LOGINCHAPTER 8ARABELLAThe email from the internship office landed in my inbox just after nine the next morning, short and apologetic and final. The position had been filled internally. They wished me luck. I was still staring at the screen in the kitchen when Adrian walked in, already dressed for the office in a dark suit that made him look even more like the man who had bent me over the couch the night before.He read the look on my face without asking. “Bad news?”“They cancelled the interview. Said the role’s no longer available.”He poured coffee like the information was mildly interesting and nothing more. “Then you should come with me today. My office. Call it experience. You’ll learn more in one afternoon there than you would in a month of unpaid internships.”I looked up at him. “You’re serious.”“I don’t say things I don’t mean.” He set the mug down and met my eyes over the rim. “Be ready in twenty minutes. Tell your mother you’re shadowing me for the day. She’ll be pleased.”Tw
CHAPTER 7ARABELLATwo days later, it was well past midnight and the house had finally settled. The living room was lit by nothing except the low blue glow of the television neither of us was actually watching. Adrian had me bent over the wide arm of the couch, my skirt shoved up around my waist, panties dragged down just far enough to stretch between my thighs, and he was fucking me.I had one fist pressed hard against my mouth to keep the sounds in. Every thrust dragged against the spot that made my knees threaten to buckle, and the wet slap of his cock working in and out of me felt obscenely loud in the stillness. His hands gripped my hips hard enough to leave new bruises, pulling me back onto him with deliberate force like he was trying to carve himself deeper.“Quiet,” he murmured, voice rough with restraint. “You make another sound that loud and the whole house will know what your stepfather is doing to you.”“I’m trying,” I whispered against my own fist, the words breaking on t
CHAPTER 6ARABELLAThat night the three of us sat down to a late dinner. My mother had cooked something simple and fragrant. Adrian sat to my right, close enough that his knee brushed mine under the tablecloth every time either of us shifted, and the contact alone was enough to make my pulse start climbing before he even touched me on purpose.“I still can’t believe how smoothly everything went,” my mother said, passing the salad bowl across. “The florist actually delivered on time, the food was perfect, and no one got into a single argument about the seating. Arabella, you really saved me this week.”“I just followed the lists you made,” I answered, keeping my voice light even as Adrian’s hand settled on my bare knee under the table and stayed there.“Don’t be modest,” she insisted. “Adrian, tell her. You’ve been saying all day how impressive it is that she handled so much.”His fingers began a slow path higher, sliding under the hem of my skirt until they rested against the soft ski
CHAPTER 5ARABELLAA few days after the wedding the house finally went quiet in the middle of the afternoon. My mother had left for a long lunch with her sister and a round of errands that would keep her gone for hours. I was in my room trying to read the same page for the third time when the door opened without a knock and Adrian stepped inside like he had every right to be there.He closed it behind him and turned the lock. The sound alone made my stomach drop and my thighs press together. He looked at me the way he had in the hotel, only heavier now, the polite stepfather mask completely gone.“She’s going to be gone until at least six,” he said, voice low. “I checked.”I set the book aside because my hands were already unsteady. “You shouldn’t be in here.”“I know.” He walked toward the bed without hurry, stopping close enough that I had to tip my head back to keep looking at him. “That’s why it feels like this. Stand up.”I stood. He didn’t touch me yet. He just let his eyes move
CHAPTER 4ARABELLAI stood at the front of the venue in the pale dress my mother had chosen for me and watched Adrian take her hands like they belonged there. The afternoon light came through the high windows in soft gold bands that made everything look cleaner and more permanent than it felt inside my chest, and I kept my spine straight and my expression carefully pleasant while the officiant began to speak. My mother looked radiant in a way that made guilt sit heavy under my ribs, and Adrian looked exactly as controlled and certain as he had in the hotel room, only now the certainty was pointed at someone else.The vows were traditional and short. My mother spoke first, her voice clear as she promised to love him, to stand beside him, to build a life with him. When it was his turn he looked at her with the same focused intensity he had once turned on me and said, “I take you as my wife. I promise to protect what is ours, to choose you every day, and to never give you reason to do
CHAPTER 3ARABELLAI told my mother I needed new shoes for the ceremony and escaped the house before she could add three more tasks to the list she already had me running. Soft music was playing overhead and the faint scent of leather and polish hanging in the air as I moved between the displays, trying to focus on something as simple as finding a pair that would match the dress without making my already aching body feel any more exposed.I was reaching for a pair of low heels when someone stepped into the same narrow aisle from the opposite direction and we nearly collided. My hand jerked back. My breath caught hard in my throat. He was right there, taller than I remembered in the daylight, dark shirt sleeves rolled to the elbows, the same controlled stillness in the way he held himself that had made my stomach drop the second he’d walked toward me at the bar.His eyes locked on mine and for one long second neither of us moved. I saw the exact moment he placed me, the slight shif







