It was his experiment.
Romeo didn’t hate animals, he just didn’t feel anything towards them, which was true of most people too.
But Chad felt empathy for both.
He wanted to please both.
And the written sob story, and the photograph of Mercutio not looking his best, had worked on him.
Those big grey eyes had sucked Chad right in.
But Romeo wasn’t as convinced.Looks, as he knew from his own reflection, could be deceiving.
Chad’s jaw had almost unhinged at the chains and padlocks Romeo had bought in preparation of their new arrival.
He’d demanded Romeo keep them in the outhouse and told Romeo they were adopting a sweet timid boy, not a werewolf.
Romeo never imagined he’d be opening those boxes, pulling the chain free, knowing he was about to use it on Chad.He’d packed supplies onto the backseat of Chad’s car, mainly clothes, tins, bottles of water, food, toiletries, blankets, money—lots of money.
He still had control of Chad’s bank accounts and withdrew money from different cash points all over town.
He knew he had to take Chad away, he couldn’t do what he needed to do in their home, not when Ally and Josh were bound to show up to check up on him.
Romeo had already planned it out.
He was going to catch Chad, chain him up, then send a message from Chad’s phone to Ally and Josh saying he needed space and was visiting an old colleague from Canster.
In reality, Romeo had booked a four-week stay in the cottage they’d gone to by the sea—secluded, private, away from everyone.It would be just him and Chad, like at the beginning.
Romeo found a spare set of handcuffs in the bottom of the wardrobe.Chad’s official pair he’d had to hand in, along with his detective’s badge and his ID card.
Romeo had seen the hurt in Chad’s eyes when he’d returned from the station that day.
He added the cuffs, along with the chains and padlocks to the trunk.The sun visors across the windows remained pulled back and he threw a blanket over all the supplies on the back seat.
The cage was ready, Romeo just needed Chad to fly home so he could catch him and force him into it.
It was inevitable.
In fact, it surprised Romeo it hadn’t happened sooner, but Chad had to come home at some point.
Six weeks after he hadn’t come back to Romeothatday, Chad came home on a different one.
He wasn’t alone, but Romeo hadn’t expected him to be.
Ally and Josh were there, Mercutio, too, who rushed around the house in a happy dance.
Romeo watched the camera feeds on his phone from the outhouse.He paused when he heard Mercutio snuffling at the bottom of the door, but then Josh called him away and he went with a yip.
They disappeared into the house, and Romeo exhaled, knowing he had to wait.
It took an hour for Ally and Josh to leave.
Romeo frowned when he saw Mercutio leaving with them.
He’d thought Chad would want him there, but he hopped onto the backseat of Josh’s car and sat for Josh to pet him on the head.Ally stood by the passenger door, rubbing her fingers over her lips as she stared at the house.
Romeo didn’t know if Chad was on the doorstep, the camera didn’t cover the front door, but he heard a mumble through the outhouse door, then Ally replied, “You damn well better be.”
