Caging Cadence Ch. 06

There was a long, tense moment of silence, fraught with energy. He waited. He wondered if she had come all this way just to stare at him. Or to force him to stare at her - to force him to take in every little detail of what he had done, evident in all the ways she had changed.

Finally, she spoke. It was Cadence's voice, and yet it wasn't - she sounded older, more mature, more capable. Less pliable, less naive. He caught no hint of her true turmoil in her tone. She had mastered a cold, detached facade that reminded him fiercely of his own sadistic side.

David felt a surreal rush of pride and disappointment, so much so that it took him a moment to realize he hadn't even heard what she had said.

He shook his head, trying to focus.

"Sorry, what?"

***

This was it.

Two long years of waiting, of wondering. Planning what she would say. Knowing she had her own secret, her own weapon against him. Thinking of every possible way she could use it to her advantage, could use it to ensure she got what she wanted.

Everything she had done to protect herself, to build up tall, strong walls against every other man she met. All the time spent with Lily, coaching her, teaching her, grooming her. It all came down to this moment.

Even in prison, he hadn't been able to leave her alone. He hadn't been able to stop himself from reaching out and invading her life. In his own insidious, cruel way, David had done the best possible thing to ensure that her life would be forever shaped by him, moving forward. If he had just taken his sentence with some dignity, Cadence might have been able to move on, to heal. To have a somewhat normal life. She had done him a favor in court, even if he didn't know it - no one knew it, actually, not even Lily, but she couldn't think of that now. She had to focus on what she was here to do, her other secret, the one that would make sure David stayed away forever.

There were no other options. Not after he tried to get his last laugh.

The letter had arrived at their new apartment almost two weeks after they'd moved in.

For a while, Cadence had believed that she might be able to build a new life with Lily. With her best friend by her side, and with their feelings for each other mutually developing into something deeper and greater than either of them expected, Cadence had begun to believe that she would be able to move on. They'd decorated their apartment together, downloaded movies to watch on Lily's laptop, and shared Cadence's bed during the nights when her night terrors became too much to bear.

She had just started to feel safe again.

And then, the letter arrived. Addressed to Lily. An official-looking stamp indicating that it had gone through screening at a correctional facility, which Cadence knew for a fact housed David Schwartz, before being mailed out...

Her heart had plummeted into her stomach. She had opened the letter while Lily was out, not even hesitating to consider letting her read it first.

The contents set her blood boiling, and, to her humiliation and self-loathing, had soaked her panties through.

She read it over and over again, committing it to memory. Then she put it in a fresh envelope, sealed it, wrote a red herring label about old college documents on the front, and hid the letter in one of her old textbooks.

Cadence had never told Lily about it. But the letter had set something off inside Cadence, something much darker than she knew she was a capable of. A jealousy, an entitlement, reared up inside of her, when she read crude words in David's neat handwriting about all the things he intended to do to Lily when he got out.

She and Lily were just starting to connect on a more intimate level, and there was David, crashing into her new life, reminding her that he had everything he needed to fuel his darkest fantasies about Cadence and her best friend.

From there, Cadence had made a choice. It had been almost too easy, too natural, the only path that made sense, in some twisted way, after everything she had been through, and everything David had done to her.

She had dove headfirst into that darkness, taking Lily with her. Their budding intimacy took on a dark edge, became a power play between them that neither woman had foreseen when they first met. It had taken almost two years of gentle coercion, of education, of long, difficult nights trying to make Lily see...

But now, Cadence was confident that Lily was hers, in a way she would never be David's. And that confidence had brought her here, with his original letter tucked in her pocket, ready to tell him that she had foiled his plans. That Lily could never be his, because Cadence had taken her first.

"Sorry, what?"

They were the first words she had heard him speak in two years, and they made her want to reach across the table and slap him. How could he ruin this moment of triumph for her with his inattention? Did he have no respect?

She shook her head, scoffing. A tiny part of her, hidden deep, was terrified. Something in her guts writhed and screamed at her to run, to leave, to get out while she still could. She had turned her back on this part of herself a long time ago, though, so it was easy to ignore the twisting anxiety seeing him again planted in her.

