ANMELDEN**Nadia**Dominic gave the order that morning. Full lockdown. No leaving the penthouse without armed escort. Every exit covered. Every movement tracked. I stood in the living room and felt the walls press in. My skin crawled with the need to move. To breathe fresh air. To step outside without eyes on me.Dominic watched me from across the room. His face stayed hard. Unapologetic. He crossed his arms and waited for the fight he knew was coming.I paced the floor. My bare feet slapped against the cool tiles. The frustration built fast in my chest. I had fought for my power with him. It felt like chains all over again."I am not a prisoner," I said. My voice came out sharp.Dominic did not flinch. "You are if it keeps you alive."The words landed heavy. I stopped pacing. Heat rushed through me. Not fear. Not tears. Raw anger mixed with the deep ache of being trapped again. I had grown. I had set boundaries that made him kneel. But Garrett's photo through the window had changed everythin
**Nadia**A knock sounded at the penthouse door early that morning.I opened my eyes slowly. Dominic was already up and moving. His body tensed beside me before the second knock came. He pulled on pants fast and headed to the door. I sat up in bed. The sheets felt cool against my bare skin.Raffael stood in the hallway with a plain brown package in his hands. His face looked tight. No smile. No greeting. He handed it over without a word.Dominic took the package. His fingers closed around it hard. He shut the door and locked it. Then he walked back to the bedroom. I watched him. His shoulders stayed rigid.He set the package on the bed between us. Plain wrapping. No return address. Just our names printed in black marker.I reached for it first. My fingers brushed the paper. It felt ordinary. Harmless. But something in the air shifted. Dominic watched me close. His eyes stayed dark.I tore the wrapping open. Inside was a single photo. Glossy. Recent.My own face stared back at me. I la
**Nadia**My phone buzzed hard on the nightstand and ripped me out of sleep.I grabbed it fast. Dominic's arm stayed heavy across my waist. His skin felt warm against mine. The screen lit up with notification after notification. I opened the first post and my stomach dropped.Garrett stared back from the photo. His eyes were red and wild. His tie hung loose. He stood outside his old office building like everything had been taken from him. The caption hit me straight in the chest. "Fired. Broke. Ruined. All because of that gold digging bitch Nadia who sank her claws into Dominic Marcello. She destroyed my life."I sat up quick. The sheets slid down my bare legs. Dominic woke right away. His hand found my thigh and squeezed."Show me," he said. His voice sounded rough from sleep.I handed him the phone. More posts loaded fast. Comments poured in under Garrett's rant. People called me every ugly name. They said I deserved payback. Death threats mixed with the hate. Sharp words promised
**Nadia**My eyes caught it the second we walked into the bridal suite.Lisette and Raffael stood too close again. Her shoulder brushed his arm while she reached for a swatch of fabric. He leaned down to whisper something, lips near her ear, fingers grazing the small of her back for one beat too long. They didn't announce anything. They didn't hold hands or kiss in front of us. They were just suddenly always slightly too close, like the wedding planning had pushed them into so many tight corners that pretending finally broke.I felt a soft warmth bloom in my chest. I said nothing. I just smiled, turning back to the mirror as the seamstress pinned my hem.Dominic stood across the room, arms crossed, watching the chaos of dresses and samples with his usual calm. His gaze flicked to me, checking like he always did now. I met his eyes for a second and let my smile stay.Lisette glanced at me in the reflection. Her cheeks flushed quick and guilty. She stepped half an inch away from Raffa
**Nadia**I stood in the soft morning light of the penthouse, my fingers still tingling from where they'd traced Dominic's jaw the night before. The air between us felt charged, heavy with everything we'd rebuilt after my day of deliberate distance. He watched me now, his dark eyes locked on mine as I pulled the gray sweater over my head, letting it drop to the floor. No barriers today. Just us."We married drunk in Vegas for revenge," I said, my voice steady even as my heart hammered against my ribs. The words hung there, simple and raw. I wanted him to feel the weight of them, the way they had shaped everything between us from the start. "I want a real wedding. For us."Dominic froze. His hand, which had been reaching for my waist, stilled mid-air. Those sharp features that usually commanded every room softened in shock, his brows drawing together as if he couldn't quite process what I'd just said. He sat up straighter on the edge of the bed, the sheet pooling around his hips, exp
**Nadia**I waited until the morning light had fully claimed the penthouse before I began.I dressed in silence, choosing a soft gray sweater and black trousers that covered every inch of skin Dominic usually demanded access to. No silk robe left teasingly open at the thigh. No bare shoulder brushing his chest as I passed. I moved through the kitchen like a woman who had simply woken up alone: pouring coffee, checking my tablet, answering a single work email with the calm precision of someone whose world had not tilted on its axis.He felt the absence immediately.At first it was subtle. The way I stepped just out of reach when he entered the kitchen. The way my fingers didn’t graze his wrist when I set his coffee down. I watched him tell himself it was coincidence. He was still half-asleep, still adjusting to the new rhythm we had found after the contract reset.By midday the absence had teeth.He found me in the living room, curled on the wide sectional with my laptop. When he sat
**Nadia** I sat on Lisette’s couch with my knees pulled tight to my chest. The apartment felt smaller than I remembered, the walls closing in around me. My mind kept replaying Dominic’s words over and over. He knew about Garrett and Priya before I did. He had been tracking Garrett for months. W
The thick envelope sat on the table like a warning. No stamp. No sender. Just my name written in black ink. I tore it open and the photos spilled out. Pictures of Nadia. One showed her leaving the coffee shop with Raffael two days ago. Another caught her standing at the penthouse window, looking o
A rough gasp tore from my throat as I jolted awake in the middle of the night. Sweat covered my skin and made the sheets stick to my body. My heart pounded so hard it felt like it would break through my ribs. The nightmare still clung to me, thick and heavy. Dark images kept flashing behind my e
My phone buzzed on the kitchen counter again. I glanced at the screen and my stomach twisted. Priya. Another text. Another call. She had been trying to reach me all morning. I picked up the phone but didn’t open the messages. I already knew what they would say. The first text came through while I w







