First Night In Hell

Sera's POV 

The car ride to Kaelan’s penthouse was dead silent. Sera sat as far away from him as the leather seat allowed, arms crossed tight over her chest, staring out the window at the passing city lights. Her stomach was in knots. Every second that passed made the reality sink deeper — she had really done it. She had signed her body over to this man for an entire year.

Kaelan didn’t speak either. He just sat there scrolling through his phone like this was any other normal evening. The silence only made her angrier.

“You’re really going to pretend this is normal?” she finally snapped, turning to glare at him. “Dragging me to your fancy apartment like I’m some kind of paid escort?”

He glanced up from his phone, those steel-gray eyes calm but sharp. “You signed the contract, Seraphina. This is your life now. The sooner you accept it, the easier it will be.”

“Easier for who? You?” She let out a bitter laugh. “You get to fuck me whenever you want and call it ‘repayment.’ My family gets to keep their house while I lose everything.”

The car pulled into the private garage of a towering building. Kaelan got out first and waited for her. Sera stepped out on shaky legs, clutching the small bag she had packed in a hurry. The elevator ride up was even worse than the car. Just the two of them in a small metal box. She could smell his cologne, feel the heat coming off his body.

When the doors opened directly into the penthouse, Sera’s breath caught. The place was massive. Dark marble floors, floor-to-ceiling windows showing the glittering city below, sleek expensive furniture that probably cost more than her family’s entire firm. It felt cold. Beautiful, but cold.

Kaelan closed the door behind them with a soft click that sounded way too final.

“Rules,” he said, taking off his suit jacket and tossing it over the back of a couch. “You sleep in the room next to mine. You eat when I eat. You go where I say. And when I want you, you don’t fight me. Those are the terms.”

Sera dropped her bag on the floor. “And if I say no?”

Kaelan walked toward her slowly. “Then the contract breaks. The debt comes back. Your family loses everything. Is that what you want?”

She backed up until her back hit the wall. Her heart was pounding so hard she could hear it in her ears. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you? Having power over someone who hates your guts.”

He stopped right in front of her, so close she had to tilt her head back to look at him. “What I enjoy,” he said, voice low, “is watching proud women like you realize they want what they’re fighting against.”

Before she could respond, he grabbed her wrists and pinned them above her head with one hand. His other hand gripped her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes.

“Stop pretending you don’t feel this,” he growled.

Then he kissed her.

It wasn’t soft. It was angry and demanding, his mouth claiming hers like he already owned every part of her. Sera tried to turn her head away but he held her in place. Heat flooded through her body against her will. Her nipples hardened. A rush of wetness gathered between her legs. She hated herself for it.

She bit his lip hard.

Kaelan pulled back with a dark chuckle. Blood dotted his lower lip. “There she is,” he said. “The fighter I paid for.”

He spun her around and pressed her front against the wall. His body covered hers from behind, hard and hot. One hand slid under her blouse, rough fingers finding her breast and squeezing. Sera gasped, her cheek pressed to the cool wall.

“Get off me,” she breathed, but her voice came out weak.

“You signed the paper,” he reminded her, lips against her ear. He yanked her skirt up and pushed her panties aside. “This is what you agreed to.”

He thrust into her in one hard stroke. Sera cried out, fingers scraping against the wall. He fucked her right there, deep and rough, one hand still pinning her wrists above her head. Every thrust pushed her harder against the wall. The sound of skin slapping skin filled the penthouse.

She came first, shame and pleasure crashing over her at the same time. Her legs shook as she moaned his name despite herself. Kaelan followed right after, burying himself deep and groaning against her neck as he finished inside her.

For a moment they just stayed like that, breathing hard. Then he stepped back and let her go.

Sera turned around slowly, fixing her clothes with trembling hands. Tears burned in her eyes but she refused to let them fall.

Kaelan watched her, his expression unreadable. “This is only the beginning,” he said quietly. “You’ll learn to crave it.”

His phone started ringing from the coffee table. He glanced at the screen and his jaw tightened.

Sera wiped her eyes quickly. “Who is it?”

Kaelan picked up the phone but didn’t answer right away. He looked at her for a long moment, something dark and possessive in his eyes.

“Someone who’s about to become a problem,” he said. “Liora Kane. My arranged fiancée.”

The words hit Sera like a slap. Of course he had someone else. Someone who got the real version of him while she got this — the dirty secret he fucked against the wall.

Kaelan answered the call, but his eyes never left Sera’s face.

“Yes, Liora?”

Sera stood there, still feeling him between her legs, listening to him talk to the woman who was supposed to be his future while she was nothing but his paid whore.

And in that moment, she realized this year was going to destroy her in ways she hadn’t even imagined.