Chapter 6

Chapter 6

 

 

​Mara lifted her right hand, her fingertips hovering just above her lips They still tingled, warm and slightly swollen from the desperate intensity of Kenny’s mouth.

 Her body was a traitor. It was a realization that brought a bitter taste to the back of her throat.

For months, she had told herself that she was merely a victim of a sick, hyper-realistic deception, that her blindness had made her an unwitting pawn in the twins' twisted game.

But tonight, the raw, visceral pull she felt when Kenny held her proved something far more terrifying: her flesh didn't care about the deception. Her nerve endings craved the very hands that had broken her trust.

​"Why?" she whispered into the dark room,.

​

​The door to the room clicked open with agonizing slowness.

​Mara’s entire body went rigid. Her ears, sharpened by seven  years of absolute darkness, mapped the intruder instantly.

 These weren't Kenny’s slow and light footsteps. These steps were heavy, fast and deliberate, as though he were a thief.

​His scent arrived a second later, cutting through the lingering aroma of Kenny’s sandalwood soap. It was a sharp, sophisticated blend of rain, leather, and something darkly metallic.

It was none other than the man Mara dreaded to even think about.

He was back.

​Danny was back.

​The air in the room instantly grew cold, pressurized by his sheer presence.

Mara pulled the duvet tighter against her collarbone, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird.

She didn't move. She feigned the deep, rhythmic breathing of sleep, praying he would just check on the child and leave.

​The footsteps stopped right at the edge of her mattress.

​For a long, agonizing minute, nothing happened. The silence stretched until Mara could hear the rush of blood in her own ears.

Then, the mattress groaned slightly under a shift in weight. A cool, large hand descended upon her bare shoulder, long fingers sliding beneath the fabric of her nightgown with a familiarity that made her stomach violently capsize.

​"I know you're awake, Mara," Danny’s deep voice purred. It was a shade lower than Kenny’s lacking the desperate, pleading cadence his twin had used only an hour prior.

 

 It was the voice of a man who didn't ask for permission because he had never been denied anything in his life.

​Mara rolled away from his touch, sitting up abruptly and pressing her back against the  headboard. She pulled her knees to her chest, using the duvet as a shield.

She wished to just disappear suddenly from his presence. He was the kind of man who reminded her the sins only uncovered in the dead of the night.

​

Mara didn’t need him to introduce himself. It was almost as though her heart and body recognized him just by his presence alone.

“Get out,” she hissed, her voice trembling despite her best efforts to sound formidable.

Danny didn’t budge , instead a threatening smirk formed on his face as he moved too close. Mara feeling him to the bone

"Kenny is just downstairs. "

​"Should that mean anything to me," Danny said as he took a step back.

 

 The sound of fabric rustling indicated he was removing his trench coat.

“Did you miss me, sweetheart?” Danny said in a hoarse voice that broke .

​"Don't call me that," Mara spat, her sightless eyes flashing wildly toward the sound of his voice.

 "Get out before I scream." Mara threatened, trying to get as far away as possible from him.

 

​A low, humourless chuckle vibrated through the room. The mattress sank deeper as Danny crawled onto the bed, his movements predatory, unhurried.

Mara tried to scramble backward, but her spine was already pinned against the headboard.

 Suddenly, a pair of powerful, vice-like hands clamped around her ankles, dragging her effortlessly down the length of the bed until she was flat on her back, with Danny looming directly over her.

​The sheer mass of him overwhelmed her. He didn't hold her down with brutal force; instead, he draped his heavy, muscular frame over hers, effectively pinning her beneath his weight while ensuring he didn't crush her breathing.

 

​"You definitely missed me?" Danny murmured, his lips brushing against the sensitive shell of her ear. His breath was hot, smelling faintly of expensive liquor and mint.

 

​"Stop it!" Tears of shame burned behind Mara’s eyelids.

 

“ Why are you pretending now? Like you’ve never unashamedly moaned under my weight.

"You bastard, you know clearly what happened, I thought you were my husband! " Mara tried to convince herself.

