Chapter Sixteen: A Secret Vow in the Dark

The morning is a blur of static and agony.

From her desk, Rhea can feel Julian’s eyes burning into the side of her head like a brand. Every time she reaches for a file or types a line into a presentation slide, he is there - a silent, grieving presence. 

He looks like a man watching a car crash in slow motion, frozen in the horror of the impact, unable to look away from the wreckage.

Even Tessa has begun to sniff the air, her predatory gossip instincts tingling.

“What is going on with you two?” Tessa asks, leaning over Rhea’s cubicle with a sharp, curious look that scans for any sign of a crack. “I thought you guys were the office 'it' couple. I was half-expecting an engagement announcement by Christmas.”

Rhea forces a plastic, hollow smile that doesn't even come close to reaching her eyes. Julian doesn't even manage that much. He just stares at his monitor, his jaw tightening until the bone threatens to snap.

At noon, Rhea can't take the suffocating silence anymore. She stands up and heads toward the elevators, her lungs aching for a moment of air that isn't thick with Dominic’s scent. 

She doesn't have to look back to know Julian is following her. He is like a shadow she cannot shake.

"Rhea! Wait."

He intercepts her near the breakroom entrance, a small alcove hidden from the main floor. 

He grabs her arm - not with the bruising, territorial force Dominic uses, but with a gentle, terrifying desperation that makes her want to sink to her knees and sob.

"Rhea, look at me. Just for one second," Julian pleads. His eyes are bloodshot, his hair is a mess from running his hands through it in a state of panic.

"You didn't answer my texts. You won't even look at me. Just tell me what I did. If I overstepped, let me apologize. If I’m moving too fast, I’ll slow down. Just don't shut me out."

Rhea looks at him. He is so handsome, so sincere, so fundamentally good. 

He smells like a normal life—like laundry detergent and hope. If she reaches out to him, if she tells him the truth, Dominic will press 'send' on that email. Julian’s future will be incinerated before lunch is over.

She has to kill his hope. She has to be the monster so he won't have to face the one sitting in the corner office.

"Let go of me, Julian," she says, her voice loud and harsh, echoing off the breakroom tiles. She wrenches her arm away as if his touch is a physical contagion.

"Rhea, I’m going insane here!" Julian whispers, his voice cracking with a raw, jagged edge.

"What is this? Is it money? I know I’m not a millionaire, but I have my savings. Whatever you need, I’ll give it to you. I’ll transfer it right now—"

"I don’t want your pathetic savings, Julian," Rhea interrupts, her voice as sharp and cold as a razor blade. She forces a small, mocking laugh that feels like it is tearing her throat apart.

"You think I’m some damsel in distress waiting for a hero in a mid-range sedan? I don’t want you."

Julian flinches as if she has physically struck him across the face. The light in his eyes begins to flicker out. "You're lying. You kissed me, Rhea. You can't tell me that was nothing."

"I was bored, Julian," she says, adjusting her glasses with a trembling hand, her words feeling like shards of glass under her tongue.

"I’m tired of you hovering over me like a stray dog waiting for a scrap of attention. I kissed you because you looked so... innocent. It was a charity case. But the novelty has worn off."

She steps closer, leaning in so only he can hear her final, lethal blow.

"Stop making a fool of yourself. There is no 'us.' There never was. If you ever mention us getting together again, I’ll go to HR myself and tell them you’re harassing me. Do you understand?"

Julian recoils, his face turning a sickly, ghostly pale. He looks at her as if she is a stranger; a cruel, cold woman he has never met.

"I see," he whispers, his voice hollow and empty. "I thought you were different, Rhea. I thought you were... home."

He turns and walks away, his shoulders slumped, his spirit visibly broken.

Rhea watches him go, her heart screaming I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry in a silent loop, while the ghost of Dominic’s hand seems to tighten around her throat, satisfied with the kill.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Rhea, Mr. Ashcroft wants you. Now,” Tessa’s voice crackles through the intercom, sharp and intrusive.

Rhea stands, her fingers smoothing the plum knit of her dress as she prepares to walk back into the lion’s den. Dominic doesn't look up from his monitors when she enters. He merely slides her phone across the cold glass desk like a piece of incriminating evidence.

"It’s ringing," he says, his voice a low, uninterested drawl that belies the sharp attention he is paying to her every flinch.

Rhea grabs it. Dad.

Her heart plummets. "Hello? Dad?"

"Rhea, where are you? Your father collapsed... he’s in the hospital."

