Defaced: A Dark Romance Novel by Marissa Farrar Page A

much easier to hide.”
    “So … you want me to work on you?” As she spoke, the stronger her voice became.
    “Yes, I want you to rid me of the thing that has ruined my life.”
    “Your life doesn’t seem ruined to me.” She couldn’t hide the bitter tone to her voice.
    He gave a cold laugh. “You have no idea what my life has been. You think a matter of days in this room has driven you crazy?” He looked at her, his dark eyebrows lifted, as though expecting an answer. “Broken you, even?”
    “I couldn’t take the solitude,” she said quietly.
    He stepped around her, walking slowly around the perimeter of the room, running his fingertips over the furniture, across the walls, coming to a halt at the bookshelf where he lovingly stroked the spines of the books.
    “I spent my whole life in this room,” he said. “You’ve struggled with days. Imagine that being years.”
    Her mind spun. He’d been kept in this room his whole life? Surely that was a lie? More tricks to confuse her, to addle her mind.
    “I don’t understand.”
    “I had the perfect father,” he said. “But he was ashamed of his imperfect son.”
    “Your father kept you in this room for years?” What he was telling her was nothing short of a horror story. Had Monster really been kept here, by his own father, nonetheless? Had his father been ashamed of the birthmark on his son’s face and kept him hidden?
    “Where’s your father now?” she asked, clutching at the one thing she could ask that would make any sense.
    “That’s not important right now.”
    Her mind whirred, trying to bridge the gap between abducted woman and professional therapist. “You want me to work on your birthmark?” she tried again.
    “Yes. That’s exactly why I brought you here.”
    Her brain felt as though it was finally clicking into gear. “I can make the mark appear fainter, but only after numerous treatments. I can’t make it disappear.”
    His dark eyes narrowed. “I need it gone.”
    “I can’t do that. No one in the world can do that!” Perhaps if he’d started treatment as a very young child, the birthmark could have been faded almost to the point of it being invisible, but as a person grew, so did the birthmark, and the color and depth of the mark on Monster’s face would never vanish completely.
    “Then you will be mine until you figure it out.”
    Tears filled her eyes. “You’ve given me an impossible task,” she cried. “I’ll never be able to do what you want.”
    “Then you’ll never be free.”
    “No,” she sobbed, lowering her head once more. “You can’t do this to me.”
    “Decide what you want, Flower. You can help wipe the monster from my face, or you can stay in this room and rot.”
    With that, he turned from her and left.

 
     
    Ten
     
     
     
     
     
    The white haired man came in to remove the handcuffs.
    “Do I get to ask your name now?” she said as he unlocked them.
    He gave a slow nod. “Tudor. My name is Tudor.”
    “Are things going to change now?” Tears trembled in her eyes. She didn’t know how she was going to achieve what was requested of her, but at least now she had some answers. She’d been kidnapped because the man who was in control of all of… this … whatever this was … had one of the darkest, thickest birthmarks she’d ever seen down the side of his face. What he’d told her made sense. She had no one who would be looking for her, and she was good at her job. She’d been featured in a number of medical papers for the results she’d achieved—papers which had been published online, together with a few newspaper and magazine articles when she’d changed the lives of children. They were human-interest stories, she’d been told when she was interviewed. For the most part, she hated doing interviews like that. While she loved that the children were more confident, and the parents were thrilled and wanted everyone to know how happy they were, wanting to give hope to others who were