 

​"But I don't feel like him, and you knew that," Danny whispered fiercely, his hand traveling up her inner thigh, the rough texture of his palm dragging the silk of her gown upward.

He didn’t need to ask for her permission, he took what he wanted

"Kenny is soft. He handles you like you're made of glass, terrified that if he presses too hard, you’ll shatter. But you don't want to be handled like glass, do you, Mara? You want to be consumed." Danny said as he caressed her body in the same way Kenny would.

​"No..."

​"Yes," he insisted, his fingers finding the sensitive skin of her hip, digging in just enough to leave a phantom bruise.

 

"Your mouth says no because your mind is trapped in the morality of a marriage that was a lie from day one. But your pulse... look how your throat is throbbing right now. You know exactly who is in this bed."

​To her absolute horror, Danny was right. Her body recognized him. The sheer, suffocating dominance he exerted was entirely different from Kenny’s tentative, apologetic passion.

When Danny touched her, it wasn't an act of love; it was a conquest. And some primal, buried part of her, the part that had been starved of power and visibility for over a year responded to the absolute certainty of his desire.

 

​Danny leaned down, capturing her mouth in a kiss that was utterly devoid of gentleness.

It was a calculated assault. His tongue forced its way past her lips, demanding her submission, tasting of hunger and an ancient, toxic possessiveness.

 Mara whimpered, her hands coming up to push against his hard chest, her fingers digging into the expensive fabric of his dress shirt. She wanted to fight him, she truly did, but as his thumb swept across her jawline, pinning her head to the pillow, a familiar, wicked heat bloomed deep in her abdomen.

​She hated him. She hated herself.

But when his free hand slid down to cup her breast, his thumb flicking against the peak through the thin fabric, a soft, helpless gasp escaped her lips, surrendered directly into his mouth.

​Danny groaned, the sound deep and guttural, vibrating against her ribcage. He broke the kiss, his mouth trailing a path of fire down her throat, biting lightly at the juncture where her neck met her shoulder.

​"You're mine, Mara," he muttered against her skin, his hands moving with an urgent, frenzied speed now.

He stripped the nightgown over her head in one fluid motion, leaving her completely exposed to the cool air of the room, and to the intense, unseen gaze she knew he was fixing upon her.

 "You think Kenny can protect you? He couldn't even keep me out of his marriage. He owes me everything. This empire, this mansion, the very food you feed our son, it exists because I built it."

​"He's not your son," Mara panted, her hands involuntarily sliding into Danny’s thick, dark hair as he moved down her body.

 "The timeline... it could be Kenny's..."Danny asserted

​"It doesn't matter whose blood runs in his veins," Danny growled, his hands gripping her thighs, parting them with an unyielding authority. "I've claimed him, just like I've claimed you. You two are mine, so you better get that into your head."

“ Remember, don’t ever let him touch you again. Else you won’t like what I might do to you,” Danny warned as he bit her ear painfully. Like he wanted her to remember this cruel part of her should she refuse to listen to him.

 

​The rest of the world dissolved into a blur of friction, heat, and a dark, intoxicating sensory overload.

Without her sight, every sensation was magnified a hundredfold.

 The roughness of Danny’s calloused hands tracing the curves of her waist. The heavy, muscular weight of his chest pressing against her breasts. The distinct, intoxicating scent of him filling her lungs until she couldn't remember what Kenny smelled like.

​When he drove himself into her, Mara arched her back, a loud, uninhibited cry tearing from her throat. Danny immediately brought his hand up, covering her mouth with his palm, muffled her voice against his skin.

​"Quiet," he commanded, his eyes burning into hers, his hips moving with a ruthless, rhythmic cadence that drove her straight toward the edge of sanity.

"We don't want to wake the baby, nor invite Kenny into our passionate morning,” Kenny whispered into her ears.

 

​Mara bit down on the meat of his palm, tears streaming down her temples into her hair.

 The pleasure was too sharp, too intense, laced with the bitter poison of betrayal.

