His movements are jittery, but it’s not with fear. It’s eagerness. The fantasy of punishing Geneva excites him… almost as much as I’m excited to kill him.
“Do you want a drink?” he asks.
“Sure.”
Mason pours me a drink and hands me the glass. Once I take it, he refills his. “How do you know Gen? And what did she do to you?”
“I met her at Blackwater, where I used to work. To answer your other question: She ruined me.”
Mason lets out a sound, something between a laugh and a grunt, as if he understands. I almost smile. He has no idea what Geneva has done to me, how deeply she’s embedded herself into my mind.Ruinedme, yes, but not in the way he thinks.
She’s made it impossible for me to want anyone or anything else. Because she’s the only thing I think about, the only person who I give a shit about. Does that mean I care for her? Not exactly. I doubt I’m capable of such emotions anymore.
But whatever I feel for her, it’sall-consuming.
“Gen has always been uptight,” Mason says. “A stickler for the rules.”
“I’m not surprised. It must’ve been hard being with someone like that.”
He scoffs. “You have no idea. She thinks following the rules makes her better than everyone.”
I dip my head in acknowledgment. “I get it. Before she got me fired, due to ‘inappropriate behavior,’ Geneva told me she’d just dumped her boy-toy and was swearing off all men.” Mason flinches at “boy-toy.” Fucking with his fragile ego is too easy. I blow out a breath, maintaining the composed look I’ve mastered, even though the urge to smile is almost overwhelming. “She needs to pay for what she did.”
“She’s always so cold,” he says. “She never let me in, never gave a shit about me beyond what I could do for her. But everyone has a breaking point, and I want to find hers.”
“That’s a good place to start.” I keep my voice soft, coaxing him. “What else?”
“I want to make her feel powerless. Tie her up, blindfold her,and torture her. Basically, take away everything that makes her feel secure.”
My mind files away every single word. Mason thinks he’s describing his fantasy for Geneva, but all he’s doing is giving me the tools I need to destroy him. Every twisted thought that crosses his mind will soon be his reality. Plus, some initiative on my part, of course.
“And then?” I ask.
Mason’s eyes gleam with cruelty now, fully immersed in his sick delusion. “I’ll make her beg. Make herpleadfor it to stop. But I won’t stop. Not until she’s completely broken or dead.”
“Sounds like you’ve thought a lot about this,” I say with a small laugh. As if I haven’t thought about torturing and killinghimfor weeks now.
He shrugs, trying to appear casual, but there’s an eagerness in his expression that he can’t quite suppress. “I’ve had time to think.”
“Damn man, what really happened? This sounds like more than just her dumping you.”
The skin around his jaw tightens and the shift in his demeanor is immediate. Rage is there, just below the surface, and I want him to release it. To admit what he did, so I can kill him.
“She broke things off with me.Me,” he snaps. “As if she can do better.”
“Sounds like she underestimated you.”
Mason’s eyes flash with anger, and he tightens his grip on the tumbler. “Damn right she did. She acted like she was too good for me, like I was just…” He grits his teeth, his knuckles turning white. “I showed her that night. And I’ll do it again.”
I raise an eyebrow, keeping my voice calm. “Oh? How did you show her?”
He hesitates for a moment, the fury twisting into something grotesque. “She wouldn’t stop,” he mutters, almost as if he’s talking to himself. “Kept pushing. Kept acting like she’s better than me, like I’m nothing. And I just… I snapped.”
I keep my posture relaxed but my gaze sharp, watching him carefully. “Snapped how?”
“I… I hit her.” His face pales, and he takes another swig of his drink as if to wash the guilt away. “It’s like shewantedme to.”
I nod slowly, processing the information. Nothing justifies his pathetic excuse for losing control, but the fact that she stood there, pushing Mason to the brink, shows me something. Something she didn’t want me to know.