"I hate repeating myself, David, so don't make me do it again, after this. I said that I got your letter."

She reached into her pocket and slapped the envelope on the table.

His dark eyes landed on the crisp white envelope. It was labeled on the front with Cadence's steady handwriting - "Biology Notes, 3rd Semester, Week 3."

He lifted his eyebrow. "I take it the actual addressee never saw this?"

Cadence laughed a little through her nose, her teeth clenched. She didn't respond, she just stared him down, making him sit with the reality of the situation - her coldness, the way she had stopped him from exerting control. He didn't even know the half of it yet.

"I know you had plans for her," Cadence said. "I know you thought you could hurt me one last time, by threatening to come after her. To make her fall for you, somehow. To take her from me. As if I wouldn't prepare her for that. As if I'd ever let that happen."

She paused, trying to read his expression. He was watching her coldly, revealing nothing.

"She's mine, David," Cadence said, in a low, angry voice. "I made her mine, like you tried to make me yours. Except I actually pulled it off, and I didn't need to lock her up to do it."

"You sure about that?" David retorted.

"Yes," Cadence snapped.

"So tell me - is she still living in your apartment, getting her rent paid by your mother?"

Cadence gasped in spite of herself, fear spiking inside her.

"Is she still the one and only person you'll confide in, the only true friend you have? A sad, broken little girl like you...does she still feel obligated to be your rock in life?" He leaned forward, smirking. "You don't need a cage to keep someone hostage, Cadence."

Her blood had gone cold, and she knew her shock showed on her face. "How do you even know that? You're wrong, she doesn't feel obligated - "

He cut her off, answering her question.

"The first part? I've got some sources on the outside, keeping an eye on you. You didn't know that? I'm surprised. I thought you would've caught onto that a lot sooner."

David laughed, leaning back. She could tell he was enjoying himself.

The truth was, she had noticed people following her. She had thought she was being paranoid. Everyone else insisted she was.

She took a deep breath, trying to maintain control. How had he unseated her so quickly? She hadn't even been here for five minutes yet, and already, he had taken control of the conversation.

"I guessed at the second part, and you just confirmed it. I know you, Cadence. I know you better than anyone."

"You don't," she spat, folding her arms. But then she was suddenly, aggravatingly aware of the way this pushed her tits out. The difference wasn't much, but it still made her feel vulnerable.

She dropped her hands onto the table. She had worn her biggest, baggiest hoodie, and baggy jeans. Her figure was completely hidden from him. How did she still feel naked?

She set her jaw, straightening her shoulders.

"You don't know me at all, David. Not anymore."

"I made you, Cadence." He narrowed his eyes. "How do you think you managed it with Lily? Who do you think taught you how to do that? And if she really is yours, and you're not mine, what the fuck are you even doing here? Why did you need me to know, so badly, what a good girl you've been, prepping her for me -"

"That's not what I'm doing," she spat, disgusted. Her entire body was buzzing. Cadence felt rage boil up inside of her. Her hands and voice shook, but she managed to keep her tone even as she continued.

"I want you to stay away from us," she snapped. She forced herself to remain seated, unwilling to alert the guard to potential trouble. She wanted to leap up, to rage at David, to attack him. "I want you to know that your plan didn't work, and you won't be able to do anything to us, when you get out. I want you to know that you didn't win."

"I'm in here for eight more years, Cadence," David said. "Why come now? Why not wait until we're closer to the end? Why even come at all, instead of just writing a letter back?"

She didn't respond, feeling the heat in her cheeks.

"I'll tell you why, because we both know the truth. You couldn't wait to come tell me just how much I've won, Cadence. Your hair, your health, your sexuality - what decisions have you made in the past two years that weren't influenced by me?"

Cadence felt her jaw drop, but she recovered quickly.