She hated how perfectly he knew her body. He knew exactly where to press, how fast to move, how to leverage his strength to make her completely helpless beneath him.

 

 She was drowning in him, her fingers clawing at the bedsheets as he drove her higher and higher, until her mind fractured, and she exploded into a violent, shaking climax that left her sobbing into his hand.

​Danny followed her moments later, his body stiffening as he buried himself deep inside her, a low, fierce growl escaping his throat before he collapsed heavily against her wet skin.

​An hour later, the room had reverted to a freezing, fragile quiet.

​Danny was gone. True to his mercurial nature, the moment his hunger was sated, he had dressed in silence and left the room without a single word, leaving only the scent of his cologne and the ache in Mara’s bones as proof of his visitation.

 

​Mara sat in the shower, the water scalding hot, scrubbing her skin until it turned a raw, angry red. She felt dirty, broken, and utterly untethered from reality. How could she ever face Kenny iagain? How could she demand the truth from her husband when she was secretly harbouring a shameful addiction to the monster who shared his face?

 

​She dried herself off, threw on a thick cotton robe, and walked back into the bedroom. She needed to hold her son. He was the only pure, untainted thing left in this house of horrors.

​She guided herself carefully to the crib, her hands reaching out to touch the wooden slats. She reached inside, expecting to find the soft, warm bundle of her baby's swaddle.

​Her hands met flat, cold mattress.

​Mara’s breath hitched. She swept her hands wildly across the crib, her fingers clawing at the empty space. "No, no, no..."

​The baby wasn't there.

​Panic, cold and sharp as an icicle, pierced her chest. She spun around, tripping over the edge of the rug, and scrambled toward the door.

​"Kenny!" she screamed, abandoning all caution. "Danny! Someone help me! My baby!"

​She threw the door open and burst into the grand hallway, her hands scraping against the cold marble walls as she ran toward the staircase. "Kenny!"

​"Mara!"

​Footsteps came rushing up the stairs. It was Kenny. He caught her just as she stumbled on the top step, his strong arms wrapping around her waist to stabilize her.

​"Mara, what is it? What's wrong?"

​"He's gone, our son is gone ,” she shrieked, grabbing his shirt, her nails digging into his chest.

 

 "Danny must have taken him. He was in my room, and now the baby... the crib is empty, Kenny! Your brother took him again!"

​Kenny went entirely still. The warmth that usually radiated from him vanished, replaced by an icy, rigid fury. "Danny is back? He was in your room?"

​"Yes! Please, Kenny, don't worry about that right now, just find my son!"

​"Mara, did he do anything to you?" Kenny asked,  his voice dangerously low, vibrating with a suppressed rage that made her shudder.

 

“I....he...he...” Mara stuttered.

 

“ Where is my son? Mara cried. Guilt, shame overshadowed her, the only thing that could help her hide her guilt was the tears she cried for her son.

"Danny didn't take the baby. Mother came up half an hour ago because she heard him coughing. She took him to the family doctor to have a look at him. Braine is down there with them."

​Mara froze, her breathing ragged. "Mother... Mother took him?"

Mara breathed a sigh of relief, but couldn’t bring herself to face Kenny. Hopefully Danny didn’t leaves any visible traces of him on her skin.

​"Yes," Kenny whispered, his hands slowly sliding up to her face, his thumbs wiping away her tears. But his touch was different now. It was tense.

"But Danny... Danny was in your suite. While I was down in the study."

​Mara’s tongue felt like lead. The guilt weighed heavily on her chest, making it impossible to breathe.

"Kenny, I... he caught me off guard... But he left immediately knowing that he wasn’t welcomed. Besides, you are here, he wouldn’t be so brave as to try anything with me..."Mara lied through her teeth.

​Kenny didn't let her finish. He pulled her flush against his chest, but it wasn't a comforting embrace. It was tight, almost suffocating, a desperate attempt to assert his own claim over her body.

​"I told you I would fix this, Mara," Kenny whispered into her hair, his voice cracking with a terrifying mixture of love and desperation. "I told you to give me time. Will you trust me Mara?”