Mag-log inThe steam from the tea rises between us, but it doesn't warm the air. Althea sits in the morning room, her silk robe draped perfectly over her frame, but her eyes are hollow.She stares at me, her gaze tracing the faint, fresh flush on my skin from the cellar. She isn't stupid. She knows the scent of him."He fucked you this morning, didn't he?" Althea’s voice is a flat, dry snap. "Against the cold stone? Somewhere pathetic and beneath him?"I look down at my cup, my fingers trembling. "Althea, we didn’t—""Don't lie to me. Your pussy is probably still throbbing from him," the words coming out jagged and raw. She leans across the table, her face twisting into something ugly and desperate."I stood in that bedroom last night. I got naked. I offered him a body that is younger, cleaner, and legally his. I practically begged him to break me. I told him to fuck me hard, to leave marks, to show me the monster he is."She lets out a sharp, bitter laugh that sounds like breaking glass."And
The morning sun is weak and grey through the basement windows. I slip away to the laundry room, needing to breathe. At breakfast, Ethan’s gaze was heavy and suffocating. It was obvious he was fighting himself, trying so hard not to claim me on that dining table while his wife and father sat right beside us.Suddenly, a hand shoots out from the shadows.It’s not a touch. It’s an ambush.Ethan’s fingers lock around my throat, not to choke me, but to control me. He slams me back against the cold, damp brick of the cellar wall. The stone is freezing against my thin dress, but the heat coming off his body is dangerous."You missed a payment, Sapphire."His voice is a low, jagged rasp. It’s not a question; it’s an accusation. His eyes are red-rimmed and wild, like a man who has spent the night pacing a cage."Ethan... please... someone will hear," I gasp, my hands clawing at his wrist."Let them hear," he snarls, his face so close his nose brushes mine. "I stood in that hallway until th
Althea stands by the massive, rose-petal-covered bed in Ethan’s bedroom. She has dropped her heavy lace gown, standing only in a sheer white robe that looks so expensive. She looks perfect. She looks like a bride.Ethan stands by the window, his back to her, staring out at the dark grounds of the estate. He hasn't even taken off his tuxedo jacket."It’s our wedding night, Ethan," Althea says, her voice soft, reaching for a warmth that isn't there.She walks toward him. Her bare feet make no sound on the polished marble. She reaches out, her small, manicured hands sliding over the dark wool of his shoulders. She presses her body against his back, rising on her tiptoes, her cheek resting between his shoulder blades."We won," she whispers, her hands beginning to roam over his chest. "The merger is going to be signed in the next meeting. Our families are finally one. We can stop fighting now."“I’m not fighting with you, Althea. I adore you,” Ethan replies, his voice flat, devoid of
The chapel is a sea of white roses and smiles. It smells like expensive perfume and old money. Outside, the world thinks this is the wedding of the century. Inside, it feels like an execution.I stand in the front row, my hands shaking as I clutch my bouquet. Arthur stands beside me, his hand heavy on my shoulder. He’s smiling, proud of the empire he’s built. The music starts. It’s slow and haunting.Althea appears at the end of the aisle. She looks like a doll made of ice. Her dress is worth more than the apartment I grew up in, but her face is a mask of pure, hidden rage.As she walks, her eyes don’t go to the priest. They don't even go to the guest list. They snap to me.I shiver.She looks at me as if she knows I own black silk panties, knows about the bite mark on my neck, knows that every time Ethan looks at her, he’s wishing he was touching me.She reaches the altar. Ethan is standing there, tall and terrifying in a black tuxedo. He looks like a god who has just declared w
The clock in the living room strikes one, the sound echoing like a funeral march through Ethan’s suite. Ethan stands by the door, his hand already gripping the handle, his back a rigid line of tension. He’s dressed in black, ready to slip into the veins of the house to find the only darkness that has consumed him."Where are you going, babe?"Althea’s voice slices through the silence. She is sitting on the edge of the oversized bed, wearing a white light and soft dressing gown that should be provocative but feels like a shroud. Her honey-blonde hair let down.Ethan doesn't turn around. "I have security protocols to finalize. The wedding is in less than ten hours. I’m making sure the perimeter is secure.""The perimeter is fine," Althea says, her voice trembling with a mix of exhaustion and rising fury. "The house is a fortress. You’ve turned it into one. You cancelled your bachelor party. You haven't looked at the guest list. You didn't even choose the wine for our own receptio
I hadn't even reached the library before Arthur intercepted me, his hand a cold shackle around my elbow, dragging me back into the one room where the walls feel like they’re closing in. He slams the heavy oak door of the master bedroom. The sound is final. A death knell. "Sit," he commands. It isn't the voice of the man who bought me luxurious designers. It is the voice of the man who bought me. I sink onto the edge of the massive bed. Arthur begins to strip off his suit jacket with a slow, terrifying precision. He tosses it aside and starts on his cufflinks, the gold clicking against the nightstand like a countdown. "Since I met you drowning in that miserable life of debt," he begins, his voice dropping into a low, vibrating register. "I saved you. I made sure you were not mistreated. I love you and gave you my name and everything.. And then I keep seeing that mark on your neck." "Arthur, please, it was an accident—" "Liar!" He lunges. "I’ve been very patient," he says, chuc
The dining room is a cathedral of sunlight and polished silver, but to me, it feels like a courtroom.Arthur sits at the head of the long table, beaming with a pride that feels like a weight on my chest. To his right sits Ethan, looking devastatingly handsome in a charcoal suit. And beside Ethan si
The evening is quiet, the kind of silence that feels heavy, pregnant with things unsaid.Arthur and I are finally alone in the master suite after a grueling dinner. The air in the dining room was stagnant; Ethan looked so shaken he barely touched his vintage red, his eyes tracking every movement of
The light from an old movie flickers on the walls of the home theater.It’s supposed to be a relaxing family evening. Arthur sits in the center of the oversized sofa, looking content, while I am tucked into his side.Ethan is seated in the leather armchair to our left, half-shrouded in shadow. He is
The afternoon air in the Reynolds gardens is heavy with the scent of blooming jasmine and damp earth. After the suffocating tension of the lunch table, the wide-open space should feel like a relief, but as Althea links her arm through mine, it feels like another set of chains.She is a vision in th







