I smile at her as I start up the laptop and open a browser. “Because if you don’t, I’ll starve you, cut you, and keep your life within an inch of dying, only for you to have to experience it all over again.”

She swallows, visibly shaken as I bring the laptop close enough to the cage so she can type. “And if I do?”

“I’m still going to make you suffer,” I say. “Just a little less.”

The way I smile makes her cringe, and then she brings her fingers to the keyboard. “What do you want me to do?”

“Go to Facebook and log in. I’ll do the rest.”

I keep an eye on the things she types, so she won’t start making a post without my consent. After she logs in, I turn the laptop toward me and type a post about her going on vacation. I add some pictures that I pluck from the internet and post it. We then repeat the process for Twitter, Instagram, and even her email. Now that she’s set an ‘I’m on vacation, don’t expect a response’ auto-reply, I can be sure there won’t be anyone snooping around her house in the coming weeks.

“You can’t keep this up forever,” she says.

“I know, but for now, it’ll do.”

“If the guard has gone missing, they’ll notice soon enough,” she mutters.

“Oh, don’t worry about them. Getting this cage wasn’t the only thing I did when I left you here alone.”

Her eyes widen. “What did you do?”

“I got his body from the bushes, put him in his truck, and drove it off the road into the river.”

She gasps, taken aback by how simple I can speak about death. What can I say? Once you’ve done it enough, you grow numb to the feelings it’s supposed to invoke. I don’t care about life or death. It can be a blessing but also a curse.

Suddenly, she leaps toward the bars, like an animal desperate for more. “What about Arthur?” she asks.

“Well, after I stabbed him, I’m not sure he got very far. But when I came back out to find him, he was gone. Must’ve crawled to try to save his life. Of course, it’s futile because losing that much blood is fatal. I suppose he’s still lying in the yard somewhere underneath a tree or something.”

Her lips begin to tremble and her eyes fill with sweet, delicious tears again. I could almost eat them up; that’s how much I adore seeing them. “He’s dead?”

“Possibly,” I muse, as I sit on my heels to make the final changes on the laptop. “Most likely.”

“How could you? He has nothing to do with this. Nothing,” she sputters. “And you murdered him!”

“Yeah, well, technically, he does have something to do with this.”

“Just because he’s my new lover? Why? What did he ever do to you?” she asks, desperation seeping into her voice. “He didn’t deserve to die.”

“He didn’t do anything to me, but he was going to do something to you. And don’t tell me you didn’t notice the change in his behavior.”

“What do you mean? What do you know about it?” she asks with furrowed brows. “Tell me!”

I smile at her command. It’s funny how she still thinks she can control people, even from inside a cage. “Maybe I’ll tell you later. Maybe not. Who knows?” I lean in and wink. “I do. And I like being the only one to know what’s going to happen to you.”

“Fuck you,” she says.

I grab her chin and pull her toward me. “No, fuck you, for ruining my life.”

I push her back so she falls on her ass. “I don’t deserve this.”

“Oh, have you forgotten about that time you framed me, making me go to jail for something you did?”

“You murdered Phillip! Of course, you went to jail. It was only a matter of time before they caught you.”

“No, it was only a matter of time before they caught you, but you didn’t like that, now did you?”

She narrows her eyes, slamming her lips shut as if saying something would ruin her chances to get out. What she doesn’t realize is that I already know everything, and that it’s already too late to redeem herself. She made her choice the moment she decided that I was her enemy instead of her friend.

“You tried to frame me for the murder of my husband,” she says, tucking her curly fake blond hair behind her ears as if she means business. Cute.

“No, you killed him with your own bare hands.”

“I didn’t! I just handed him the glass of poison you gave to me! I didn’t know it had poison in it. How is that fair?”

“Anything is fair in love and war, sweet cheeks,” I muse, closing the laptop. “You played the game and you lost. End of story.”

“And you think that’s an okay reason to lock me up like some kind of animal?”

I put the laptop back in my bag. “Actually, yes, considering you did the same thing to me.”

“That is not the same.”

Fuck, she fucking annoys the shit out of me when she keeps yammering on about these things, as if she’s trying to convince herself.

“It is the exact same thing,” I say, looking her in the eye.

“This cage is barely the size of my body. I can’t even stand in here. And you want to compare this to prison?”

Rage takes control, and I lash out at her, grabbing the collar of her dress and pulling her toward me. “Listen up, Missy. My jail time wasn’t pretty. You don’t wanna know how many men I had to beat up just to stay safe. You don’t even know what they do to people in there. Fuck, I’m glad I never dropped any soap, but I’ve seen men turned into a wifey. Do you have any fucking clue what it’s like in there?”

She shakes her head but keeps her resolve intact as we have a staring match.

“No, you don’t, and you’re right, this wasn’t what my prison looked like. But you deserve much, much worse for that.”

“Why? For framing you?”

“For being just like me … only worse. And you know exactly why, so stop asking. Stop trying to justify your own righteousness. It’s wrong, and if you won’t believe it, I’ll make you.”

“Why don’t you just kill me then? If I’m such a criminal?” she asks as I let go of her.

“Because I’ve decided that I’m going to take my time and enjoy every second of your punishment for as long as possible.”

“You’re sick,” she says, wincing. “A sick bastard.”

“Thanks,” I say. “For infecting me, I mean.”

When anger flashes across her face, I smile at her. I love that sight. The rage and confusion clearly visible on her face brings me so much joy. It’s like she finally gets to experience what I have had to endure all these years. Sweet, merciless revenge.

I lean in closer to the cage and admire the sight of my captive from up close. She’s still as beautiful as ever, with rosy cheeks and lips to match, so alluring … like a seductress, only the bad kind. The kind that gets you killed.

She’s not a good girl, despite her looks. She likes to play with people, spinning lies around their hearts. But I’m not stupid, and I won’t fall into her web. That doesn’t mean I have to stay at a safe distance, though, because from the way I see it, I’ll need to get up close and personal to hurt her. So personal that she won’t be able to tell the difference between pain and pleasure. I want her to experience both, so I can break her down mentally and emotionally.

But not before I get everything I want from her. Now that she’s within my grasp, I finally have the chance to act out all the fantasies I’ve had since I was stuck in jail. Oh, the amount of times I’ve thought of kissing those sweet, poisonous lips and ramming my hard cock into her wet folds have made me crazy with lust in addition to the rage.

And there she is, sitting in her cage, looking at me with those doll eyes and pouty lips, ready to receive. Fuck.

“What are you doing?” she asks slowly, as if she’s trying to understand me. As if that’s even possible. Even I don’t understand myself. I sure as hell don’t understand the conflicted feelings that I’m having right now. Like, on one hand, I want to fuck her into oblivion, and on the other hand, I want to tear her heart out.