Chapter 2: Signed in Blood

Lila pov

Two armed guards shoved me through the door at dawn, their guns pressed against my back. I stumbled into the penthouse, my knees weak that i nearly crashed into the marble floor. Dominic Valencia stood there shirtless, his tattoo now very visible on his tight muscled arms, he slammed a thick folder onto the counter.

“Sign it,” he growled, in a rough,dangerous voice. 

My hands shook so badly the pen almost slipped from my fingers. The paper in front of me was written in black capital letters: MARRIAGE CONTRACT. I stared at the words until they blurred. One signature and I'd trade away my freedom to become bound by law to his household as his contract wife required to spread my legs every single night until I gave him an heir.

“Pick up the pen, Lila.” Dominic leaned over the counter, close enough that I caught the faint smell of gun oil and something much darker. “You already know what happens if you don’t.” he smirked maliciously.

I swallowed hard, my throat dry. The guards blocked the only exit, their faces blank like statues. My phone had died off a while ago during the ride down here, but the memory of the trending photos of me staggering into that building with him, my dress rumpled and his hand on my back like I already belonged to him,all kept on reappearing in my mind.

“I can’t,” I whispered, staring down at the page. “This is insane. I was drugged. My sister...”

“Your sister did you a favor.” Dominic said cutting me off before I could finish his eyes, never leaving mine. “Without me, you’d be sold off or even worse dead by noon. Your ex already put a price on your head. Now sign this, and I will solve the problem." 

A bitter laugh tried escaping my lips but died halfway. “By making me your whore every night?”

His jaw flexed. He moved with a sudden startling speed, one second he was across the room and the next second he had me pinned against the counter, the weight of his body pressing against my back. Not rough enough to hurt, but firm enough that I couldn’t twist away.

“You’ll spread your legs for me every single night until you're carrying my child,” he said low against my ear, his voice rough but controlled. “That’s the deal. Protection in exchange for an heir. Simple.”

Heat crawled up my neck even as fear twisted in my stomach. His chest brushed my shoulders, solid and warm. I hated how my body reacted, a flicker of unwanted spark under all the terror. “You’re disgusting.” I spat,my voice edged with anger.

“I’m being practical.” He didn’t move away. “Your family insulted me by trying to pawn you off to a weakling. Now you fix it. Sign the damn papers.”

I gripped the pen tighter. My sister’s smug, venomous laughter from the call kept echoing in my head. Dad already disowned me. My ex posted that he was single again like I was yesterday’s trash. If I walked out of here, how long would it take before someone puts a bullet in my skull?

One of the guards shifted. The other checked his watch. Time was running out.

I pressed the pen to the paper. My hand was still shaking, but I forced myself to sign my name Lila Smith. 

Dominic snatchedthe papers, his cold eyes scanning through it for my signature, before giving a curt, satisfied nod. “Good girl.”

He didn’t step back right away. Instead, he turned me around slowly until I faced him. His hand firm on my waist, his thumb brushing the edge of my hip through the thin fabric of the dress I’d been wearing since last night. closely staring at him, the scars on his chest looked even more brutal.

“You feel that?” he asked softly, almost conversationally. “That’s fear. Always have that. It's what's going to keep you alive.”

Before I could fire back, the private elevator dinged. A tall man in a black suit stepped out,he looked like he was in his early thirties, same body build as Dominic but with a calmer face. He carried a secure tablet, close to his chest.

“Boss,” he said, voice clipped. “We’ve got a complication. Her ex-fiancé just doubled payout. Fifty grand to anyone who brings her in alive. We need to secure her before words spreads further.”

Dominic’s hand tightened on my waist for half a second. “Let him try.”

“Handle everything properly,” Dominic said he continued instructing the enforcer. “Double the watch on her family. And get the lawyers to handle the marriage filing. I want it to become official by tonight.”

The enforcer nodded once and left without another word. The guards still stood by the door like statues.

Dominic finally stepped back, but only far enough to pour two glasses of water. He slid one toward me. “Drink. You look like you’re about to pass out.”

I ignored the glass. “What is actually going on?” I asked, I needed heads up on what is happening but it was quite obvious I wasn't going to get any from this brute male in front of me.

He drank from his own glass, slow and deliberate. “Not your concern right now.” he finally said.

“It’s damn well my concern, I literally need to know if there's someone out there that's trying to kill me!” I snapped.

His eyes darkened. He set the glass down harder than necessary. “You have signed the contract. Which means from now on, your concerns are my concerns. You don’t ask questions. Don't try to run. You do what I say, and when I said it.”

Anger flared hot in my chest, mixed with the fear that hadn’t left since I woke up in his bed. “And if I don’t?”

Dominic moved again fast and controlled. He caged me against the counter with one arm on each side of me, not touching but close enough that I felt the heat rolling off him. “Don’t ever test my patience, Lila. You don’t want to see what happens when I lose it.”

My breath came shallow. I could see the pulse beating steady in his neck. He wasn’t bluffing. This man didn’t bluff. He acted.

I looked down at the signed contract still open on the counter. My name looked small next to his. In less than an hour my entire existence had been rewritten in ink and blood.

Dominic’s phone buzzed on the counter. He glanced at the screen, and for the first time a flicker of genuine irritation flashed across his face. He read the message twice, then muttered under his breath, “My brother’s coming.”

He didn’t explain. He didn’t have to. The way his shoulders tensed had explained everything to me—this new arrival wasn’t going to make this cage I'd found myself in any safer.

I swallowed, my voice barely steady. “What does that mean for me?”

Dominic looked at me then, his eyes sharp and unreadable. He lifted his hand to my face, his fingers brushing my chin, tilting my face so I had no choice than to meet his gaze.

“It means the game just got a lot more interesting, wifey. And you’re right in the middle of it.”