My heart thundered in my chest as I struggled back.
“Let me go!” I screamed, and the chains rattled against my frantic movements. “I’ll call the cops!”
His lips moved into something between a smirk and a sneer.
“And what would the police do? Rescue you from a man they’ll never find?” He leaned closer.
“Stop it, please!” I begged, tears blurring my vision as I pressed myself tighter into the wall. “Don’t you understand that this is wrong?”
His head tilted slightly, as though considering my words. “What is not right? A man wanting to have sex?”
I thrashed against the chains, panic coursing through my veins. He was disgusting. “This is kidnapping me and caging me against my will. Threatening to rape me and-”
“Threatening?” his chuckle was darker this time. He reached out, gripping my chin with one hand and forcing my gaze to meet his. “You’re using some heavy words, Dolcezza. I just want to fuck you, hard and raw, so that every breath leaving your body ends on me. I want to see your swollen red cunt after I’m done fucking you, the sounds you make while my cock slams into your-”
“Stop it!”
He pulled back just enough to look at me. Then, without warning, he grabbed my arm and yanked me forward, dragging me to my feet. I stumbled, barely catching myself.
“Why? You asked what I wanted, so I’m telling you. This will be the last time I’m explaining this. Next time, I show you.”
“Let me go-” I thrashed as he gripped my dress and pulled me to his chest. My head was pulled back harshly. His eyes penetrated through my soul, the scar glistening.
“No can do. Not till I have my fill and you’re fucked loose for any other man out there.”
I shut my eyes. My head hurt. My body did too. And everything else.
“You’re insane!”
He chuckled. “You didn’t like it when I was gentle, so I figured you’d like the hard way better.”
I sobbed.
I heard him take a deep breath before his grip on my hair loosened, and he released me. My body crumpled to the floor, gasping for breath as his words settled over me.
“Twenty minutes. Wash up, change, and clean the mess you made. Talk back and I’ll cut out your tongue. Run, and I’ll break your legs. Disobey me in any way, and you’ll wish you hadn’t.”
I didn’t respond. Couldn’t. My mind reeled, trapped in a storm of grief, fear, and rage. Adrian was gone. The life I’dknown was gone. All that was left was this—chains, blood, and the man who had destroyed everything.
I would fight even if it broke me, even if it killed me. I would not let him win.
CHAPTER THREE
Ruins
When he left, I broke down into gut-wrenching sobs. Nothing made sense. I should have fought harder. I should have run. But I didn’t. It wasn’t logic that held me still or fear of what he might do. It was something darker, something I couldn’t name. Something I hated myself for.
I was scared of him.
And I was scared of myself.
The door opened again, and a woman walked in. Middle-aged, grey hair, and lips pulled in a straight line. She didn’t say anything. Just stood there with what seemed to be clothes in her hands.
“Who are you?” I hated how my voice trembled. She stepped closer, and I flinched as she knelt beside me and grabbed myankle. I went to pull away but stopped when she started un-cuffing the cuffs.
My skin was raw beneath the metal. I pulled my legs toward me, curling them, but the ache was still there.
She didn’t meet my eyes. Not once. Her expression was carved from stone, just like the man she worked for. The silence stretched between us, and coated my skin.
