The Twins' Twisted Game

My boyfriend has an identical twin brother. They tied a cold silk tie brutally tight over my eyes.

A low, rough voice vibrated against my ear, commanding me to guess which twin he was.

If I guessed wrong… Chapter 1 Four months into dating Tristan, he suddenly brought up taking me home to meet the family. I froze. "Meeting the parents already?

Isn't it a bit fast?" "Relax. My parents are overseas doing research. It's just me and my brother at the house.

We're all around the same age, so just treat it like hanging out with a friend." He hooked an arm around my shoulder.

The smile on his lips was as bright and innocent as always, carrying a hint of eager anticipation.

He rested his chin on my shoulder like a massive dog desperate to please its owner, but the arm wrapped around my waist tightened like an iron vise. So, I agreed.

The night before we left, I made sure to ask him. "Does your brother have anything he likes?" Tristan leaned in with a smirk.

He kissed me, his lips trailing down my neck, his voice dropping into a husky register. "Just buy whatever. Our tastes are completely identical.

Whatever I like, he likes too." Because of those exact words, I made a detour to the mall the next morning and bought a limitededition Lego set.

But as Tristan drove my beatup, used Honda into the most ridiculously expensive gated community in the city, reality hit.

Something was very wrong. "…This is your house?" The massive wroughtiron gates swung open automatically, revealing a manicured estate complete with a giant water fountain in the front.

My sweet, loving boyfriend turned to look at me, flashing an innocent smile. "Yeah. I was afraid it would stress you out, Cassidy, so I didn't dare mention it.

You're not mad at me, are you?" "…" He knew exactly how to weaponize that gorgeous face.

In the end, I could only shake my head and haul the massive Lego box out of the car as I followed him inside. The glaring sunlight instantly cooled as we stepped inside.

I instinctively narrowed my eyes, adjusting to the shadows of the foyer. The man sitting on the couch wore a crisp white buttondown.

Even lounging at home, it was buttoned up perfectly, the cuffs secured with glittering diamond cufflinks. Goldrimmed glasses rested on the bridge of his nose.

His gaze cut right through the lenses and landed squarely on me.

The corner of his mouth hitched up slightly. "Hello." That was the first time I met Tristan's identical twin brother, Vance. "Vance, you're home early today." Tristan kept his arm slung over my shoulder, grinning as he made the introduction. "This is the girl I told you about.

My girlfriend, Cassidy. Cassidy, this is my brother Vance. He runs the family company right now." Vance set his book down on the coffee table. He stood up and walked right up to me.

He had the exact same face as Tristan, but the vibe was entirely different. Compared to Tristan's warm, open energy, Vance carried a polite but freezing distance.

My skin prickled with discomfort. Suddenly, the bulky Lego box in my hands felt like a burning brick of coal.

I tried to hide the massive Lego box behind my back, but Vance had already closed the distance.

His towering shadow instantly enveloped me. "A gift for me?" He reached out directly, sliding the box right out of my stiff fingers. "Thank you.

I love it." The sharp gleam behind his lenses sent a cold shiver down my spine.

The hairs on my arms stood up, like I was dropped into the middle of a jungle with a predator circling me in the dark.

Making matters worse, the housekeeper suddenly walked into the room. She called for Tristan, mentioning she had found some of his old things upstairs.

Within seconds, the living room emptied out. It was just the two of us left.

Chapter 2 "You're shaking." Vance suddenly spoke, his gaze scraping across my cheek like a blade. "What, do you find me too dangerous?" I sat there, every muscle rigid, desperately forcing my face into a mask of indifference. "No, just a little surprised.

You and Tristan look so much alike." He let out a low, dark laugh. "We're identical twins.

He was born just five minutes after me." Vance leaned forward, planting both arms directly on the sofa on either side of my body, locking me inside his shadow and the heavy scent of his cologne. "So, can you tell the difference between him and me?" He deliberately dropped his voice, the low vibration sliding into my ear like a little snake.