"Obviously you've influenced me. You ruined me, David. I'm not pretending that isn't true." She gestured to her hair and her clothing. "Do you think this is how I pictured I'd look at twenty years old? Do you think I'd expected to have failed rehab three times by now? Do you think I don't know that the reason I'm fucking and beating my best friend is because of you?"

Her voice was rising. She closed her eyes hard, then reopened them, stealing a glance over her shoulder at the guard standing by the door. He was watching them, looking confused, his hand on the doorknob. She waved him away, turning back to David.

"I know what you've won, and so do you. I'm here to tell you what you haven't won, what you will never win - and that's her. You'll never have her like that, David. Never. We'll both be dead before that happens. And if you try to come for her when you get out, I will kill you."

She spoke matter-of-factly, grateful that she had managed to slip this one threat in, this one rehearsed promise she had spent the past two years agonizing over perfecting.

David laughed, harsh and loud, clearly drawing it out for effect. Cadence felt herself go scarlet.

"Come on now, Cadence, that sounds like a challenge. Do you really think challenging me is a good idea?"

"It's not a challenge." She kept her voice even, despite her anger, despite the blood staining her cheeks. "It's a promise. If you come after her, I will kill you."

David gestured to the camera in the corner. "Say it louder for the future jury."

She shrugged. "What jury? Neither of us are getting out of that scenario alive."

David's humor died. His eyes went dark, and he turned his head, looking at her sidelong. He looked incredulous, but she could see a hint of respect in his eyes, and an even tinier spark of fear.

She knew he understood now. She was serious.

"Big words from a little girl," he said. He was staring at her head-on again, his eyes bright. She shivered a little, surprised at how unhinged he looked. Prison was changing him - making a bad man even worse. "I guess we'll just have to see, won't we?"

Cadence looked down at the table. She had been worried about this. On some level, she had hoped that she would be able to keep this secret, that she wouldn't have to apply to David's softer side. It would have been easier to keep it to herself, to know that she had just one thing that no one else had, that no one else knew.

But he had taken her threat as a challenge, and he had left her with no choice.

She looked down, focusing on the metal table, which David was secured to. She remembered thinking, two years ago, in the midst of the sexual ecstasy and torture, that she would find solace and satisfaction in seeing him locked up. But now, staring at those silver cuffs binding his wrists together, Cadence didn't feel anything at all. She frowned, eyes unfocused, still lingering on the metal.

It was easiest to just say it.

"I have the videos."

David cocked his head, wrinkling his nose. "What videos?"

"The videos. Two years ago, you let me sleep in my own bed, the day before you raped me."

"You begged me to fuck you, Cadence. You admitted that, on the witness stand, under oath."

She ignored this.

"I woke up before you. Everything hurt. I needed more ibuprofen. I came downstairs, and you were asleep on the couch."

He blinked, and she watched him register that. How could she have known where he was sleeping, unless she herself saw it? She continued.

"I went to my mom's computer. I knew all of her passwords. She's still terrible with computer security, to this day. I got all the videos. I downloaded it all, and saved it to a thumb drive. Everything."

She could see all the implications of this clicking into David's head. When he understood, his eyes met her - calm and open, ready to receive the request that came with this gifted information.

"I'm the only reason you won't spend the rest of your life in prison, David. If that courtroom knew the extent of what you'd done...if they'd been able to see the explicit footage...if they'd known that my mom came home, and that you used my screams to fuel your own twisted scene with her...you'd be in a maximum security prison, under lock-down twenty-three hours a day, staring down a lifetime of never seeing the outside world again."

There was a long, expectant silence.

"You owe me, David."

"Why, though?" he asked. "Why didn't you submit them as evidence?"

"Because I pitied you." She skimmed him from head to shackled wrist, her lips twisting in disgust. "I still pity you."

His face softened, full of understanding. Her stomach twisted, wondering how he had managed to misinterpret what she said.

"Do you know what I remember the most about that weekend?"

Cadence remembered every moment, every single second, in sharp, shocking detail. Watching the videos in their entirety had restored her memories, or maybe just helped her fill in the gaps enough to recreate them. She couldn't imagine what moment David might have singled out in his own recollection of that violent, heady, sex-filled weekend.