The world tilts on its axis. "I have to go, sir. My father is in the hospital—"

She doesn't wait for his permission. For the first time, the primal fear for her father outweighs her fear of the monster behind the desk. 

She snatches her phone and dashes out of the office. She bolts, grabbing her bag and throwing a frantic, unintelligible goodbye to Tessa and a confused Julian before disappearing into the elevator.

The hospital smells of antiseptic and despair.

“I found your dad on the floor looking lifeless when I went to the house,” the caregiver says, her hands trembling as she paces.

Rhea’s breath hitches. “What did the doctor say?” Rhea asks, her voice shaking so hard she can barely stand.

“They say it is due to his congestive heart failure,” the caregiver replies, her gaze fixed on the frail man in the bed.

Rhea simply nods, her throat tightening until it aches. She moves to the bed, taking her father's cool, skeletal hand in hers. 

Dad, please. Don't leave me now. Not after she has sacrificed her dignity. Not after she has let Dominic mark her like an animal just to pay for the machines keeping this heart beating.

“The bills are cleared,” Rhea whispers to the silence, before turning to the caregiver. “I transferred some money to your account. Thank you so much for your support.”

Isla nods, clutching her phone. “You are welcome, Rhea. But... how did you get the money?”

“A friend,” Rhea lies, the word burning her throat. “She... she loaned it to me when she heard.”

“Oh. Your friend must be nice,” Isla nods, convinced.

Rhea lets out a hollow, silent scoff. 

The idea of Dominic Ashcroft being "nice" is a sick joke. He doesn't care about her dying father. 

He cares about the curve of her hip, the trembling obedience in her voice, and the absolute ownership of her flesh. He cares about punishment.

“Can you stay with him, Rhea?” Isla asks, suddenly checking her watch. “I need to go home for a moment.”

Rhea nods, and Isla walks out quietly. The silence of the room is heavy, broken only by the steady, rhythmic beep of the heart monitor.

A soft knock at the door makes her jump. “Come in,” Rhea says, reaching for her glasses.

The door swings open, and the breath leaves her lungs. “Julian?”

He stands in the doorway, looking frantic and beautiful. “I was worried, Rhea. I saw you run out... I couldn't just let you go. I followed you.”

“Julian, you shouldn't be here,” she whispers, looking toward the door as if Dominic might materialize out of the shadows to enforce his 24-hour threat.

“I can’t stop loving you, Rhea.” Julian steps into the room, his eyes raw with sincerity. “I know that cold version of you in the breakroom isn't real. Let me help you. Please.”

Rhea’s resolve crumbles. The tears she has been holding back finally spill over. She removes her glasses, wiping her eyes with trembling fingers. Julian doesn't hesitate. He pulls her into a hug that tastes of safety and peace. It isn't the crushing, dominant hold Dominic uses; it is a sanctuary.

“Rhea, let me in,” he whispers into her hair.

“I can’t, Julian... I can’t.”

He pulls back, his thumb grazing her tear-stained cheek before sliding down to stroke her lower lip. Before she can think, he leans in.

He kisses her.

It is gentle. It tastes of hope. Rhea leans into him, her heart thundering. But as the kiss deepens, flashes of the previous night surge through her: Dominic’s teeth on her skin, the cold glass against her back, the way he forced her to moan his name.

She wrenches herself away, gasping. “I can’t do this!”

Julian doesn't let go. “I have my answer, Rhea. You want me. Something is holding you back. Is it money for your dad’s medical bills?”

“It’s not money,” she chokes out. 

Money is the one thing she finally has, thanks to Ashcroft. What she lacks is freedom.

“Then can we do this secretly?” Julian’s voice is a desperate whisper. “I’d marry you in secret, Rhea. I’d build a life for you that no one else has to know about.”

The temptation is a physical weight. A secret marriage. A secret life. It is a lethal gamble. If Dominic finds out, he will destroy them both. 

But Rhea looks at her father, then back at the man who looks at her like she is the moon and the stars. She needs a home, not a cage.

“Platonic in the office,” Rhea whispers, her mind racing. “And I’ll give you a private number.”

Julian’s face lights up with a blinding, triumphant smile. “Anything you want, Rhea.” He leans over the bed. “Let me say hello to my father-in-law.”

As Julian sits by the bed, Rhea watches him, her heart a mess of terror and hope. It is a massive risk. But she makes a silent vow: she will take every cent Dominic Ashcroft has to offer. She will fulfill the contract and endure the punishments.

And when the debt is paid and her father’s heart surgery is finished, she will take her money and run straight into Julian’s waiting arms. 

She just has to survive the monster a little while longer.