I shrank back into the cushions. "I can. Even though you two share the same face, your clothes, your vibe… everything is completely different." His warm breath brushed closer.

He acted entirely oblivious to my retreat, keeping that faint smile as he asked, "And if we wore the exact same clothes, and I took off my glasses—" "Vance." Tristan's voice sliced through the room, cutting off his brother's question.

It instantly yanked me out of that suffocating, weirdly charged atmosphere.

Tristan jogged down the stairs and walked right up to my side. "Dinner's ready." His house was ridiculously massive.

Just getting from the living room to the dining room required walking down a long, echoing hallway.

I hooked my arm through Tristan's, trailing behind, but my eyes couldn't help drifting toward Vance's back.

If he changed into the same shirt, ditched the goldrimmed glasses, and messed up his hair just a bit… it really seemed like it would be impossible to tell him apart from Tristan.

After dinner, Vance announced he was heading up to his study to handle some business. Tristan took me on a tour of the house.

Stepping out of the massive basement theater room, I suddenly noticed a tightly shut door at the far end of the hallway.

The weird part was the heavy iron padlock hanging off it—it completely clashed with the sleek vibe of the rest of the mansion. "What's in there?" A flicker of something unreadable crossed Tristan's eyes. "Just a storage room for leftover renovation materials.

It's a mess inside, so we keep it locked." "Nothing worth looking at. Let's head upstairs and relax." His bedroom was on the second floor.

Right next to the massive round bed stood a giant, floortoceiling mirror. Tristan leaned in and whispered something dirty right against my ear.

Heat instantly blasted across my cheeks.

I reached out to smack his chest, but he caught my wrists, pinning my hands right against the headboard. "This mirror… I had it put in specifically for us, Cassidy." I glared at him, parting my lips to fire back, but a cold prickle of unease suddenly slid down my spine.

An intense, heavy feeling of being watched slammed into me, instantly drenching my back in a layer of cold sweat. I shoved Tristan off and shot straight up in bed.

I whipped my head around, scanning the room in high alert, until my gaze locked dead onto that massive mirror. "What's wrong?" I jerked a step back, my fingernails digging hard into my palms. "What's behind that mirror?" Tristan's eyes fixed on my face in an almost calculating stare.

The dark, unreadable depth in his expression looked terrifyingly identical to his older brother. "I think it's just an empty room… I forgot," he said, pulling me back into his arms and burying his face in the crook of my neck. "Don't be so paranoid, Cassidy.

This is my house. It's completely safe. It's not like that hotel last time." "…" He was talking about the hot spring resort we went to on the outskirts of the city last month.

Using a trick I saw online, I had found a hidden camera in the ceiling right above the bed and called the cops immediately.

After coming home from that trip, I had screaming nightmares for days.

Every time I woke up drenched in cold sweat, Tristan was right there, holding me tight, coaxing me back to sleep with a soft voice.

Thinking about that memory, my racing heart finally started to slow down and settle. Chapter 3 Tristan slowly slid closer, wrapping his arms tight around me. "Go to sleep, Cassidy.

Work has been stressing you out lately. You just need to rest." His warm breath brushed against my ear, carrying his faint, signature scent of citrus and cedar.

The steady rhythm of his heartbeat slowly pulled me into a heavy drowsiness. Maybe Tristan was right. I was just strung out.

We worked in the same department, so he saw exactly how much I hustled every day.

Back when we first started dating, he told me multiple times to stop grinding so hard, swearing he would take care of me.

Back then, I just laughed and threw my arms around his neck. "I like my job. I don't need a sugar daddy." Yeah.

Up until today, I genuinely believed he was just a regular guy grinding for a paycheck, exactly like me.

Right before I slipped completely under, I mumbled against his chest. "Why didn't you ever tell me you had a twin brother… especially one who's…" Before I could finish the sentence, I blacked out into sleep.

