Ava's POV“I haven’t even begun to show you cruel, little Omega.” His eyes, dark and intense, darted down to my throat, to the rapid, frantic pulse hammering there, a visible testament to my fear. I could feel the tension radiating off him—hot, sharp, electric, a palpable aura of barely contained power. The air around us crackled. For a long, agonizing moment, neither of us moved. He simply stood there, a formidable, unyielding presence, his gaze burning into me, his hands caging me. The silence was deafening, filled only with the frantic thrum of my own heartbeat. Then, his hand came up, slow and deliberate, and cupped my jaw. His fingers were warm, rough, yet his touch was precise, possessive, tilting my head up so I had no choice but to meet his gaze, to drown in the depth of his dark eyes. “Change,” he said finally, his voice a low, gravelly command. His thumb brushed against my lower lip almost absently, a light, teasing caress that was more threat than tenderness. “Into so
Ava's POV I walked up the grand, sweeping staircase slowly, each step a heavy, deliberate action. The echo of my heels on the polished marble sounded unnaturally loud in the silent mansion, a rhythmic click-clack that felt less like footsteps and more like a relentless countdown to something inevitable, something I both dreaded and, in a twisted, sick way, anticipated. My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic, trapped bird. My hands trembled violently as I reached the ornate bedroom door, the gilded handle cool beneath my clammy fingers. Every instinct screamed at me to turn, to run, to hide, but the memory of his chilling gaze, his quiet commands, kept me rooted. I forced myself to reach out, to turn the handle, to push the heavy door open, step inside the opulent cage, and shut it behind me with a soft, final thud. The room was dimly lit, the heavy velvet curtains drawn shut, plunging the space into a suffocating twilight. Despite the gloom, I could still feel his presence
Ava's POV Damian got out first, his movements fluid and unhurried, and came around to my side, a silent command in his powerful stride. Before I could even reach for the door handle, before I could make a pathetic attempt at reclaiming a shred of autonomy, he yanked it open with a decisive thunk and extended his hand, palm up, a silent, imperious command. I hesitated, my breath catching. Every instinct screamed at me to pull away, to refuse, to run. But his eyes, dark and unyielding, narrowed slightly, a subtle shift that promised swift, harsh consequences for any defiance. “Ava.” His voice, though still low, held a steely edge, a warning that cut through my fear. I placed my trembling hand in his. His fingers closed around mine instantly, firm and unyielding, a vise of possession. He pulled me out of the car, effortlessly, keeping his grip tight, almost crushing, as we walked up the grand, sweeping marble steps toward the brightly lit entrance. My feet felt heavy, my legs sti
Ava's POV By the time the antique grandfather clock in the opulent hallway struck six, its chimes echoing through the vast, silent mansion, my nerves were frayed, stretched taut like violin strings on the verge of snapping. The afternoon had been an agonizing eternity of pretense. I had stayed at my desk longer than necessary, meticulously sorting through reports that didn’t truly demand my attention, just to keep my hands and mind occupied, to delay the inevitable. Each tick of the clock was a reminder of the impending evening, of his cryptic command. But when the office began to empty out, the polite goodbyes and the shuffling of departing feet growing scarce, and the overhead lights dimmed into their softer, more intimate nighttime glow, I knew there was no more delaying it. He hadn’t said another word to me all afternoon. Not a glance in my direction, not a single command issued directly, not a hint of acknowledgment. He moved through the office like I didn’t even exist, a gh
Ava's POVHe finally set the pen down with a delicate, deliberate tap, the sound echoing loudly in the silence. He leaned back in his chair, the leather creaking faintly, and slowly, deliberately, fixed me with a gaze so intense, so utterly consuming, it made my stomach knot, a cold, painful coil of dread. His eyes, the color of a winter storm, were unreadable, yet they seemed to bore straight into my very soul, stripping away my defenses. “Do you know why you’re here, Ava?” he asked evenly, his voice a low, smooth rumble, the deceptive calm more terrifying than any shout. I shook my head, my throat too tight to form a proper word. “No… sir.” The honorific tasted like ash, a bitter acknowledgment of his absolute authority. The corner of his mouth twitched, just barely—a subtle, almost imperceptible movement, though it didn’t look like amusement. It was more like a flicker of grim satisfaction, a hint of the predator observing its cornered prey. “You’ve been distracted all morning,
Ava's POV The mid-morning sunlight, once a source of faint comfort, now felt like a harsh spotlight, exposing every raw nerve, every trembling muscle. It was well past noon when my desk phone buzzed sharply, a sudden, intrusive sound that shattered the carefully constructed facade of normalcy I had tried to maintain all morning. The mundane ring vibrated through the worn plastic receiver, then through my very bones. I startled violently, my body jerking, the receiver nearly slipping from my clammy fingers as I fumbled to answer it, my coordination betraying me. It felt disproportionately heavy, a conduit to the man who held my fate in his hands. “Y-yes?” The word came out as a strangled gasp, a pathetic whimper, betraying the terror that had instantly seized my throat. His voice, low and cutting, utterly devoid of warmth or inflection, came through the line, a chilling whisper that somehow filled the entire office with its authority. “In my office. Now.” The line went dead wit