Chapter 4

[ARIA’S POV]

I watched his boots stop right in front of me. I looked up, but the man I barely knew wasn't there anymore. His eyes were just empty, dark pits.

"Don’t,"

I whispered. My body was already locking up.

He didn't hesitate.

He reached down, caught a fistful of my hair, and yanked. My head snapped back, and a sharp, jagged scream tore out of my throat as my knees hit the hardwood. He didn't slow down. He started walking, dragging me across the floor like I was nothing but a heavy bag. I clawed at the floorboards, my nails scraping and catching on the wood, but he didn't even feel it.

The cold floor bit into my knees, but the sting was nothing compared to the way Luca’s other fingers dug into my arm. He didn’t just hold me; he gripped me like I was something he intended to break.

"Maybe you’ll learn to listen now," he growled. He wasn't yelling. He sounded bored.

"Please," I choked out, the word splintering against the lump in my throat. Tears were streaming down my face now, hot and messy. "Luca, stop. You’re hurting me. Just listen to me for one second!"

He didn’t even look at me. His profile was carved from stone, his jaw set so tight I thought it might crack. He just kept walking, dragging me toward the stairs as if I were a piece of discarded luggage. Every time I stumbled, he yanked me harder, his silence far more terrifying than any scream.

Elara stood at the top of the landing, her hand pressed dramatically against her chest. She looked down at us, her eyes dancing with a light I’d never and pure, unadulterated joy. She was practically glowing.

"Don't be too hard on her," Elara purred, though she didn't move an inch to help. She adjusted her silk robe, a tiny, triumphant smirk twitching at the corner of her mouth. "I’m sure she didn’t mean to betray us. She’s just... fragile."

"She’s nothing," Luca snapped, his voice a low, vibrating growl of pure hatred. He finally looked down at me, and I flinched.

"I can't breathe," I sobbed, reaching for his hand with my free one, trying to pry his fingers off. "Luca, please! Look at me!"

"Shut up," he spat, his eyes burning with a dark, suffocating anger. "Don’t you dare say my name again. You’re done for, Aria. You’re lucky I’m even letting you stay in this house and not make your family pay for deceiving me."

Behind him, Elara’s concerned mask slipped for a split second. She caught my eye and mouthed a single word: FOOL. Then, she looked back at Luca, her voice dripping with fake sympathy.

"It’s okay, Luca. Let her go. Let’s just get her out of our sight."

He hauled me upward again, nearly pulling me off my feet. I looked back at the hallway, my vision blurred by tears, realizing that the more I fought, the more he hated me. And the more he hated me, the more Elara won.

I couldn't breathe. "I just... I was curious," I choked out, the words thick with salt and spit. "I didn't know—"

WHACK.

My head snapped to the side. The world went white for a second, and the only thing I could hear was a high-pitched ringing. My cheek felt like it had been hit with a hot iron.

"Curiosity," I heard him whisper, his breath hitting my ear. "That’s going to be the thing that kills you."

Elara backed away, her hand pressed against her mouth in pure mockery. She was looking at Luca like he was a monster she’d just met. To others she is fearful but to me she’s like a snake under the green grass.

"Luca... you’re going too far. Stop." Elara said.

He finally let go of my hair, and I slumped onto the floor. He turned to her, and I saw a small, twisted grin crawl across his face.

"You think this is far?" he asked, his voice almost light. "We’re just getting started."

I watched him laugh, but there was no humor in it. It was a jagged, ugly sound that made the hair on my arms stand up.

The room went dead silent. It felt like the air had been sucked out of the hallway.

“Elara… please…” I choked out. “Tell him, let him know I didn’t go to the room on my own.

“What? Are you saying I was the one who sent you to the room?” She asked at the verge of tears.

Then something inside of me just snapped. I don’t know where I found the courage from, my hands went to Luca's chest pushing him hard. Though it does nothing because it was like pushing a rock.

“Oh the princess is fighting back,” he said, moving closer to me like a predator while I shifted back till my back touched the cold wall.

His eyes shifted, turning a shade of dark. It wasn't just anger; it was something much more predatory.

He took a slow, heavy step toward me. My heart gave a violent thud against my ribs, and I instinctively scrambled back. I kept retreating, my eyes locked on his, until the air was cut off by the sudden, solid thud of my shoulder blades hitting the wall.

I was trapped.

He didn't stop until he was inches away, his presence completely overwhelming. I could feel the heat radiating off him, pinning me in place without him even having to touch me.

"Where are you going?" he asked. The words were barely a whisper, but they carried a sharp, jagged edge.

I tried to shrink away, pressing my palms into the cold plaster behind me. "Stay back," I managed to breathe out, though it sounded weak even to my own ears.

A slow, humorless smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth. "You're the one who started this. Don't act surprised now that I'm finishing it."

Then he press me against the wall his hand on my neck choking me

My vision fractured into a thousand stinging sparks. The world was narrowing to a single point of grey, my lungs screaming for air that wouldn't come. I felt my heart stutter, a frantic, dying beat against my ribs, and I genuinely thought, This is it.

Then, the weight was gone.

I hit the floor like a sack of stones. I couldn't even keep my head up; I just lay there, my chest convulsing in ragged, pathetic hitches as the air finally rushed back into my throat. It tasted like copper and dust.

“James..

His voice was like ice, level, detached, as if he hadn't just been holding my life in his hands.

“Boss,” a voice grunted from the doorway.

“Lock her up,” he said. I could hear the floorboards creak as he turned away. “No food. No water. Leave her for three days.”

I felt a rough hand close around my upper arm, bruising the skin instantly. James hauled me up, my legs dragging like dead weight beneath me. I didn't have the strength to cry out, let alone fight. As he dragged me toward the dark hallway, the edges of my vision bled into black again, and this time, I let it take me.