Lured (Team Zero #1) by Rina Kent

Which is the exact definition of a sociopath, but I don’t say that. It’s not the time to argue. Dominic seems comfortable and in the mood to talk.

It’s my chance to dig deeper into the man I’ve been giving my body and other things I don’t want to think about.

“How do you know you’re not a sociopath?” I ask.

“I wasn’t born this way. It’s not in my genes. It’s true that I don’t feel people’s pain, but I don’t take pleasure from their misfortune either.” He smirks. “Except with you. I love torturing your body until it’s begging for release. I love it when you’re sobbing my name while my marks are all over that porcelain skin.”

A flash of pleasure pools between my legs. It takes me a bit of time to catch my bearings. “Would you enjoy it if I were actually hurting?”

He shakes his head. “The greatest part of my pleasure is because I know you love it. The needy voices you make drive me fucking crazy, baby girl.”

I’m a masochist to his sadism. We’re completely compatible in that regard. I bite my lower lip to suppress a smile. Then I cross my arms, realising that Dominic could be using this to scatter my focus from questioning him.

Unlike psychopaths, sociopaths aren’t born. They’re made by certain harsh circumstances they lived while young.

Dominic speaks about his profession a lot, but never about his family. No matter how much I poke him. He has zero family pictures in his flat.

I choose a safe questioning. “But you manipulate a lot. Why do you do that?”

He remains silent for long heavy seconds.

I count my options to urge him without pushing him. One thing about Dominic is that when he feels attacked or pushed, he completely withdraws into himself and cuts any type of communication.

I soften my voice and go with the truth. “I just want to understand you better.”

His eyes flash my way with dark amusement. “Why?”

Because I’m knee-deep in you, freaking bastard.

“Consider it my contribution to humanity,” I say in a light tone instead. “I’m planning to write a book about dissecting a sociopath’s mind. The idea is strangely growing on me”

He smiles a little. “The sociopath label doesn’t apply on me. I’m not impulsive or irrational or without a life plan. I just learnt to adapt.” He pauses some more. He uses a lot of pauses in his speech. Another way to intimidate. To manipulate. People are bothered by silence and usually fill it. Either they fidget or just forget about the subject.

I don’t. I stare at him straight in the eyeball.

Dominic grins so wide until his perfect smile is on display. His dimple appears only when he’s honestly smiling. It’s like he’s happy I always pass his silence test. After another few seconds of complete blankness, just to screw with me, his grin disappears. “I was abandoned as a child. I lived in the streets as a nobody, so I had to change to survive. If I didn’t, I would’ve died.”

“Oh.”

I bite my lower lip as a clog constricts my throat. I figured he had some sort of a dark past, but I never thought it was this grim. I don’t know why I always believed he was one of the rich snobs he hangs out with. It never crossed my mind that he climbed from being a nobody to be the king of their circle.

The way Dominic is wired makes more sense now. Humans can become scary when they have to survive. He probably took the smartest form — manipulation.

“I bounced from one foster home to another.” His tone drifts with complete detachment as if he’s talking about a third party. “Then, I was adopted by a rich family. The only reason they took me in was because it reflected well on their ‘charity image’. I was treated every bit the charity case I was. That house was always cold and filled with scheming and cheating and lies. Years later, my adoptive father’s second wife cheated on him with his accountant, they robbed him of his money and eloped. He died of a heart attack when I was in med school. His legacy meant shit to me. The only good thing I got out of that family was the privileged education. When I was a child, all I wanted was to teach those fuckers who left me to starve a lesson. I wanted them to regret abandoning me when they see me successful. Now, I couldn’t give two fucks about them.”

I want to swallow, but I don’t, afraid that will make a sound. I can’t begin to imagine his upbringing. He was unwanted by his real parents and used by his adoptive parents. No wonder he’s become a man of steel. He never knew love, of course he can’t reflect it.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I croak.

“That’s so sappy.” His voice and face are closed. “I thought we don’t do that.”

“No, I do that, Dom.” I itch to hug him. “When people are in pain, normal humans show empathy.”

“You mean pity.”

“Would you stop twisting words for once?”

He smiles, only this time, it’s the his-full-of-shit grin. He’s trying to shut me off.

Well, not today.

“That research about helping kids like you…?” I trail off. He mentioned it once, but I paid no attention because I thought it was about snobs. I never thought it had to do with abandoned children.

His eyes spark with something mysterious. Accomplishment. He feels accomplished. That warms my chest. “It’s in its final phase and will start soon.”