Chapter 6

                                                                Blood and Bargains

"Stop!" The word ripped from my throat.

On Richard's phone screen, my father stood frozen, gun trembling in his hand. My mother cowered against the headboard, mascara streaming down her face in black rivers.

"Interesting." Richard tilted his head, watching me instead of the screen. "You still care about them. Even after everything they have done to you."

"Please." I could not breathe. Could not think. "Whatever you want. Just stop this."

"I already told you what I want." His thumb hovered over the phone. "Total obedience. Complete surrender. Your marriage vow is spoken with genuine conviction."

"I will marry you. I already agreed".

"No." He grabbed my chin, forced me to look at him instead of the screen. "You agreed because I threatened your sister. That is compliance born from fear. I want more."

"What more is there?" My voice broke.

"I want you to mean it." His eyes burned into mine, and I saw something beyond cruelty there, something desperate and hungry that terrified me more than his violence. "I want you to walk down that aisle in six months and say you choose me. Not because I forced you. Because you want to be mine."

He was insane. Completely, utterly insane.

"That will never happen."

His smile was razor-sharp. "Then we have six months for me to change your mind." He glanced at the screen. "Starting now. Does your father pull that trigger, or do you give me something I want?"

"I already gave you everything!"

"Not everything." He released my chin, stepped back. "Take off your dress."

The room tilted. "What?"

"You heard me." His voice was casual, but his eyes tracked every micro-expression on my face. "Take it off, or I press this button and your mother dies in the next thirty seconds."

This was not happening. This could not be happening.

My hands shook as they reached for the zipper. The black dress I had worn to feel powerful now felt like tissue paper. Like nothing.

"Richard, please."

"Zipper. Now."

I pulled the zipper down. The dress pooled at my feet, leaving me in nothing but underwear and the terror crawling across my skin.

Richard circled me slowly, and I fought every instinct to cover myself. To run. To disappear.

"Beautiful," he murmured. "Even terrified, you are breathtaking. Do you know what I see when I look at you, Aria?"

I could not speak. Could barely stand.

"I see perfection. Every curve, every trembling breath, every tear on your face—it is all exactly what I need." He stopped in front of me, reached out to trace my collarbone. "You were made for me. Made to be possessed by me."

"You are sick."

"I am honest." His hand drifted lower, and I flinched violently. He smiled. "Good. I like that you still fight me, even when you know it is pointless. It makes the inevitable surrender so much sweeter."

"I will never surrender to you."

"Oh, darling." He held up the phone, and on the screen, my father lowered the gun. My mother collapsed in sobs. "You already have."

The phone went dark. The feed was cut off.

"What did you do?

"Relax. Your mother is fine. Your father never actually loaded the gun." Richard pocketed the phone. "I control everything in that house, Aria. The cameras. The sounds. Even the evidence your father thinks he received. It was all theater."

Theater. He staged my mother's near-murder as theater.

"You are a monster."

"Yes." He said it simply, like admitting he preferred coffee to tea. "But I am your monster now. And you are going to learn to love me."

Something inside me snapped.

I lunged for the door, but Richard caught me effortlessly, slammed me back against the wall. His body pressed against mine, pinning me completely.

"Where exactly do you think you are going?" His breath was hot against my ear. "This building is mine. This city is mine. You cannot run from me, Aria. I will always find you."

"Let me go."

"No." His hand wrapped around my throat, not squeezing, just holding. A reminder. "Here is what happens next. I am going to drive you home. You are going to apologize to your parents and my mother. You are going to put on a beautiful smile and attend our engagement party next week."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then I make good on every threat. Your father goes to prison. Your mother loses her home. Your sister loses her trust fund. And Marcus Zhao." His smile turned vicious. "I just bought his primary investor's company. He will be bankrupt within the month unless I decide otherwise."

No. No, this could not be happening.

"You cannot."

"I can. I did. While you were busy meeting with him, I was busy destroying his financial backing." Richard released my throat, stepped back. "Get dressed. We are leaving."

I grabbed my dress with shaking hands, pulled it on. My mind raced, searching for any escape, any solution.

There was none.

Richard owned everything. Everyone. He had spent years building an empire specifically designed to give him absolute control, and I had walked into his trap thinking I could outmaneuver him with a few memories of the future.

The car ride back was silent. Richard made phone calls in rapid Chinese and German, conducting business like he had not just psychologically tortured me. Like this was normal.

