CHAPTER 18:Punishment Room

DAMIAN

The door slammed behind her with a cold echo, and my men filed out without a word, their boots scraping the concrete as they left me alone with her.

My Isa.

She stood in the middle of the basement, her arms hugging her chest, eyes darting across the room taking it all in. The dim bulbs overhead buzzed faintly, casting long shadows over the walls lined with steel hooks, chains, and instruments no innocent soul should ever lay eyes on.

I leaned against the doorframe, watching her.

She was already trembling.

Good.

This room had that effect on people the ones who dared defy me. But she wasn’t just anyone. She was mine. And unlike the others, I wouldn’t break her with pain. I’d bend her with something deeper something she couldn’t outrun.

Fear… mixed with craving.

I stepped forward slowly, my shoes clicking against the concrete. She stiffened with every step I took, like prey scenting the predator behind her.

I circled her once, deliberately slow, watching her chest rise and fall too fast.

“You’re scared,” I said, voice calm and even. “But you should know I won’t kill you, Isa. I could never destroy what belongs to me.”

She didn’t answer just stared at the floor like it might save her.

I stopped in front of her.

Her lashes lifted, and our eyes locked. God, those eyes wide, glossy, burning with defiance and terror all at once.

She looked away instantly.

“Take off your clothes.”

Her head snapped back to me. “What?”

“You heard me, little princess.”

“Why…?” Her voice cracked as tears welled up, sliding down her cheeks without her permission. That part always got to me the tears. The way they painted her face with vulnerability. My little fire, flickering in fear.

I reached out, cupping her jaw with a gentleness that contradicted everything else about the room. I wiped her tears with my thumb.

“For trying to leave me,” I said quietly. “Even when you knew escape was impossible.”

“I don’t want to,” she whispered, eyes pleading.

I smiled slowly, tilting her chin up. “But you will.”

She froze. I saw the war behind her eyes. Pride battling with fear. Shame wrestling with survival.

Then she moved.

One shaking hand, then the other, crept toward the hem of her dress.

Her fingers trembled so violently, she could barely grip the fabric. I said nothing only stood there, arms folded, watching the battle rage in her eyes.

Shame. Fear. And beneath it all... something darker. Something she didn’t want to name.

Inch by inch, the fabric peeled upward, baring her thighs, her stomach, her chest. Her breath came in short, ragged gasps, as if the air itself cut her lungs with every inhale. She looked everywhere but at me.

I drank in the sight.

Her skin was goose-pimpled, flushed in patches from embarrassment or arousal. Her nipples tightened under the weight of my gaze, and her jaw clenched like she was holding back a scream.

She was stunning.

A trembling painting of rebellion and ruin.

I could’ve had her right then pinned her against the wall, made her scream my name until her legs gave out. But I wouldn’t.

Not yet.

She didn’t deserve that kind of surrender. Not until she begged for it. Not until the fire in her eyes flickered out, replaced by something softer.

Submission.

I turned my head toward the door, voice calm, cold.

“Richard.”

The door creaked open almost immediately.

He entered with his head low, shoulders rigid, like he already knew what I was about to say.

“Boss,” he murmured.

I didn’t look at him.

Instead, I stepped forward, fingers curling around the leather collar snug around Isa’s throat my mark engraved in silver at its center. Her whole body jolted at the contact. The chain clinked softly as it shifted between my fingers.

“She needs reminding,” I said. “Remind the men who she belongs to.”

Richard stiffened slightly, then gave a sharp nod.

I could feel Isa’s panic rising behind me before she spoke.

“No.” Her voice cracked, raw and desperate. “Please… Master, don’t.”

She dropped to her knees like her bones had turned to liquid, hands clutched in front of her, her hair falling over her face. Naked, shivering, exposed.

Tears shimmered in her lashes, but she didn’t dare reach for me. She knew better.

I looked down at her, quiet, unflinching.

