Her own hell!

Elena.

The resentment in his eyes was sharp and burning, and in that moment, I knew the truth I hadn’t wanted to face: there was no escape.

No rescue. Only him. Only this hell.

I wondered if human really had past life. Maybe in my past life I had done something to hurt him so much. But in this life, I have never met him before in this life.

But I'd done something that made him hate my like hell? I have no clue.

“Take it off,” Thorne said, his voice laced with quiet fury, like gasoline waiting for a spark.

My breath caught. Why? Why did he want this? If he hated me so much, why this? Why me?

I didn’t move.

“I won’t repeat it again, Elena,” he said, steel laced with venom. “Lose the clothes. Every fucking piece.”

Tears spilled, hot and fast, blurring my vision. I stood frozen, unable to obey, unwilling to surrender. Something inside me screamed fight. Even if I lost, fight.

When I didn’t move, he stepped closer, but didn’t touch me. He didn’t need to. His presence alone was suffocating.

“I see,” he muttered. “Still pretending you have choices.”

I forced myself off the bed, legs trembling. My voice failed me. He watched every twitch of my body, like a predator toying with its prey.

“You want to run?” he asked, amused. “Go ahead. Let’s see how far you get.”

For a second, I thought he was bluffing. But then his hands went into his pockets, and he leaned back like he was waiting.

I bolted.

Heart in my throat, I dashed out the door. Down the stairs. Halls blurred. Doors passed in streaks. No one stopped me, why wasn’t anyone stopping me?

Two guards appeared, standing near the exit. My heart stuttered, but then they turned away, and left.

I didn’t think. I ran. The night air hit me like ice. The mansion behind me shrank with every step. I didn’t know where I was going, just that I had to get away.

I almost made it past the gates.

But then, hands.

Like shadows come to life, I was lifted, hauled backward. My scream never made it past my lips before I was slammed down inside the house again.

No stairs. No words. Just the cold hum of the elevator as I was dragged back into the cage.

And then. Him!

Thorne sat there, waiting. As if he’d known every step I’d take.

“See who came crawling back,” he said coldly.

“I didn’t—” My voice cracked. “I didn’t crawl. You dragged me.”

He stood, slow and unhurried, each step toward me deliberate. I backed up until I hit the wall.

“Where am I? What do you want from me?” I demanded, my words trembling under the weight of fear and rage.

“Somewhere no one will find you,” he replied. “What I want? That’ll depend on how long you keep pretending you’re in control.”

His hand closed around my throat. Not choking. Not crushing. Just enough to remind me who he was.

I shoved at him, teeth clenched, fury boiling. “You’re a monster.”

He didn’t deny it. He smiled.

“Monsters don’t care what you think of them.”

He tossed me onto the bed like I weighed nothing. My body bounced, breath knocked out of me. And then the cold slice of fabric tearing filled the room.

“Don’t—!” I screamed, struggling. “Get off me! Let me go!”

But he didn’t stop.

He was methodical, unfeeling. Stripping me of my defenses, my strength, one breath at a time. My screams echoed off the walls, but no one came.

His grip returned to my neck. Not crushing. Just controlling.

“You’ll either obey,” he said, voice low and lethal, “or I’ll break you in ways that make you wish you had.”

“Please…” My voice cracked. “Please don’t—”

But he didn’t listen.

He pressed himself to me with brutal force, and pain tore through me like fire. My scream shattered in my throat.

And then he froze.

His eyes met mine. Surprise flickered. Then something darker.

“Fucking virgin,” he hissed. “You were saving yourself for someone else?”

Tears fell again. Not just from the pain, but from the knowledge that it was Hunter’s face I saw in my mind. Gentle. Loving. Dreaming of a future with me.

Gone.

All of it, gone.

Thorne’s mouth curled with something cruel. “Be glad it was me,” he said. “Or I’d have had to kill the poor bastard.”

“I hate you!” I screamed.

“I prefer it that way,” he said.

And the world broke.

I felt it shatter inside me, something sacred, something that would never be whole again.

Darkness took me, a welcome numbness as I slipped into unconsciousness.