Obey: 5. Beneath the Mask

Clara spent the next day moving through the world like a secret she wasn’t sure she could contain.

Every sound felt sharper, every color brighter. The people on the subway looked the same as always, but she no longer did. She could still feel the ghost of his hands on her skin, the echo of his voice in her ear. She had surrendered, and instead of breaking her, it had lit something inside her.

But alongside the hunger, a new thought had started to grow.

Who is he?

It was one thing to follow a stranger’s notes, to kneel before a faceless command. It was another to look into the eyes of a man and feel herself unraveling. The moment in Suite 1406 — the first kiss, the first release — had changed the texture of their game. He wasn’t just a voice anymore. He was a body, a mouth, a heartbeat pressed against hers.

And now she needed to know.

By late afternoon she was restless, her nerves buzzing. Her phone lay on her desk like a coiled snake. At 3:00 p.m.