Chapter 8: morning shame

Morning Shame

Leo Pov

I woke up alone, and for a terrifying, disoriented moment, I didn’t know where the morning light was coming from. It filtered through massive, sheer windows, washing the room in a cold, sterile silver. This wasn't my cramped Brooklyn apartment; this was a suite of punishing, minimalist luxury. The sheets—silk, heavy, and smelling faintly of that sharp, aggressive cologne, were tangled around my legs.

The shame didn’t arrive in a wave; it arrived like a physical anchor, a leaden weight settling in my chest. What did I do?

The memories of the previous night were sickeningly vivid. The library. Ivan’s calculated touches, Dmitri’s flat commands, and worst of all, my own body’s desperate, immediate submission. The sheer, overwhelming pleasure I felt wasn't a defense mechanism; it was a devastating admission of weakness, a craving for the very control I despise.

I scrambled out of the bed, feeling physically polluted. My clothes from yesterday were folded perfectly on a low chaise, but resting on top of them was a simple, stark white envelope.

My hands were shaking as I ripped it open. Inside was a key card, a temporary pass to the executive floor and a single note written in Dmitri’s precise, angular script.

“Your resistance yesterday was inefficient. We have accounted for the required period of emotional calibration. Ivan and I will return in 45 minutes to commence the next phase. Be ready.”

A key card. A schedule. They had reduced my panic, my defiance, my entire emotional landscape, to a logistical failure and an item on their calendar.

I didn't have 45 minutes. I had two seconds before the crushing reality of their ownership made me shatter. I needed to run, but the idea of facing the pristine, mocking silence of the hallway was paralyzing.

As if summoned by my panic, the heavy, silent door slid open.

Dmitri entered first, holding two glasses of water, his posture immaculate in a fresh suit. Ivan followed, carrying a small silver tray with two espressos. They looked rested, professional, and utterly lethal.

"We gave you a margin of fifteen minutes beyond the standard wake-up period," Dmitri stated, placing the water on the bedside table. "Your cortisol levels will be elevated. Hydration is required."

I backed away until the cold wall pressed against my spine. “Get out,” I whispered, the sound raw and unfamiliar. “Just get out of here. Both of you.”

Ivan tilted his head, his expression shifting from detached professionalism to a clinical curiosity. “The shame cycle is predictable, Leo. But the intensity of the rejection is higher than projected. Why?”

“Why?!” I pushed myself off the wall, staggering forward, my hands shaking and flying up in a gesture of absolute distress. Tears, hot and unexpected, started to blur my vision. “Because I hate it! I hate you! I hate what you did! It was supposed to be a mistake, a single, stupid failure, not a contract! I’m leaving. I’m going home.”

Dmitri's eyes narrowed, but he didn't move. He simply assessed the chaos. Ivan, however, took a slow, deliberate step toward me.

“You are unable to leave, Leo. You know this,” Ivan said, his voice maddeningly gentle. “You are emotionally compromised, and attempting to navigate the Tower in this state would create a highly visible security risk. We cannot allow that.”

“Security risk? Or a risk to your twisted little ownership scheme?” I cried, tears streaming down my face. “You look at me like I’m a possession, like I’m some statue you acquired! I’m a person! And I have a choice, and my choice is fuck your agreements and fuck you both!”

I lunged forward, not to fight, but just to get past them, to the door.

Dmitri moved with startling speed, intercepting my path. He didn't grab me aggressively; he simply closed the space, blocking me entirely. His hand settled firmly on my shoulder, not to hurt, but to arrest my movement completely.

“Stop the uncontrolled velocity, Leo,” Dmitri commanded, his voice holding a sudden, chilling drop in temperature. “Look at me.”

I tried to shake off his hand, twisting violently, the emotional force of my self-hatred pushing through. “Don’t touch me! Don’t you dare touch me! I hate your control! You’re just like your father, twisting everything beautiful into something cold and transactional!”

For a fleeting instant, a fraction of a second, I saw something flicker in Dmitri’s hard gray eyes. Not pity, but a sudden, raw acknowledgment of my pain. It was the "crack" in the steel I'd been waiting for.

Ivan stepped up, observing the flicker. "That's enough, Dmitri. He needs calibration, not confrontation."

Dmitri ignored him, his focus entirely on me. “Look at me, Leo. Do you genuinely believe that if you had truly hated it, you would still be standing here? If you had hated us, you would have fled the first time, when you woke up. You are still here because your body acknowledges the efficiency of our command.”

“That is not true! That’s manipulation!” I sobbed, struggling in his grip. “I was afraid of your father! I was afraid of the scandal! My mother, you’ll ruin her happiness!”

Ivan sighed softly, a sound of profound boredom. “Your mother’s happiness is a non-issue, Leo. It is entirely dependent on Arthur's satisfaction, which in turn is dependent on our success. And our current objective is you. Therefore, your momentary discomfort is merely a necessary step in the larger, stable system.”

Dmitri tightened his grip, forcing me to meet his gaze. “You are not a liability, Leo. You are a highly volatile, high-return asset. The volatility is what we value, but it must be contained. You hate us because we see the truth: your deepest need is to be overwhelmed. You hate yourself because you allowed us to fulfill that need.”

The brutal honesty cut through the shame. I stopped struggling, utterly defeated, my shoulders slumping as I stared at the floor. He was right. The deepest core of my panic was that I wanted their control.

Ivan softened his tone, moving closer to offer the espresso. “We understand this is a difficult transition, Leo. This is the moment where the shame fights the desire. But we are here to manage the fight. We are not going anywhere. We are bound by the terms you accepted last night.”

“I accepted nothing!”

“You accepted everything when you stopped running and stayed,” Dmitri countered, his voice flat. He released my shoulder, the sudden absence of his touch almost worse than the grip. “You accepted everything when you didn't call security. You accepted everything when you let us talk about your sounds at dinner.”

He gestured to the perfect, untouched room. “We didn't need a formal contract. We are the Thorne system, Leo. We don't need signatures; we need compliance. And we have it.”

I turned, stumbling away from them, tears choking my breathing. I grabbed my clothes from the chaise, clutching them to my chest. “I’m leaving. I don’t care about the risk. I am leaving this building. You won’t stop me.”

“We won’t stop you,” Ivan confirmed easily, making no move toward the door. “But we advise against it. You require rest and emotional equilibrium before facing the outside world.”

Dmitri watched me, his gaze cold and unwavering. “Go. Return to your area. Attempt to re-establish your perimeter. But understand this: this brief period of autonomy is merely a scheduled maintenance break. You are ours, Leo. We will collect you when the next phase is due.”

I didn't answer. I just ran out the door, down the immaculate hallway, past the cold eyes of their security detail, and into the elevator. As the doors slid shut, I could feel the invisible weight of their shared obsession following me, a cold, possessive shadow. I had escaped the room

, but I hadn't escaped the contract.