Even now, on the cold marble floor, she was exquisite.

“You should’ve thought of that,” I said evenly, “before you tried to run.”

Her breath hitched one sharp sob and then Richard moved.

He stepped forward without waiting, clipped the leash onto her collar with a click that echoed too loudly in the still room.

Isa whimpered.

Not loud.

Just a breathy, broken sound that hit somewhere deep in my chest.

Still, she didn’t fight.

Her hands curled into fists against her thighs, head bowed as he led her away.

The chain dragged softly across the floor.

I didn’t follow.

Not yet.

I just watched.

Watched as my little princess walked into the lesson she’d earned.

ISABELLA

Shame clawed at my skin like a thousand needles.

I stood there naked, stripped of pride, dignity, everything and still, his eyes devoured me like I was something worth owning.

Damian didn’t blink. His gaze roamed over me slowly, lingering at my chest, his lips twitching into something that wasn’t quite a smirk but wasn’t kind either. My arms moved on reflex, trying to shield what I could, but his stare made it pointless. He’d already taken everything. What was left to hide?

A pulse beat low in my belly, hot and shameful. My body was betraying me again tingling under the weight of his attention like it wanted him.

You’re disgusting, Isa. Snap out of it.

This was the same man I wanted dead just hours ago. The man I’d planned to run from. And now, part of me… ached for him?

My chest rose and fell, the air thick in my lungs as I fought back the confusion.

Then his voice sliced through the haze.

“Take her to the VIP room.”

The words were soft. But they detonated like a bomb inside my chest.

My heart slammed against my ribs.

The VIP room.

I knew what happened in that room. I’d heard the stories. Seen the men leering, laughing, drinking. And now, he was sending me there. Like a showpiece. Like a lesson.

“No!” I collapsed at his feet, hands gripping his pant leg like it might tether me to sanity. “Please, Master… don’t do this. I’ll behave. I swear. I’ll be good.”

I looked up.

But his face was stone.

Not a crack of mercy. Not even a flicker of doubt.

He turned to Richard, handing me over with a single nod. A gesture that felt like a death sentence.

The chain at my neck jerked hard.

“Get up,” Richard said gently

I stumbled to my feet, arms clutching around my stomach. The cold tile stung my soles as I was pulled forward, my legs barely keeping up.

We moved through the corridor, but all I could hear was the rattling of the chain. My chain. The one he’d marked me with.

My tears had dried into salt along my cheeks, but the sting in my throat never left.

As soon as we rounded the corner, Richard’s hold on his tongue broke.

“You almost cost me everything,” he seethed. “Do you even understand who you’re messing with?”

I didn’t respond.

He shoved me forward.

“I told you to wait. One fucking rule. But no you had to play hero.”

“I wasn’t—”

“Don’t speak,” he snapped.

His voice was a low, angry rasp. “You think this is some kind of game? That you can pout and cry and somehow he’ll go easy on you? You’re not special, Isa. You’re just another toy to him. You disobey, you get punished. And now I get punished because of you.”

My knees buckled with every step, but I didn’t fall.

I couldn’t.

“I didn’t ask for this,” I whispered, my voice small, broken. “I didn’t ask to be here.”

He laughed short and cold. “None of us did.”

The words hit harder than they should have.

“I don’t even know why he picked me,” I added, swallowing back a sob. “There are other girls better girls who would’ve given him everything he wanted.”

Richard didn’t reply.

He didn’t have to.

We reached the thick black doors at the end of the hall. I could hear the bass pounding from behind them, the muffled sound of men laughing, glasses clinking. Their world. Their rules.

My body trembled.

My hands itched to claw at the walls, to run. But there was no escape.

Not anymore.

Richard reached for the door handle.

And I knew

This was only the beginning

****************

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Thank you so much for reading this chapter! 💖 Your support means the world to me. If you enjoyed it, please don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe. I’d love to hear your thoughts your feedback keeps me going! 😊