His velvet obsession
I stayed in the shadows, watching Carl pin her against the door.
Her scream was muffled, a sound that tore through me like a serrated blade.
"Going somewhere, Astrid?" Carl’s voice was like gravel.
I stepped out from behind the dumpster, the light of the flickering streetlamp catching the edges of my silhouette. I saw the way her face fell—the way the hope died in her eyes and was replaced by a jagged, raw betrayal.
"He doesn't own me!" she hissed at Carl.
If only that were true, Velvet, I thought, my heart aching with a dark, possessive grief. If you weren't mine, you'd be dead. And I don't know which version of the story you'd prefer.