"I remember laying with you, in your bed. I remember being so deep inside you, I thought we might fuse together. I remember telling you that I love you. And I remember looking into your eyes, and seeing how much you hate me."

She folded her arms, waiting for him to finish.

"I think about that every single night. And I come almost as hard, every time, remembering that disdain in your beautiful eyes."

Her lip curled, and she felt her hands clenching into fists again.

"Right before you passed out, something shifted. You were the most precious, fragile thing I've ever held. And before you lost your breath, I saw something else. I saw the love, Cadence. I know you love me."

Cadence scoffed, turning her head and throwing her hands in the air, almost leaping out of her chair in her incredulity.

"I don't love you, David. I do hate you. If that memory makes you come, that's pretty fucking pathetic."

She stood up, finally unable to take anymore. She couldn't really remember why she had come here in the first place, now. She finally found the satisfaction she was hoping for, though - she could stand up, walk away, and never see him again.

Right?

She shook her head, gathering herself, resigned to reminding him exactly what she intended in setting this meeting.

"You would be imprisoned for life without me. I will kill you if you come near me, or Lily, or anyone else I love, and that unfortunately includes my mother. If that isn't enough to convince you to listen to me, and to do what I say, then you're a bigger monster than I thought, and far stupider."

She shook her head again, more in disappointment than anything else.

"That's everything I came to say to you. I'm leaving now."

She turned and gestured to the guard. He opened the door, stepping back to let her pass. She made her way to the threshold, her heart pounding, surprised and relieved it was over so quickly. She had done what she came to do, and now, she could go home. David was stuck here. And only one of them had a beautiful girl waiting for them in their bed.

"Cadence, wait." David sounded desperate, sad.

She stopped, but she didn't turn back. What did he think he could say that would make a difference?

"Say hi to your mom for me."

Refusing to look back, she lifted her middle finger in response, and fled from the room.

David's laughter rang in her ears, all the way home.

***

The door to her apartment snapped shut behind Cadence, nearly two hours later. The drive home had been nearly unbearable. Laura was a mess, clearly pushed past her limit, and she had sniffled and sobbed for the entire journey. By the time they arrived at Cadence's apartment, she almost felt sorry for her mother. But then, as Cadence was leaving the car, Laura had revealed the true reason for her turmoil - guilt and fear.

"Did he tell you anything, Cadence? Anything about me?"

Cadence had slammed the car door in her mother's face, stalking upstairs. She knew it would be a long, long time before Laura heard from her again. Her mother had made a mistake in finally giving into Cadence's insistence on seeing David. If she could help it, Cadence might never talk to her again.

She was alone now. Lily was still in class, and wasn't due home for at least another hour.

Cadence's nerves felt frayed. She went to the fridge, pulled out a beer, popped the tab, and chugged it in one go. Then she dug around in the liquor cabinet for something stronger. Once she had a generous glass of whiskey poured and half-drained, she made her way through the apartment, to her office.

Laura paid for a three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment, perhaps dimly hoping that Cadence and Lily would rope another girl into being their roommate, to mitigate costs. Cadence was glad to keep draining her mother's bank account based on this incorrect assumption, because it meant she got her own bedroom and an office. Lily was allowed in the former - in fact, they usually shared it, - but not the latter.

No one else was allowed in Cadence's office, in fact. This was where she hid her darkest, deepest secret.

She turned on her PC, then went to the safe in the corner. The combination was unique, known only to her. She dialed it in, then opened the safe with trembling fingers.

There was only one item in the safe - the thumb drive, sitting innocently at the bottom of the secure, metal box.

Cadence double-checked the time, making sure she still had plenty of wiggle room between now and Lily's return. Then she picked up the thumb drive, carrying it almost reverently to her computer. She plugged it in, then opened her file explorer.

Red thumbnails filled the screen, two pale figures apparent against the scarlet light.

Cadence's hands were shaking, and she felt a familiar stirring in her cunt. She bit her chapped lips, navigating to a particular frame and double-clicking to open it.