Maybe for him, it was.

We pulled up to my parents' house. Lights blazed in every window. Victoria Ashford's car sat in the driveway.

"Remember," Richard said quietly. "You love me. You are sorry for your outburst. You cannot wait to be my wife."

"They will never believe"

"They will believe whatever I tell them to believe." He got out, came around to my door. Extended his hand like a gentleman. "Come, darling. Time to play happy couple."

I took his hand because I had no choice.

Inside, my parents and Victoria sat in the living room. My mother's eyes were red from crying. My father looked ten years older. Victoria watched me like a predator assessing wounded prey.

"Aria." My father stood, and for a moment, I thought I saw genuine concern. Then his next words shattered that illusion. "You owe everyone here an apology."

Richard's hand squeezed mine. A warning.

"I am sorry," I heard myself say. "I was overwhelmed and scared, and I behaved badly. Richard has been nothing but patient and kind, and I am grateful to be marrying him."

The lies tasted like poison.

Victoria smiled, satisfied. "Good. Now that this unpleasantness is resolved, we can proceed with the engagement party. I have already sent the invitations."

"Wait." I turned to Richard. "You said six months until the wedding."

"I did." His smile was pure menace. "But I never said when the engagement would be official. The party is next week. And you, my love, are going to be radiant."

My phone buzzed in my purse. I pulled it out with trembling hands.

A text from an unknown number: Saw the news about Marcus's investor. I can help. But you have to trust me. - EV

I did not know anyone with those initials.

Richard plucked the phone from my hands, read the message. His expression darkened.

"Who is EV?"

"I do not know."

He did not believe me. I saw it in his eyes.

"We are going to find out." He pocketed my phone. "Together. Because from now on, Aria, you do not keep secrets from me."

"That is not fair"

"Fair?" He laughed, cold and sharp. "Darling, nothing about this is fair. That is what makes it fun."

He pulled me toward the door, and I looked back at my parents one last time.

My mother looked away.

And I realized with horrifying clarity: they were not going to save me. They never were.

I was completely, utterly alone.

In Richard's car, he made a phone call. "Find out who uses the initials EV and has any connection to Aria Chen or Marcus Zhao. I want a name in one hour."

He hung up, turned to me. "You know what I think? I think you are planning something. Still fighting me, even now."

"I am not"

"Do not lie to me." His hand cupped my face, thumb pressing into my cheek hard enough to bruise. "I can see it in your eyes. That spark of defiance. That desperate hope that someone will save you."

He leaned in close, his lips brushing my ear.

"No one is coming, Aria. There is only you and me. And the sooner you accept that, the easier this becomes."

He released me, and I gasped for air I had not realized I was holding.

My phone, his phone now buzzed again.

Richard read the message, and his entire body went rigid.

"What is it?" I whispered.

He turned the screen toward me.

Elena Vasquez. Tech CEO. Survived domestic abuse from Senator Mitchell five years ago. Now runs a women's underground network. Considered extremely dangerous to men like you. - JM

Richard's hand tightened on the phone until I thought it might shatter.

"Elena Vasquez." He said the name like a curse. "That interfering bitch has been a thorn in my side for years. And now she wants to help you?"

"I do not even know her "

"It does not matter." He started the car, pulled into traffic with violent precision. "She knows you. Which means someone told her about us. Which means you have been talking to people I have not approved of."

"I have not talked to anyone!"

"Then how does she know?" His voice rose, and I pressed myself against the door. "How does Elena Vasquez know my fiancée needs help unless someone told her?"

I had no answer.

The car screeched to a stop in front of a building I did not recognize. Richard dragged me inside, through corridors that smelled of antiseptic and fear.

He threw open a door, and I saw her.

My sister. Lila. Tied to a chair. Actually tied this time, not drugged.

And she was crying.

"Richard brought me here hours ago," she sobbed. "He said you betrayed him. He said I had to pay the price."

I looked at Richard, horror drowning every other emotion.

"What are you doing?"

"Teaching you a lesson." He pulled out a knife, and the fluorescent lights caught the blade. "Every betrayal has a cost, Aria. Every secret you keep, every person who tries to help you they bleed."

"She has nothing to do with this!"

"She has everything to do with this." He moved toward Lila, and she screamed. "She is your sister. Your weakness. And until you learn that I am all you have, I will keep taking pieces of your world away."

The knife descended.

And I finally understood: Richard was not trying to break me.

He already had.