The rough whisper that followed must have bled into my dream.

Tristan's arm locked tighter around my waist as his lips dragged slowly along the shell of my ear. "Because… I wanted to hide you away for just a little longer.

My Cassidy." By the time we woke up that afternoon, heavy storm clouds had choked the sky. The light outside was turning a bruised, murky gray.

Tristan was practically buzzing with energy, dragging me out into the massive backyard to show off some rare, imported roses. I only made it a few steps before my spine stiffened.

That suffocating sensation of being watched slammed into me all over again. I snapped my head around, scanning the perimeter.

When I tilted my head up, my eyes locked dead onto the second floor. Standing right behind the floortoceiling glass of his study, was Vance.

He had ditched the goldrimmed glasses. The top two buttons of his crisp shirt were undone, the sleeves rolled up past his elbows to expose the thick, corded muscle of his forearms.

The second our eyes met, he didn't even blink. He just stared right back, slowly lifting his crystal glass of dark wine in a silent, mocking toast. My gaze slowly slid to the left.

Right next to that study… was Tristan's bedroom. We were supposed to head back to my apartment after dinner.

Instead, the sky ripped open, dumping a torrential downpour over the city.

Vance stared at us. "Stay the night." I immediately tried to shut it down. "I didn't pack a change of clothes.

Or any of my makeup remover…" "Mom left plenty of unopened skincare and silk pajamas in her suite before she moved overseas.

Tristan, go upstairs and grab them." Vance dropped the command with a tone that left absolutely zero room for argument.

The second Tristan disappeared up the stairs, Vance turned his head, a razorthin smirk ghosting across his lips as his eyes locked onto me. "Do you hate me that much, Cassidy?

You seem absolutely terrified to be trapped under the same roof as me." I pressed my lips into a tight line. "You're overthinking things." He closed the distance, deliberately sinking into the leather sofa right next to me. "Cassidy.

Tristan already told you, didn't he?" As he spoke, his dark eyes pinned me in place.

The raw, predatory weight in his stare felt like he was about to swallow me alive. "Ever since we were kids, our tastes have been completely identical.

Including—" A massive clap of thunder suddenly shattered the silence, followed instantly by the deafening roar of rain slamming against the glass.

The explosive noise swallowed the last word out of his mouth. I shot straight up from the sofa. "I'm going upstairs to find Tristan.

Have a good night." But even without looking back, I could feel the scorching, suffocating weight of his stare tracking every single move I made.

It burned right through my clothes, trailing me like a physical shadow.

Later in bed, the memory of Vance's pitchblack stare flashed behind my eyelids, completely scrambling my nerves.

When Tristan reached for me, I planted my hands on his chest and shoved him back. "I'm exhausted. I just want to crash." Chapter 4 Tristan's upwardcurving lips instantly flattened.

The muscles in his jaw suddenly snapped tight.

He flipped his hand, his grip clamping down on my shoulder like an iron vise. "You met my brother, and now I'm not good enough for you, is that it, Cassidy?" "Stop talking crazy!" I ground my teeth, a sharp prickle of heat shooting up the back of my neck.

I shoved his arm off. "What does your brother have to do with this? Tristan, we are just dating.

Do I not even have the right to say no?" "Just dating…?" Under the dim, moody lighting, a dark, churning vortex swirled in his eyes.

But a second later, all of it sank back into the abyss. Tristan hooked the corner of his lips, flashing that innocent, apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, Cassidy. That was my fault.

Go to sleep." But I couldn't get a solid night of rest. Maybe it was the unfamiliar house, or the suffocating tension from earlier that day. I had a nightmare.

In the dream, I was lying right on this massive round bed. Two giant, coldscaled black snakes slithered out from behind the mirror.

Their thick, heavy bodies pressed down on my ankles, slowly inching their way up my legs.

They reared up, pinning me down with freezing, predatory eyes heavily laced with dark desire, before slowly coiling around me. "Let me go—!" I jerked awake from the nightmare, shooting straight up in bed.

