Page 73 of Total Obsession

"You see," I continued, "that was what got you in trouble in the first place." I gave him a look. "Saying too much, that is."

I looked over at the dark figure that was standing in the corner of the room. With Beau now out of the picture, I had to switch to a different partner. Johnny had asked me to keep Teddy busy, so it was really a win-win in my book. Besides, Teddy was as likely to double-cross someone as a golden retriever.

"What do you think, Teddy?" I asked, leaning into the game. It had been a while since I'd had a kill go right. I needed this tonight.

"Dunno, Boss. Sounds right to me," Teddy said, lifting one earbud out of his ear. The guy was always listening to music.

Matt wriggled against his wrist restraints and tried to mumble something against the tape.

I sighed. "Seems like you just won't learn," I said. "Fine, then." I made my way over to him and ripped off the duct tape. He yelled out as it took a portion of his beard with it.

"That looked like it hurt," I said with a grin.

"Look man," he said to me, and I narrowed my eyes at the casual tone he was taking. "I'll give you whatever you want. I'm very wealthy. If you want money, I can make that happen. Just please let me go."

It was odd to me that the first thing out of Matt's mouth wasn't "why am I here?" As I correctly suspected, Matt had been doing dirty deeds in the dark for quite some time.

"Let me ask you a question, Mr. Galliway," I replied to him. To give him credit, he kept his mouth shut and let me continue. "I want you to take a real good look at me. Do I look like the sort of man who needs your money?"

He looked me up and down and gulped. "Fame? Do you want fame? I'm very well connected. I can make you famous. Whatever movie you want, I can get you into it."

I laughed, throwing my head back. "Such an absurd offer for a man like myself," I said. "Clearly, you don't know who you're dealing with, Mr. Galliway."

"Just tell me what it is you want," he said. "I'm sure that we can work something out."

"You really want to know what it is that I want?" I asked, leaning in close to him.

He nodded his head frantically.

"Two things," I said to him. "The first is your confession. Let's you and me hold a little episode of church right here, right now. Tell me all the bad things that you've done, and then you can ask for my forgiveness. Does that sound good?"

"Will you forgive me?" he asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess we'll have to see, but," I said with a wink, "I'll know if you're lying."

I already knew that Matt was not living a clean and moral life. That, coupled with how he'd treated Zoey after the Miami situation was enough for me to think him worthy of my blade.

I'd known Zoey was going to catch some flack for missing filming, but what wasn't acceptable to me was the way Matt had treated her when she'd managed to get on set the very same day. I'd set her up to fail, that much was for sure, and she'd surpassed even the pitfalls that I'd laid out for her.

She really was proving to be something special.

Then again, I already knew that fact.

Thoughts of last night entered my mind. The way she’d looked at me as she’d given me the album she’d created. The way she’d been so nervous at me finding the Polaroid. It made me want to protect her in a way that I hadn’t anticipated when I’d originally kidnapped Matt.

I pushed that all out of my mind. Right now, I needed to focus on the man sitting in front of me and not the woman who was fast becoming my complete addiction.

"Okay, okay," he said. "I'll tell you."

I pulled up a chair and sat down, crossing one leg over the other, and waited for him to start. Little did Matt know, but there was a recorder in the corner of the room that was capturing everything he said.

I listened to his disgusting stories of blackmail, rape, and extortion. Each of them was much the same. An actress would be on set, she only had the supporting role, and he offered her a chance to be the lead next time at the expense of her dignity.

Many of them agreed.

Some of them didn't.

The ones that didn't were never seen in the industry again. He made sure that their careers were over.