Page 89 of Ruin Me
The time away did me good. Now I could return to Paulina with some semblance of calm to deal with her.
Paulina whistled a carefree tune that riled my blood. She peered at me when I entered the room and she smiled. Then she noticed my calm expression and the chain wrapped around my arm. The grin fell from her face.
“Why do you have a chain?”
Instead of answering her question, I said, “I’m curious. You’ve been very forthcoming. I didn’t have to threaten you. Why is that?”
“Because you won’t do anything to me. I’m untouchable.”
“Pray tell, how?” I unwound the chains from my arm.
“I guess you’ll find out soon enough. Remember, I told you there’s always someone willing to do anything for a price? Well, I found one willing to keep your little bitch on ice for as long as I need. So, why should I be afraid of what you’re going to do when I can do way worse?”
“Ahh, all this time you had leverage. That’s why you had no problem admitting your crimes against me. It all makes sense now.”
“Mr. Luxe?” My man’s voice came from down the hall.
“I’m in here,” I yelled, allowing him to find me.
The guard entered, dragging the man who attempted to take Madison. When he appeared, for the first time, genuine fear entered Paulina’s eyes. The man holding Paulina’s attention had a bruised face, held his ribs, and had a bloody wound on his thigh, causing him to limp.
“Thank you, you may leave.”
My man nodded and backed out with my new captive, purposely keeping his eyes on the ground.
“He stays,” I said, regarding the beaten man.
Without another word, my guard abandoned Madison’s would-be assailant.
“Listen, I was only doing a job, man. Whatever this is, I don’t want no part of it.” The man stared at Paulina’s bound body.
“You know what I find funny, Paulina?” I punched the man in the face, knocked him unconscious, then dragged him toward a pillar and roped a chain around him before closing the padlock and fixing him to the building. “You speak on others’ illness and ego, never recognizing the same issues in yourself. You’re as sick as your cousin was and should be institutionalized, but you obviously hid it better. Because what else other than sickness would make you think you could compare to my Lola or my Madison? Both women far surpass you in beauty, grace, intelligence, talent, sexiness… pretty much every metric that matters, they blow you out of the water. Oh, I forgot to mention, sanity.”
“I am all those things and more, asshole.”
“Then why did I never see you? You never registered when we were in the same class in high school, barely when we were in college. It took you getting a government position that directly affected my company before I acknowledged you, and you forced that bit of exposure by demanding a monthly lunch. You were and will always be a desperate nobody in my world.”
“No, I am somebody. You need me.”
“Paulina, no one needs you. When you disappear, no one will care.” I dragged her chair to the one intact concrete wall in the room where a set of eyebolt screw wall anchors protruded from the wall.
I fed another chain through the holes. The last chain I’d brought from my car, I wrapped around Paulina, winding it around her torso, over her shoulders, and under the seat of her chair while she protested. Every curse she piled onto my head satisfied my banked rage. I lifted her chair and locked the chain connected to the wall with the chain wrapped around her body.Now, even if she freed herself of the rope, she wouldn’t escape the chains.
“You can’t leave me like this!” She twisted and banged against the wall while I turned my back on her. Her legs dangled feet above the ground.
I leaned against the pillar with the unconscious man. “You know, when I connected you to Madison’s attempted murder, I considered so many ways to make you pay. I never thought your intentions began years ago or were more diabolical than I could have ever imagined. But after listening to you, the best revenge is leaving you alone.” I glanced down at the unconscious man. “Well, he doesn’t count. When he regains consciousness, he won’t be able to help you. You’ll both suffer from dehydration and starvation. Only the two of you will hear each other’s desperate cries for help. After a couple weeks, you’ll have no more moisture to cry. Your organs will shut down, which I’ve heard is very painful.”
“If I meant nothing to you, why would you want to watch me waste away that way?”
“Watch you? Paulina, once I leave I won’t return. I’ll forget about you as quickly as I’ve done every other day of my life. You’re a nonentity. And when this place gets demolished, the only evidence you existed will be your dried-out skeleton. And even then, no one will report your remains. You’ll become commercial waste.”
“You’re forgetting. I hold an important office. People will look for me.”
“For a few days, they will. But then they’ll replace you at your job and call off the search when there are no leads. Hell, they might think Hal had gotten to you first since he also had a folder with your name on it.”
She gasped.
“Didn’t know he also had plans for you? You worked with a serial killer who murdered women and thought you were safe? Well, at least I saved you from Hal. Too bad there’s no one who will save you from me.”