Outside the window, a jagged crack of lightning flashed. The blinding white light illuminated the entire room.

The space next to me was empty. "…Tristan?" I called out, my voice raspy and hesitant.

Right on cue, the bedroom door clicked open. "Where did you go?" "Just grabbed a glass of water." Tristan walked in and sank onto the mattress right next to me, pulling me into a tight hug. "Have a nightmare?" The faint, lingering scent of dark red wine instantly wrapped around me. "Don't be scared, Cassidy.

I'm right here." "Did you drink?" "Yeah." The single syllable rumbled out of his chest, thick and raspy with a dark undercurrent.

His fingertips traced a burning line down my spine, making me shudder uncontrollably. "Be a good girl, Cassidy," he murmured, his voice dropping low. "Just leave it to me… let me handle everything." Like a tiny boat caught in a massive storm, I was tossed and completely overwhelmed, teetering on the edge of capsizing.

The heavy scent of wine flooded my senses. For some reason, I felt like I was drunk too, my brain quickly turning into heavy, foggy mush.

Honestly, I never had the best track record with sleeping well. After Tristan and I got together, he tried everything to fix it.

Calming aromatherapy candles, regular therapy sessions. None of it really did much. Right now, he held me tight against the pitchblack night.

He caught a stray strand of my hair, his lips brushing right against the shell of my ear as he let out a soft breath. "Go to sleep…" In the dead of the night, my dreams dragged me down to the bottom of the ocean.

Massive, suffocating tentacles coiled tight around my body, dragging me into the dark.

Thousands of hidden eyes lurked behind the black waves, silently watching me drown in the deepsea heat. When I finally woke up, the storm had already passed.

Bright morning sunlight flooded the room. Tristan was gone. My whole body was coated in a sticky layer of sweat.

I rolled out of bed and dragged myself to the bathroom for a hot shower. Stepping out of the bathroom with dripping wet hair, I bumped right into Tristan.

He looked at me, his eyes going pitchblack for a fraction of a second before that bright smile snapped back into place. "You're awake, Cassidy?

Let's head downstairs for breakfast." He walked right up to me, gathering my heavy, wet hair into his hands and grabbing the blow dryer.

As he blasted the hot air, his thumb deliberately brushed across the hypersensitive skin of my nape and my earlobes.

The casual gesture slowly shifted, dripping with a heavy, unspoken heat. I suddenly blurted out, "Didn't you say you hated blowdrying my hair?" Tristan's hands froze.

He clicked the blow dryer off and looked down at me. "I never said that.

Are you still halfasleep, Cassidy?" He gripped my waist and hoisted me right onto the freezing marble bathroom counter. His arms locked around me, trapping me against the edge.

A dangerous gleam suddenly spiked in his eyes. "Or… did you confuse me with your trash exboyfriend?" Chapter 5 Before I got together with Tristan, I did have an ex I dated for three years.

But I was Tristan's very first relationship. He had always been hyperpossessive over that fact, and I had to talk him off the ledge a few times to soothe his jealousy.

I forced down the dark, churning suspicion in my gut and shook my head, pressing my hands against his chest to push him back. "Just a messedup dream… Didn't you say we were going downstairs for breakfast?

Let's go." A wicked, utterly shameless smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth.

Instead of letting me go, he crowded me flush against the counter. "I just realized I'm actually starving for something else.

I'm going to need you to feed me, Cassidy." Morning sunlight pierced through the windows, shattering across the massive mirror and throwing golden reflections into every corner of the room.

By the time Tristan and I finally made ourselves presentable and headed downstairs, it was almost noon.

Vance sat at the head of the dining table, flipping through a thick file with a steaming cup of black coffee in front of him. "Mr. Vance, sorry for intruding last night.

Tristan and I are going to head out." He dropped the file onto the table. His dark eyes shifted to me, carrying a suffocating, predatory weight.

