MasukAurora Brooks POVI used my phone light to guide my steps and walked toward the hallway leading to the main door.Just as I reached for the handle to leave, a man's hand suddenly grabbed my wrist."Where are you running off to, beautiful?"The smell of alcohol from his mouth made me sick. I looked at his ugly, swollen face."Take your filthy hand off me before I break it."I pulled free easily. He was weak. Swaying slightly."Do you not want to sleep with a rich businessman like me? Try me, sweetheart. You will not regret it."I closed my eyes, my patience gone.Then I grabbed his neck violently and squeezed until his eyes almost popped out."Say that again, you rotten bastard."His breath leaked from his mouth like a dying animal. But suddenly he regained some strength and grabbed my throat the same way."I will fuck you right here until you learn who I am. Girls like you deserve nothing but our seed filling their wombs."My grip loosened instantly as his hand crushed my throat harde
Aurora Brooks POVI wiped my tear quickly before it could slide down my full cheeks."Mr. Alexander was kind. We spoke calmly, and I explained everything that happened between my father and me that night."But luck betrayed me. I could not hold my tears back. The memory of the panic attack he caused came rushing in, and I burst into tears right in front of her."He was such a gentleman. He did not say a single bad word about me, Ivy."I noticed her eyes suddenly fix on my neck. Her gaze froze there. The mark of a hand. It had probably turned purple by now.She gasped in horror."Oh my God… what happened to your neck?"I quickly wrapped my hand around it so she would stop staring. But she stepped closer, pulled my hand away, and lifted my chin so she could see it clearly."Who did this to you? Did… did someone hurt you?"Her eyes filled with painful tears as if she were about to break apart. Her voice trembled while she forced those words out.My eyes widened in shock at her fearful gu
Aurora Brooks POV"Captain."I murmured softly as I ran toward him.I stopped in front of him, breathing lightly. I had not run much. It was only a few steps. But the way he looked at me stole the air from my lungs.I caught his trembling hand inside the pocket of his pants. He tried to hide it from me, but I noticed it before I left the first time."If your hand starts shaking and you want it to stop fast, squeeze your fingers hard, then relax them for twenty seconds."I moved his fingers with my other hand to show him."Like this. Do you get what I mean?"I lifted my rifle slightly as if it was talking to his darkness. I saw him staring straight into my eyes without shame. He tried to smile again. The smile refused to stay."Where did you go just now?"At last his hand stopped shaking, though a faint tremor still lingered. I did not let go of it. My small hand kept holding his without thinking.He cleared his throat and spoke in a low murmur."I was thinking that nothing in you is d
Aurora Brooks POVWe walked off the ship together. Silence fell between us. Heavy. Almost holy.He swallowed his tongue. I bit mine. Even our eyes refused to meet. They stayed fixed on the road ahead.Curious, I spoke from behind him, studying his broad shoulders with open contempt.God, how I hated him."Where are we going?"He did not answer.He had stopped beside a fairly large group of men wearing the same bright white uniform. Sailors. Naval men. The captain spoke with a firm voice that commanded instant obedience."Was it supplied with the cargo before it was activated?"A man with two dimples and narrow eyes answered. Handsome. Charismatic in a quiet way."Yes, sir."I stepped a little closer, and suddenly all their eyes turned to me.The attention made heat crawl up my neck. I felt absurdly embarrassed.Alexander answered while moving toward the door of ship number seven, the number carved deeply into its massive side.The long haired man followed him, his hair tied behind his
Aurora Brooks POV"When a fire starts, do not complain about the smoke that will choke you."I shoved his shoulders away from me and shouted."Do not try to bully me. And do not let that brain of yours think you can threaten me."My eyes burst with tears as if I were fighting death itself."You cannot defeat a girl raised by a cruel life."The tight anger on his face slowly loosened, though his hand was still gripping my neck. He pulled his hand away and turned toward his desk, speaking with cold irritation."You never stop draining the best parts of me. Aurora, I am still taking into consideration that you are a girl."The moment he finished shouting, I collapsed onto the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. He slowly turned toward me. I rubbed my neck and curled into the corner of the office.His fast breathing filled the room. My hysterical gasps mixed with it violently."Aurora."My head dropped forward under a flood of emotion. My loud crying still would not stop."Are you okay?"He cr
Aurora Brooks POVI studied Captain Alexander's sinful figure the same way he studied mine. His body inside that sharp uniform stole my breath and locked my tongue on the last word I had spoken.Before Martin could say anything angry to scold me, the captain spoke in a cold voice wrapped around his rough tone."You may leave, Engineer."Martin's tense expression loosened. He walked to the door without even looking at me. I liked the way the captain stopped him from saying another word to me.Mr. Alexander leaned back in his leather chair, playing with a fountain pen between his fingers. His raven black hair fell over the right side of his forehead."Getting you here was easy, Aurora."My fingers tightened around my bag."What exactly do you want from me?"I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to keep my nerves from breaking. My voice shook with every word that left my throat."I know you refused your son's engagement to my sister just to control me. So what do you want from me?"He th
Aurora Brooks POVMy legs froze on the sand the moment I realized I was about to step into the house of a man I barely knew. He noticed my hesitation and turned to me, his face cold and unreadable."Should I leave you here in the cold? If that is what you want, I can walk away."I shook my head no,
Aurora Brooks POVThat cursed room. The chains and whips hanging on the walls make it a torture chamber in every sense of the word. The smell of insects and rotten vegetables chokes the air. I will not enter it. Not even over my dead body. I grabbed his hand and dug my nails into his skin as hard
Aurora Brooks POVBefore he could answer, loud knocks hit the door. Hard, yet oddly controlled. I quickly pulled my leg off his waist, and he regained his dark authority as he walked toward the door.I spoke while fixing the front of my dress."Come in."The door burst open.My father stood there w
Aurora Brooks POVI entered another room beside the previous one. It was quiet. Peaceful, as long as that man's breathing was far away from me.I lay down on a wide couch and tried to sleep. I forced my eyes shut again and again. Sleep only came after two long hours of thinking about what had happe







