The Duke's Masked Wife

He started to walk around the room to get a better look at the other young woman in the room.

Simon’s eyes lingered on the dead woman before going back to Bella. “I’m sure you wish to know what your family is doing right now. I’m happy to share the wonderful news that they have given up looking for you. You’ve been missing longer than most of your friends,” he said, referring to the girls he had before.

Bella didn’t have a friendship with the girls Simon kept bringing her but he would repeatedly call them friends.

“They threw a funeral for you and moved on with their lives. So harsh of them. If only they would wait a little more for you to slip up, I would kill you and let them see your battered body. So impatient they were,” Simon lied.

Bella dug her nails into her skin as she continued to look at Simon. She knew her mother would never stop looking for her.

Simon went to where Bella curled herself up in the corner and stooped down before her to play with her dirty hair. “You should hear how your peers were talking about you. You should’ve been nicer in the past. Then again, I wouldn’t have found you to be the perfect test if you were nice. I love the ones like you who are hard to break.”

“W-Why? Why are you doing this when you say you were in my position?” Bella asked, accepting the risk this could get her killed. She just needed to know after months of being here, what was his reason?

Bella flinched when Simon reached out to rub his fingers through her hair.

“Don’t fear me. That was a good question. It sucks when you’re the one chained up, but it only took one instance for me to see why my parents liked torturing me if I wasn’t their perfect little son. It’s exhilarating. Perhaps I might die and you will be the one to enjoy this little game. We’ll never know,” said Simon, shrugging his shoulders.

Bella only wanted to get out of this box she was stuck in. She could not understand how someone who was once a victim would turn around and attack others.

“No? You’re no fun Bella. I’ll give you a gift since you seem to be under the weather these days. I am going to get rid of her,” he pointed at the young woman behind them. “And bring you a new friend soon. Someone with that same fire you had when I first met you.”