That was when I realized he wasn't wearing his goldrimmed glasses today.

Without them, he looked terrifyingly identical to the man standing right next to me. "No need to be so polite, Cassidy.

I like you." His tone was smooth, perfectly measured. "I hope you'll come by with Tristan more often." I forced a polite nod.

But my mind was already screaming: I am never stepping foot in this house again. "Let me walk you out." He smiled and stood up.

With an absolute, undeniable authority, he escorted the two of us all the way to the garage.

Since I wasn't familiar with the maze of the rich neighborhood, Tristan took the wheel for the drive back.

I slid into the passenger seat and reached to roll up the window, but Vance suddenly planted his hands directly on the window frame and leaned in.

His broad shoulders completely blocked out the sun, casting half of his sharp, gorgeous face in pitchblack shadow. Whatever emotion was lurking in his eyes was totally unreadable.

A slow smirk curved his lips, and the way he looked at me was dripping with a heavy, suffocating possessiveness. "We'll be seeing each other very soon, Cassidy." "…" I dug my nails into my palms, desperately locking my face into a calm mask, but every muscle along my spine snapped tight like a coiled wire.

The agonizing tension didn't break until Tristan's voice rang out from the driver's seat. "Alright, Vance, we're heading off." The tinted window glided up, completely shutting out Vance and his dangerously polite smile.

Back then, I was still stupid enough to believe I had a choice. I thought as long as I refused to visit, I would never have to see that house again.

After coming back, my sleep went from bad to completely nonexistent.

Whenever I finally managed to close my eyes, I was dragged into bizarre, twisted nightmares, only to jerk awake drenched in cold sweat.

Maybe… it really was just the crushing stress from work. For the past few days, rumors had been exploding around the office.

Everyone was whispering that our company had just been bought out by a massive corporate conglomerate, and the new major shareholder was coming in for an inspection.

But I never, in my wildest nightmares, expected that person to be Vance.

When he strode through the glass double doors in a customtailored dark suit, with our usually arrogant CEO trailing behind him and bowing like an obedient servant as he introduced the staff, my brain shortcircuited.

It wasn't until a female coworker standing next to me violently tugged on my sleeve that I snapped out of it. "Cassidy, am I hallucinating?

Why does the new boss look exactly like Tristan?" I opened my mouth, but my throat was bonedry. Vance stepped in, his shadow boxing me in. "Mr.

Vance, this is the team lead for Project Group A, Cassidy," our CEO practically tripped over himself to kiss up. "Don't let her young age fool you. She's incredibly capable.

Her performance metrics rank number one every single year." "You look like you've lost weight, Cassidy.

Having trouble sleeping lately?" Vance looked down at me, a low, barelythere chuckle vibrating in his chest. "I told you.

We'd be seeing each other very soon." Once again, the air sucked right out of my lungs.

I was back in the pitchblack jungle, pinned in place by the hyperaggressive stare of a lethal predator.

Chapter 6 I found Tristan. "Why did your brother suddenly buy out my company?" "I'm not exactly sure about his decisions.

He probably just ran a standard valuation." He paused, lifting his head to look at me. "Cassidy." His gaze locked onto mine, a dark, heavy vulnerability swimming in his eyes.

A sharp prickle jabbed at my chest. "What is it?" "No matter what happens, promise me you won't stop loving me, okay?" He reached out, capturing my hand and pressing my palm flush against his cheek. "If you stop wanting me, I'll die." I had no idea why he was suddenly talking like this.

But I smoothed my thumb over his cheekbone, coaxing him until he settled down. That night, Tristan was ruthless, his grip brutal and unrelenting.

By the end, I was on the absolute verge of blacking out.

When I finally dragged my eyes open again, that suffocating heat radiating off him hadn't faded one bit. "I have to head back after sunrise.

Left something at the old estate last time." Since Tristan wasn't home, I decided to head to the office and grab some files.

