Letting the water pound against my shoulders, my back, my skin.
Trying not to think.
But thoughts came anyway.
Unwanted. Relentless.
I wondered—through the pain still lingering in my body, through the exhaustion pulling at my limbs—whether the man waiting in the bedroom was still the same one who had put me on that ridge in the first place.
Whether this—whatever this was—was just another step in something I couldn’t see.
Or—
Whether something had shifted.
Something small.
Something even he couldn’t control.
The water kept falling.
Warm. Endless. Unforgiving in its own quiet way.
And I stood beneath it.
Trembling.
Seconds slipped by as I let the water pound over me, my thoughts drifting... until his voice cut through.
“Are you done, Elena?”
Still naked, I frantically searched for a towel, but he was already stepping closer.
My right hand immediately covered the middle of my thigh, the other shielding my chest.
He was my husband, but I felt a flush of shame at standing exposed before him.
He bent slightly, reaching for me.
One arm slid beneath my shoulders, the other beneath my thighs, and in one smooth motion, he lifted me—effortlessly, as if I weighed nothing at all.
A startled breath escaped me as my body left the ground.
The sudden shift jolted every nerve, but what hit harder was the warmth of him—his body pressed against mine, cutting through the cold in a way that almost hurt.
I flinched—not away, but into him instinctively, because there was nowhere else to go.
My fingers twitched weakly, barely able to hold on as he adjusted his grip, securing me against his chest.
His hold was firm. But careful.
I rested my head against his shoulder, eyes half-lidded, exhaustion and pain blurring everything together.
Without hesitation, he carried me through, lowering me onto the edge of the massive bed with a gentleness that seemed to contradict everything else about him.
The mattress dipped beneath my weight, and for a moment, I just sat there—naked, shivering, trying to process that I was no longer on that ridge, no longer chained.
He stepped back, crossed the room, and opened the wardrobe.
