“Mr. Rafael,” I called quickly, my voice rising despite myself. “What if I don’t want the marriage anymore? What if I change my mind?”
“You won’t.”
The certainty in his voice was absolute.
“You will be my wife. Nothing—no demon, not even you—can change that.”
A brief pause followed.
I felt it more than I heard it, like his attention was still on me even as he turned away.
Then his footsteps shifted.
And his office door clicked shut behind him.
The sound carried farther than it should have.
And just like that—
he was gone.
I stayed completely still.
Blind eyes fixed on nothing, though it felt like I was staring directly into something vast and collapsing.
The silence after him wasn’t peaceful.
It was dense.
Like the room itself was holding its breath.
My hands slowly loosened from the edge of the desk, only to realize I had been gripping it so tightly my fingers ached.
I exhaled shakily.
My mind replayed his words again and again, refusing to settle into anything coherent.
You will be my wife. Nothing—no demon, not even you—can change that.
My stomach twisted.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t try to escape—it was that, for Zara, I would endure anything.
Even if it meant facing whatever Rafael Pérez had planned for me after the rings were exchanged tomorrow.
