Pure Obsession

By Rebecca Graf

Love is amazing. It is pure. It is precious. But what if love disguises something evil? Hannah finds love until that love reveals the evil that wants to possess her. Love is not always what it seems. She just has to survive it. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: A Book Lover's Library Publications
• Release date: Jul 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215728109

Book preview

Prologue

Hannah

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Awareness tugged at her. The tugging eventually became more demanding as she resisted. Reluctantly she allowed it access into her foggy mind. Even that mental move was painful. Giving up trying to stay in the dark of nothing, she attempted to open her eyes. Only one submitted to her urging, and it only allowed a small slit of viewing room. The other one throbbed where it was swollen shut. She could feel the skin around the outside tight from the dried blood that caked it. A small degree of fear set in as she focused on the scene around her.

Darkness and shadows swirled around her. She felt her body tilt from left to right and then around in circles. Or was it the shadows moving about? They moved around her in a fluid movement that appeared to be alive. She could no longer distinguish between reality with her mind playing tricks on her. Reality was a figment of her imagination. Maybe it always had been.

Prying open the one eye a little bit more she could make out the dim lit floor. The grey concrete walls loomed toward her and then swayed back in the yellow light. They appeared to be living beings, mocking her state as they moved toward her as though to crush her and then pulled back to leave her in isolation. One second they were crashing down on her. The next they were lost in the dark shadows that joined in on the fun. The loneliness pricked at her heart and called for the panic to come out to play.

Taking up the role of constant companion, pain never left her body. Numbness had settled in. Hours, maybe even days, had gone by. She had no clue anymore. The darkness surrounding her did not give a hint as to the time. No windows existed in the deep basement enclosure. She was lost to the torture, both physical and mental.

Gathering what little strength she could muster, she managed to open her mouth enough for her tongue to stick out. With slow and labored movements she wet her cracked lips. She couldn’t help but flinch when her tongue ran over the split his fist had caused. The pain from it helped to clear the cobwebs that shrouded her mind, though not all of them. Some other part of her refused to let her have all of her mind together, working at full speed.

Her mind seemed to have gone as numb as her body. Coherency was a myth, a story from long ago. There was only one certainty. She was going to die. She knew that. He had made no bones about it. Her death would be slow while he enjoyed watching the reaction her body had to such deliberate infliction of pain. How she longed to just have had the bullet he had threatened her with enter her head and end it all.

Maybe her heart would just give out. There was only so much the human heart could physically bear. What point did it have to reach? Surely she was close to it giving out under the pain she had felt. Could she hope for so much mercy? Probably not. He always got what he wanted, and he wanted her to feel pain and to feel it for a long time. She had a price to pay and there was no forgiveness of this debt.

A noise reached her ears. Faint yet distinct. It was a familiar noise. She had only been in the subterranean enclosure for a few hours in the dark when she had first heard that sound. A chill had gone down her spine just as it did now at the scratching. It was an instinct reaction humans had developed over the generations to the noise and what it came from.

Seconds, or hours, passed by. Whether she had passed out during that time, she honestly didn’t know. Nothing revealed itself. The noise had not been heard again. She feared she had been wrong in the source of the noise. Maybe it wasn’t what she thought it was. Maybe it was more pain coming toward her. Maybe it was her pain soaked mind.

The squeak brought relief washing over her. Her first guess was right. Her one good eye strained to see through the darkness. Another squeak was followed by a dark blur at the edge of her vision. From the shadows she made out the small rodent. He moved into the dim light that barely broke the darkness from the yellowed bulb that hung from the concrete ceiling.

Hannah grunted. It was the only sound she could muster through her still lips. The mouse paused at the sound she made. He stood up on his hind feet and twitched his nose as he sniffed. Only sensing her in the room, he moved forward and stopped a few inches from her tied hands.

She moved one of her fingers. Her vision was getting a little better as she could see her hands lying on the cold floor. They were stretched out in front of her, blurry through her one eye but still there.

The mouse eyed her finger. He scurried a little bit closer and paused again. Sniffing the air, he cased out the situation. Hannah moved her hand again, hoping to coax him into gnawing on the ropes that cut into her wrists. He had sniffed at them once and backed away as though sensing the evil within them. Not even the blood dripping from her hands could entice him closer. He scurried back to the edge of the dim light.

Hannah wanted to cry. Though only a small rodent, she imagined him as a friend. He was a living object that wasn’t trying to kill her. She needed him, and yet he ran away.

It didn’t stop her from trying again. The numbness dissipated as she moved her hands toward the small creature. Fire exploded in her shoulders. The room began to spin. She would have laid her head down, but it was already on the cold, concrete floor. It had not moved from the spot where it had fallen after she had been released from the ceiling joists.

The mouse turned his head toward her hands that were able to move an inch closer to him with the painful effort she made. He leaned forward, his nose twitching. With a squeak, he jumped and ran back into the dark shadows.

Hannah wanted to call out. She took in the breath to do so, but the muscles in her chest and back screamed in pain. The room began to spin again.

If she had had anything in her stomach, she would have lost it. But that had been done a few times already. Now she fought the bile that threatened to come up. With even breaths, she was able to calm the stomach muscles down and get her equilibrium back. It was then she heard what scared the rat off.

Footsteps echoed on the stairs. Each fall sounded like a drum. Hannah’s stomach flipped and threatened to expel the bile anyway. She knew what was coming. Pain. Intense, excruciating pain. Maybe now it would be death. She could hope.

The voice told her otherwise. A single tear slid out of her open eye and splattered onto the concrete.

