It was an old brown file.
Hesitance gnawed at me.I should shut the drawer and head back to my room to wait for Damien to get home.But I found myself prying it open.
My eyes widened as they landed on the picture hanging on the front page.
It was a picture of me in a short powder-blue dress.I was barefoot, grinning from ear to ear as Maria dragged me through the streets.Maria’s shadowy figure wasn’t the highlight of the picture.It was me.It looked like it was strategically captured by someone who had been watching me for a while.
I remember that night.
It was a few days after I mysteriously lost my job at the diner due to my boss, Dean, being murdered.I had been down, not wanting to socialize, but Maria dragged me to the club to get me drunk.
She said I wouldn’t feel anything anymore.And she was right.
My fingers trembled incessantly.Why did Damien have this picture of me?I tried to breathe in, but every breath I dragged in punctured my lungs like an arrow.Tears instantly blurred my vision.
I was horrified when I scanned through the content of the file.
It was like a series of biodata pages, all about me.Even the explicit information about my life.It chronicled ...me.
“Oh, my God...”My shaky hands gave the file away.“I-I don’t understand ...oh, my God...”
Tears streamed down my cheeks.The obvious reality stared me in the face, but I didn’t want to believe it.I didn’t want to admit that truth to myself.
My lungs burned so much.I began pulling out other drawers like a maniac, and I let out a scream when I saw two pistols lying in one of the drawers.
I slapped my palms over my mouth, wanting to stifle my sobs as much as I could.
Who was this man?
I rushed to my feet, leaving the papers to drop to the floor with a thud.The world spun on its axis, feeling as though it was about to crash beneath my feet.
My head throbbed, and I wanted to believe I was deluded until I crashed into a wall.
I swung my head up and froze.
Those dark eyes watched me like a predator would watch its prey before it hunted it down.His jaw was set, clenching and unclenching, and his body felt oddly cold against mine.
I gasped, stepping backward.
Knowing what I knew now, horror bled into me, racking my body with panic that I had no control over how hard I was trembling.
“You shouldn’t be in here, Red.”He folded his arms under his chest.His biceps flexed with the movements, bunching the short sleeves of his thick dark tee that was tucked into gray slacks.
“Who are you?”My voice was thin with fear.
“Your husband.”He answered so casually, like I hadn’t just found out that he had been in the shadows, watching me like some freak for the past three years of my life.“You saw everything.”He spoke up again as he gave me a once-over.
Damien’s chill was like a calm before a storm.It turned my blood into ice and slowed my breathing.
“You’ve been watching me ...you’ve been stalking me for three years.What kind of a freak are you?”I whispered, in shock, unable to wrap my head around what was unfolding before me right now.
He strode forward.
“Don’t come close!”I snapped, staggering backward.My breath broke harshly when my back hit the desk behind me.
“You won’t tell me what to do.You are my wife.I’ll do whatever the fuck I want with you,” he said through his teeth, his eyes darkening as he closed the distance between us.
I yelped when he leaned into me, grabbing the edge of the desk so tightly, I feared he’d break it in two.
