"Dinner's in forty-five minutes." I moved toward the door. "Wear something that shows you understand who you belong to now."
I left her standing there. Trembling with rage or anticipation—I'd find out which soon enough.
The door closed behind me with a soft click.
I stood in the hallway, listening. Waiting for the breakdown. The sob. The scream. The sound of something thrown against the wall in helpless fury.
Nothing came.
Just silence thick enough to drown in.
I smiled despite myself.
Still fighting.
Most would've crumbled by now. Would've collapsed into tears or bargaining or that peculiar brand of feminine manipulation that pretended weakness could move me.
Belle did none of those things. She stood her ground even when the ground shifted beneath her feet.
I respected that. Didn't change anything—but I respected it.
Down the hall, I shed my jacket. Rolled my shoulders to release tension that had nothing to do with practice and everything to do with the woman currently hating me three rooms away.
My phone buzzed.
Hades.
You coming to Jafar's thing tonight?
I deleted the message without responding.
No one needed to know where I was. What I was doing. Who I'd brought home.
The team thought they knew me—the untouchable star who cycled through women like plays on ice, never lingering, never attached.
They were right about everything except the part that mattered.
I'd never wanted any of those women.
Not the way I wanted Belle. Not with this bone-deep certainty that she was mine whether she admitted it yet or not.
I moved through the house, checking details I'd already confirmed twice.
Security feeds live.
Doors locked.
Exits monitored.
She could move freely inside these walls, but the moment she tried to leave?—
Well.
She wouldn't.
Not after I explained what happened to her father's care if she broke the contract. Not after she understood that running only delayed the inevitable.
I glanced at my watch. Forty minutes until dinner. Forty minutes for her to process. To plan. To convince herself she could endure this without breaking.