But right in the middle of the corporate campus, I crashed into a very familiar face.

Craig. "Cassidy!" He rushed right up to me, his eyes lighting up as he glanced at the glass building behind me. "You work here now?" My boots froze on the pavement.

I braced myself and gave him a stiff nod. "…Yeah." Craig was my exboyfriend. My first love.

We dated for three years in college, but after graduation, we went our separate ways chasing different careers.

The most painfully cliché story in the book. "It's been so long since graduation, but I never forgot about you…" He rambled, the words spilling out of his mouth in a frantic mess. "And now we run into each other like this?

This has to be fate, right?" I cut him off immediately. "I have a boyfriend." He froze. The desperate hope on his face instantly shattered.

Thunder cracked overhead, the heavy gray clouds signaling another massive downpour. My car was in the shop for maintenance, so when he offered to drive me home, I just agreed.

But the second I stepped through my front door, a tall, pitchblack silhouette was standing dead in the middle of the dark foyer. "Tristan?

You're back early—" Before the words even finished leaving my mouth, and before I could even reach for the light switch, a massive hand clamped down on my wrist.

I was violently shoved backward, my spine slamming hard against the wall.

My keys slipped from my fingers, hitting the hardwood floor with a sharp, echoing clatter. "Who dropped you off?" That dangerously familiar voice vibrated right against the shell of my ear, thick and rough like sandpaper. "I saw everything… Cassidy.

You smiled at him. You actually let him put his hand on your shoulder." The heavy, suffocating scent of dark liquor immediately washed over me, trapping me completely in his shadow.

A violent shudder ripped up my spine. My fingers curled into tight fists, my nails digging deep into my palms.

I planted my hands flat against his chest, shoving him back, and blindly slapped the wall until I hit the overhead light switch. "What the hell is wrong with you?" I glared at him. "It's pouring outside.

I caught a ride. What is the problem?" Under the blinding white glare of the overhead light, Tristan stood just one step away.

He looked down at me, his gaze stripped of its usual warmth, carrying a crushing, dominant weight. A heavy second ticked by.

Then, a low, breathy laugh slipped out of his throat. "Did I play the good, obedient boyfriend for too long?

Did you completely forget what happens when I stop being good, Cassidy?" Those words instantly yanked me down into a dark, chaotic mess of memories. My breath hitched.

I just stared at Tristan. That was when my eyes dropped. Both of his hands were buried deep inside his hoodie pockets.

The heavy, metallic outline aggressively pushing against the fabric… Catching the exact direction of my stare, Tristan let out another slow, terrifyingly casual smirk.

He pulled his hand out of his pocket. Dangling from his index finger, gleaming cold and silver under the light, was a pair of heavy steel handcuffs. "Tsk.

Caught me." Chapter 7 He raised an eyebrow and closed the distance in a single stride.

Before my brain could even process the movement, he snatched both of my wrists, pinning them flat against the wall above my head. Click.

The heavy steel cuffs snapped shut around my wrists.

His scorching, wet mouth crashed down on mine. "Looks like I'll just have to do this the hard way." All night, that freezing, heavy scent of dark cedar completely swallowed me whole, tracking my every breath like a physical shadow.

It smelled exactly like pine needles buried under fresh snow deep in the mountains. Utterly different from the bright, sharp bite of citrus he always used to wear.

I didn't know if it was the scent intoxicating me, or something else entirely. He shoved me backward.

My knees gave out, and I crashed hard into the sofa, my limbs suddenly turning to dead weight.

Through my blurred vision, the only thing left in sharp focus was that violently gorgeous face, and those pitchblack eyes completely blown out with raw, unhinged desire.

Before Tristan and I actually got together, he was a complete nightmare to deal with.

The second he transferred into my department, he made it his personal mission to make my life hell.

During every team meeting, he would rip into the tiniest flaws in my proposals, hammering me with questions until it escalated into a fullblown public attack on my competence.

