Chapter 47 I Crave Punishment
Cole Ryder’s POV
“C… Cole?” Celene said, stumbling as she tried to pull her hand back from my grip, but I caught it before she could. My reflex was quick, but my brain was on a short circuit. Funny how all my life skills fly away when it comes to Celene.
Her eyes dropped immediately to my hand, and I saw the exact second she noticed the blood that I had carelessly left there as I rushed to meet her.
The way her pupils widened. The way her breath caught.
“Cole. What are you—?”
“Go home.”
The words came out hard. Sharp enough to cut.
“I’m sorry, what?”
I tightened my grip just long enough to make sure she was listening, then released her hand and stepped back. Distance. I needed distance.
“Go. Home. Celene.”
She shook her head, confused. “You’re bleeding.”
I didn’t even bother looking at the blood. She always worried about the wrong things while was too busy looking past her down the street at the shadow that had slid into the deeper darkness where the Streetlights did not reach.
He wasn’t very smart though, he did not notice that his reflection was very visible on the dark glass of a parked car just beside him.
The fucking shadow that didn’t belong anywhere near my kitten.
My jaw locked.
“Now,” I said, softening my voice for her a little “ Kitten, I need you to leave. Immediately.”
Softening my voice must have finally reached her, because the confusion on her face shifted and gave way to unease.
“Why?” she asked softly.
I took another step back, placing myself fully between her and the street.
"Kitten, you look way too good in that shirt... I'm jealous of everyone who'd get to see you like that"
"Cole..." she sighed.
"Kitten..." I responded, knowing very well that she would not leave until I told her the truth.
“You’re being followed.”
I heared her breath stutter, but she didn’t show any other reaction. My tough little kitten...that's my girl. She would fit right in my world when I am ready to introduce her to it... IF I am ever ready to introduce her to the mafia world.
“That’s not funny,” she said, pulling me back from my thoughts.
“I’m not joking, Kitten”
In the corner of my eye, I saw the shadow move, slow and carefully, but it was an amateur mistake. He thought he was slick. He thought the dark made him invisible. Not to me, It didn’t. I lived, breathe and ate the darkness.
Celene glanced over her shoulder instinctively, and then tried to step around me to see who i was talking about, but I caught her arm again before she could turn fully.
“Don’t look,” I said. “Just listen to me.”
Her pulse jumped beneath my fingers.
“You’re going to walk straight home, baby,” I continued. “You won’t run, you won’t stop, you won’t turn around. When you get inside, you lock the door. You understand me?”
Her lips parted. “Cole...”
“Celene.” I said, hardening my voice.
She went still.
That tone always worked...on everyone
“I need you safe, kitten” I said. “This only works if you do exactly what I say.” She was safe either way, it just did not want her around for what I was about to do. She wasn’t ready for the darkness yet.
For a moment, she hesitated. I saw it, her natural instinct to argue, to question, to stay.
I didn’t let it grow.
“Go,” I repeated. “Now.”
Finally, she nodded once.
“Okay.”
She stepped back, then another, eyes never leaving my face.
“Be careful, Ryder” she whispered.
I didn’t answer. I didn’t need care. I craved punishment.
I watched her walk away instead. Counted her steps. Tracked her reflection in windows until she turned the corner and disappeared from sight.
Only then did I breathe.
Only then did I let myself bleed.
I rolled my shoulder and shifted my focus fully to the street. I noticed the shadow slowly retreating.
Good.
That meant he knew who I was.
I smiled to myself as I stepped deeper into the darkness, letting my calm mask slip into rage.
First, the orphanage, and now this? I needed to pass a loud message to whoever it was behind all this. You don’t follow what’s mine.
And you don’t walk away after trying.