74
CLARISSA DEVOR—
Damien stood up and stalked towards me with a menacing expression on his face.
He had a twisted smile, and I clenched my fist. It was all I could do to keep myself from hitting him.
"Well, now you know the truth, don't you?" Carl said, stopping right in front of me. "Damien wants nothing to do with you. He's not even going to save you. You must feel..." He paused, searching for the right words. "Fucked up mentally. Alone," he said, smiling even more.
"How does it feel, Clarissa?" he whispered next to me. "How does it feel knowing that you have never been actually loved?"
I bit my lower lip. I didn't want his words to get to me. I really didn't. But here he was, voicing out all the thoughts that the voice in my head had been saying. I was alone, never to be loved. How did it feel?
I shook my head, snapping out of it. I wasn't going to let him get to me like this.
Carl smirked at me, knowing his words had an effect on me.
"What do you want? Haven't you done enough already?" I spat out, staring daggers at him.
He chuckled, the sound evil and maniacal, as his hands snaked up my shoulders.
I flinched at his touch, feeling even worse now that I knew I was completely at his mercy this time.
"I have so much in store for you, Clarissa," he said.
I looked at our reflection in the glass windows at the other end of the room and caught a sharp glint in his eyes.
I shuddered, feeling scared.
"So you're right, I haven't done enough yet," he laughed and moved away from me.
"Come and sit," he said, like he hadn't just been a monster a few seconds ago.
He pushed out a chair for me at the long table in the middle of the room.
There was a spread on the table and lots of food and champagne. It was almost like a feast, with enough food to feed an army. There were bacons, fried beef, baked beans, and so much more that I felt my stomach groan.
My mouth watered, and I wanted nothing more than to dig in and fill myself with all the delicious-looking food that was just waiting to be eaten. But I stopped myself.
If it weren't for the motherfucker standing in front of me, offering me a seat like a demon in the guise of a gentleman, maybe I might have actually had an appetite.
But now, there was no way I was going to walk over to where he was. I knew he was up to no good. Who knew, he also poisoned the food and was just waiting patiently for me to eat and die?
I tensed up, finding the thought not funny at all. There was something in the way he smiled, like I had been so blind, that brought a feeling of déjà vu to me.
Images swirled in my head of events that had never happened, at least not in this life. I was transported back to four years ago when Lily and Karl poisoned me. They knew I had a weak heart, and I went ahead with the poison that acted up four years later, virtually leading to my death.
What if everything was going to repeat itself right now? Was I really willing to take that chance? He poisoned me once before; there was no telling he wouldn't do it again.
"Aw, don't be scared," Karl said in a sickly sweet voice.
"You're all alone, but I won't hurt you if I don't have a good reason to," he continued. There was a dark smile on his face that told me it wasn't that easy.
Karl motioned towards the seat forcefully now. "Come and sit," he said with a dark look in his eyes.
There was something commanding in his voice this time that made me think he meant it. I was going to face some consequences if I didn't obey, but that didn't stop me from tilting my chin upward in defiance.
"Why should I?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.
He laughed a dark, cruel sound. "Oh, I want to force you then. But I do advise you to eat something at least, because what lies ahead of you..." He shrugged.
"Tsk tsk... I can't assure you that it will be something pleasant," he said.
"Nothing you ever do is pleasant," I replied without missing a beat.
"Well, true," Carl chuckled.
"What do you plan on doing?" I asked.
"Since you're so helpless, I guess I will tell you," he said.
He walked closer, stopping right in front of me. "I'm going on with my original plan, Clarissa," he said.
"Meaning?" I asked, stepping back in fear. "What do you mean by that? What original plan?" And I knew for sure that I wasn't going to like it, I thought.
"Oh, come on, Clarissa, I know you're smarter than this," Karl urged. "You can see how well the negotiation with Damien went. He doesn't care about you, and so that also means I have no more use for you."
"What are you trying to say?" I asked, my breath hitching up in fear.
Karl leaned closer to me with a smirk on his face.
"It means that I'm free to do whatever the fuck I please when it comes to you, Clarissa. I'm free to punish and torture you as I like. After all, no one is coming for you."
He drew back from me and brushed past, his shoulders brushing against mine and sending shivers down my spine.
"I always knew he was a dangerous man, up to no good. What I didn't know was how dangerous he was. He was an unhinged motherfucker."
Carl stopped at the door, his hands hovering just above the doorknob.
"Eat up, Clarissa. It will soon be time," he said, and I didn't have to see his face to know he was smirking like the devil he was.
"You will never get away with this, Carl," I said, my face clenched at my side.
"Oh," he laughed. "I think I already have."
He turned back, his eyes glinting.
"And did I forget to update you on what happened in the outside world?" he asked, tilting his head to one side.
I felt myself tense up. There was more bad news. I didn't know if I was able to take all this for much longer.
He gave a sadistic smile. "You don't seem ready for it?" he asked, his voice eerily soft.
I bit my lower lip. I couldn't help him being all smug in my face like this. How dared he.
"I'm going to tell you anyway," he continued. "After all, I enjoy seeing you all flustered and scared like this. It brings me so much joy, it's such a turn on."
"You psychopath," I spat out.
"Not much better than Damien, you know," he gave a shrug.
I felt a pang of hurt as he made reference to Damien again, and the way he had betrayed me without a second thought.
"But you see, this is not about him," he said, patting my head.
I flinched at his touch and resisted the urge to bite his hand. That would only get me into more trouble, and I knew it. I was already at his mercy, and I didn't exactly want to give him any other reason to be cruel to me.
"You see," he began.
"Your little friend thought she could come over and fool me. What's her name again... the little petite thing," he squinted, pressing his thumb and index finger together.
"Isabella," I said, glaring hard at him. How dare he refer to my best friend that way.
"Ah yes, it was Isabella, girl. She came over to my office and got me to admit that I was the one who kidnapped you. Such a shame. It was a genius idea, but I saw right through it."
I felt a sadness in my heart. Isabella did something. She didn't abandon me even after I refused to reply to her texts and said that we weren't friends anymore. She went ahead and risked her life to try and find me.
Why did that make me feel more like a piece of crap?
"Don't worry, Clarissa, you're not going anywhere. She ran to the police, but I will make sure that the evidence isn't there by the end of today," Karl continued, oblivious to my pain.
"Why are you doing all this?" I asked, my voice breaking as I spoke. Where was his being such a jerk, I thought.
"Cheer up, you're safe here. And it's quite enjoyable. But if you want the easy way out, I will give it to you."
"And what's that?" Even as I looked up, I already dreaded the answer.
"I think you know that, Clarissa. You keep on acting so dumb next to me, sometimes I wonder if it's even an act," he scoffed and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
Deep down, I knew the answer. He was only waiting for the time to get rid of me completely, to kill me, make me disappear.