even though I’m tempted to pull away, I know better than to try.

“You don’t have to hold onto me. I’m not going to run.”

He drags me to the door and releases me, giving me half a second to put my shoes on. “I know you won’t. Not if you value your life, but one can never be sure enough.”

If I was here for anything else, I would probably run-run until my lungs burned, and there was enough distance between us-But I can’t run. I can’t even consider escaping because doing so would defeat the purpose of me being here.

As soon as my shoes are on, Markus is dragging me behind him and out to the car. He acts like the vehicle is going to disappear before we can reach it.

I stop myself from saying something stupid.

He releases me again and takes a step back. “We’re going to search for a tracker. The outside first, then the inside. I need your little hands to reach into spaces I can’t since I don’t feel like taking the entire car apart.”

I almost miss his instructions, becoming entranced by the sun shining high in the sky. Warmth envelopes me, and it’s like being hugged by the sun.

“Are you done wasting time?” Markus grunts.

My brows pinch together. This man reminds me of a grizzly bear more and more. Majestic and awe-like from a distance, but vicious and violent up close. There’s a reason they tell you to play dead when captured by a bear.

“I was just admiring the shining sun. It’s so nice outside.” I place a hand above my eyes to block the sun out of my eyes and crane my head back to examine his face.

He could use some sun too. Maybe then he wouldn’t be such an asshole?

Markus doesn’t even blink. There is no emotion whatsoever on his face, and I don’t understand how he can turn it on and off so easily.

“Start searching the car, or I’m taking you inside and putting you in the basement and doing it myself.”

The thought of the basement makes me spring into action and start inspecting the outside with him. He points out multiple spots for me to reach while he gets onto the ground and searches underneath.

After a good ten minutes of searching, he tells me to start on the inside. I open the car door and get to work looking through the vehicle.

Starting in the front seats, I find nothing and quickly move onto the backseat. I stick my hand between seats, under seats, and everywhere else my hands will fit but come up completely empty. We must be at it for a good thirty minutes when Markus finally gives up.

When I step out of the car, I find Markus standing there, arms folded across his chest, making him seem even more mean and menacing. I’m not surprised by his demeanor.

“I didn’t find anything,” I tell him. The heat in his stare is enough to burn me to the ground. He’s looking at me like I’m the villain here.

“Did you bring anything with you?” he accuses. I blink, and this time I’m surprised.

“Did I bring anything with me?” I snap, seriously wondering if he is all there in the head or if he just sees red and reacts later. “Are you kidding me? I was basically naked. Where could I have hidden anything?”

A light bulb must go off in his head because the harsh contours of his face soften a bit. He grabs my hand and starts pulling me back inside the house.

For a moment, I’m scared he is taking me back to the basement, but instead, we are heading up the stairs and into the bedroom.

He releases me, leaving me standing in the center of the room.

“Don’t move,” he orders before disappearing into the walk-in closet.

The sound of the chains rattling makes me cringe, and he appears a moment later with them in his hand. Suddenly, I’m reminded of that day all over again. I’m reminded of what it felt like to be weighed down by those things.

It doesn’t hit me what he’s doing until he starts looking over the chains.

The tracker could be on them, but why? Who put it there?

When he doesn’t find what he’s looking for, he moves onto the collar.

He feels the inside of the cheap leather, running his fingers over the inside. Shaking his head, he flips it inside out and shows it to me.

“Right here in the collar is the tracker. I should’ve known,” he growls angrily as he tosses the collar to the floor along with the chains. An aurora of distraught surrounds him, his fingers slice through his hair in frustration, and his face turns dark.

Fear nags at the back of my mind. “Maybe we should leave since the people from the auction know where we are. If they sent that man, who is to say they won’t send someone else?”

I’m afraid of someone else showing up here, but more than that, I’m afraid of seeing Markus as crazy as he was the night he killed that man in the kitchen. I don’t know if I can handle something like that happening again. I don’t want to witness any more people dying. Plus, if I can convince him to go to his place, then I’ll be one step closer to finding what I need.

Markus grins, but as always, it’s not a smile. It’s more like the devil smiling when he tells you that you’ve earned a lifetime of residence in hell.

“Let them come. I’ll slaughter them the same way I did the other. However, I doubt they will come here now. After tonight, they will know that I found the tracker and most likely piece together that I killed the other man. They won’t fuck with us again. I’m not afraid, and if I’m not, then you have no reason to be either. So long as you’re with me, I will kill anyone who tries to hurt you.” I’d believe him if he wasn’t the one holding all the power. If he wasn’t the one threatening me left and right.

“You mean you’ll protect me from anyone but yourself…” I whisper.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Fallon. I want to own you. Own your entire fucking body, make it so the only thing you can think about is me. The only thing you crave is me. Don’t get it twisted, though…” he steps into my space and pinches my chin between two fingers. His thumb brushes over my bottom lip, and he looks down at me hungrily, as if he could devour me right this second without thought.

“I will hurt you if I have to. I don’t want to, but that doesn’t mean I won’t. In life, you have to do things you might not want to do. Listen to me, and you will be fine. Fight me, and you’ll be in a world of hurt. The choice is yours.”

He releases my chin, and my skin burns where he touched me.

The choice is mine? I’ve never heard a bigger lie than that. I don’t have a choice in this, and I never have. The day they picked me up off that sidewalk, I was destined to be here. Destined to get the job done.

I can only hope Markus discovers my secret after I’m long gone.NôvelDrama.Org owns all content.