Back then, I racked my brain trying to figure out what I had ever done to piss him off, and finally cornered him alone to just ask.

I still remember the bloody orange sunset that day.

After listening to my painfully earnest question, he narrowed his eyes and let out a harsh, exaggerated laugh. "Aren't you a little too obsessed with yourself, Cassidy?" Tristan raised an eyebrow, his gaze sweeping over me with a mockery that bordered on pure contempt. "I'm just doing my job as a QA auditor.

I raised a valid concern about your metrics. What makes you think I actually care enough to target you personally?" "Got it. My mistake.

Sorry." I gave him a stiff nod and walked right out. But after that little chat, the hostility only got worse.

It got so obvious that even the department head pulled me into his office. "Is there some kind of bad blood between you and Tristan?" I stared at the wall for two seconds flat. "I'll talk to him." That same night, we had a massive company dinner.

I downed a few drinks and slipped out to the rooftop to get some air, only to find Tristan already standing there.

I spun on my heel to leave, but his hand lashed out, locking around my wrist and jerking me right back. "Didn't you tell the boss you were going to talk to me?

Or was that all just talk, Employee of the Month?" "What exactly do you want to talk about?" He tilted his head down.

A slow, terrifyingly genuine smile curved his lips. "How about dating me?" I ripped my wrist out of his grip, staring at him like he was completely out of his mind.

But Tristan just stood there in the freezing rooftop wind, his eyes locking onto me with the pitchblack intensity of a predator biting down on its prey.

After that, the way he treated me shifted. Slowly.

There was this twisted, addictive thrill in taming a feral animal, watching him slowly turn into a loyal dog that only answered to me.

A few weeks later, at a client dinner, some sleazy executive tried to force a drink on me and threw an arm around my shoulder.

Tristan stepped in, took the shot, and casually twisted the guy's arm until his shoulder popped out of its socket. After that night, I finally said yes.

From that day on, the arrogant, vicious Tristan who hated my guts vanished.

He turned into the perfect, obedient boyfriend, only letting a little bit of that wicked edge slip out behind closed doors. But in this exact moment.

It felt like that dangerous, unhinged version of him had clawed his way right back out. "Be a good girl. Drink a little more." Chapter 8 He cuffed me to the edge of the sofa.

He pressed the rim of the glass against my lips, forcing the dark liquor down my throat sip by sip. I couldn't swallow fast enough.

The excess liquor spilled past my lips, trailing down the sensitive skin of my neck, quickly soaking a dark, freezing patch into my rumpled shirt.

I instinctively jerked my head back, but the blinding glare of the overhead lights stabbed at my eyes, forcing a physiological tear to slip down my cheek. "What are you… trying to do…" Tristan paused.

The smile curving his lips was terrifyingly gentle. "You actually let another man touch you right in front of me, Cassidy. Of course you have to be punished. Don't be scared.

It won't hurt too much." The heavy intoxication started to take over. Through the thick fog, a sharp prickle bit into the back of my neck. Then, pitch black.

Like someone had violently flipped a switch. The loss of sight plunged me into a suffocating void.

I thrashed blindly, kicking my legs out, but iron hands clamped down hard on my calves, pinning them flat against the cushions.

The violent spinning in my head escalated, threatening to swallow me alive. I desperately tried to curl up into a ball, but another heavy force clamped down on my shoulders.

Another hand locked around the back of my head. …How could one person have four hands? No. That wasn't right.

I opened my mouth to scream, but a scorching, brutal kiss crashed down, swallowing the sound whole.

Then, a rough, deceptively soft whisper—heavy with a dark, twisted vortex—slid right into my ear. "Cassidy… Want to play a game?" The next morning, the freezing metal against my skin was gone.

I shot straight up in bed. Looking down, my breath caught at the glaring, swollen red rings bruised into both of my wrists.

The raw, broken skin was still weeping faint beads of blood