6 Months Earlier

Chapter 1

Hannah

The morning rush died down as fewer orders were placed. Men in three piece suits rushed to their offices or courtrooms. Doctors glancing at their watches were long gone. Mothers, breathing a sigh of relief, walked out after dropping their children off at school or daycare.

The trickle of beverages needing to be made allowed one worker to step back from making drinks to clean the spare espresso machine. All the cafe workers began to move at a slower pace as the rush ended. Even the noise within the cafe was muffled as the loud voices left for work and school. It was as though the entire cafe sighed in relief from the end of the morning chaos.

Hannah took in a deep breath as she handed a customer the large cappuccino she had waited patiently for. With a smile, the woman took the drink and quickly ran out to catch her bus. Hannah’s eyes darted around the floor, seeing there was no one else in line waiting to place their order. Being busy was great, but having it end to take a breather could be better.

Seeing that all the workers were doing their assigned clean up tasks, Hannah checked the figures on the cash register. She nodded, pleased with the numbers. They didn’t quite make their goal, but they had still done a large volume of business. The owner of the coffee shop would be pleased when she reported it to her later that day. That helped make the day go by smoother as well. Happy bosses meant happy employees.

Before completing her managerial tasks, she glanced around the cafe as usual. That was a habit she had acquired after being robbed one night. Some lessons have to be learned the hard way. As her eyes moved over the customers who were still there, she couldn’t help but smile a little.

Mrs. Harmon sat in the far corner with her new tablet her children had gotten her for her last birthday. The elderly lady had learned how to Skype on it and now every day came to the cafe to talk to her grandchildren who lived across the country. Not having internet at home, she used it as an excuse to get her special drink each time she came in. Hannah had to help her connect to the cafe’s internet each time as she always inadvertently changed some control. For someone who didn’t know how to use the ‘new -fangled’ gadgets she was a pro at disabling. It was a joy to watch the woman’s enthusiasm for something that Hannah and her generation took for granted.

Then there was Josh, the local geek. He used the coffee shop as his office where he met clients who came to him to set up websites and give advice on how to deal with the blue screens of death they had. For some reason they actually believed those ads that said they could remotely fix that problem. He was the one they turned to when all else failed, which meant they paid out of the nose. Hannah suspected he could afford a permanent office but loved having coffee made for him so close at hand.

Two elderly men sat at a table outside where they liked to argue over the latest political topic. Hannah had deftly maneuvered them outside a year ago when their discussions got so heated that others got involved. She loved the men, but they could cause a riot at a peacekeeping convention.

Her eyes paused as they landed on the most recent of daily additions to the cafe family. Meeting her green eyes were a pair of steely black ones that refused to blink. They commanded her attention. Her heart skipped a beat. These were eyes that had been watching her for several weeks. They were eyes that would not leave her in peace even in her dreams.

Hannah was the first to blink. She didn’t miss the slight pull of his lips in victory. With a nod of politeness to him, she continued with her work. Anger coursed through her as she noticed her hands shaking. It wasn’t the first time a handsome man had given her attention. And handsome he was. She just didn’t have to act like a silly school girl when he was nearby.

Marcus Critton was well known in the city and beyond, at least in the more secretive circles. Hannah knew exactly who the dark-haired man was. His picture was not unfamiliar to her as it had been in the papers and on the news many times. He was the leader of a powerful crime family that moved about in the underworld of drugs and money. That was what the police and district attorney said. Critton and those who worked for him claimed successfully to be in the business of entertainment as in bars and hotels as well as imports. Despite the authorities’ attempts to get him behind bars, they could find nothing to warrant an arrest.

Hannah didn’t want to assume the worst about anyone, but she also wasn’t naive enough to swoon over a man, even a powerful man, giving attention to her. Yes, he was handsome with chiseled features that spoke of a Mediterranean blood somewhere in his lineage. He had an air about him that drew women to him like flies to sweetness. Hannah had watched as women stared openly at him. A few openly flirted with him, but he barely gave them a glance.

From the moment he had walked in with his two men just a step behind him, his eyes had zeroed in on Hannah. She hadn't done anything to attract him. Going about her business keeping the coffee stocked and dealing with customer issues, she had not  given him much notice aside from seeing a goodlooking customer until his third visit.

She had been making drinks that morning. Handing them off to the customers, she had wished them all a good morning with a bright smile. She had done the same with the handsome man who gave her a sexy ‘Good Morning’ back to her. Yes, she noticed him. It was hard not to notice someone who looked like they stepped out of a fashion magazine. She thought he had been through the line in previous days but wasn’t a hundred percent sure. When one wasn’t a regular, she only vaguely remembered them.

But today she really noticed him. His eyes seemed to penetrate into her mind and beyond. It was as though he was calling out to her. She couldn’t help but acknowledge the call. She was after all a red-blooded female looking at what many would consider a god of a man, but that was as far as she’d go.

Giving credit where credit was due she saw as one thing. Openly flirting with a customer, especially a customer with a shady reputation, was something entirely different. Hannah always looked for the ethical way to approach a situation. So, treating him like any other customer despite the way he took her breath away was the high road she took.

Each day after that he lingered at the pickup plane when he took his coffee and she was on bar. He’d start a little small talk that never lasted long as other customers were in line but he made sure his presence was known. He set it up where she knew he was there and very aware of her.  If he needed anything else, he’d send his men up to get it while he kept his eyes on her.

Hannah couldn’t pinpoint the exact feeling his attention gave her. Yes, she was flattered, but a part of her had warning bells