A shiver, cold and sharp, traced a line down my spine as his voice, low and laced with a cruel mockery, sliced through the quiet air. "Going somewhere, kitten?" Ryker's words weren't a question at all, but a taunt. He knew exactly what I was trying to do. Every fiber of my being was screaming at me to run, to escape the suffocating thought of his filthy hands on me—not just tonight, but for the rest of my life. The wicked glint in his eyes told me he saw right through my pathetic attempt at a getaway.My mind went completely blank, a panicked deer caught in the blinding headlights of his gaze. I desperately searched for an excuse, any excuse, but my brain was numb with shock. All I could manage was a pathetic, strangled sound, "Umm." The syllable hung in the air, a testament to my total failure."Hmm?" he pressed, the smirk on his lips growing wider, a predator savoring the moment before the kill. I could practically feel his smugness, a thick, nauseating fog that filled the room. He
As I stood against the door, a frightened whisper, barely audible, came from under the sheets. “Who are you?” The little boy from earlier, the one with the haunted eyes, was huddled beneath the quilt, his small body trembling. Only his face was visible, peeking out from the folds of the fabric, a mask of pure terror. My heart ached for him. He was just a child, and he was as trapped and terrified as I was. A wave of empathy washed over me as I moved closer to him.“Hi,” I said gently, my voice barely above a whisper. “I won't hurt you.” My movements were slow and deliberate as I inched closer, giving him the space and time he needed to process my presence. I sat on the plush armchair nearby, and instead of pushing him, I simply waited. The silence stretched between us, thick with unspoken fears and the heavy weight of our shared situation. I let it be, hoping he would understand that I was not a threat.The minutes ticked by, each second feeling like an eternity. Slowly, with immens
Lost in the swirling storm of my own thoughts, I hadn’t heard the soft, ominous click of the bathroom door unlatching. The sound, almost swallowed by my distraction, was a harbinger of the dread to come. I froze, my body tensing as a sickeningly familiar figure sauntered in. That bastard, Ryker, holding a spare key with the casualness of a man who owned everything he saw. A smug smirk, so utterly confident and vile, stretched across his face as he took in the sight of me. My heart, which had been beating a gentle rhythm, now pounded a frantic, terrified drum against my ribs. The sound of his shoes, a slow, deliberate click on the cold tile floor, was all the warning I got before he was upon me.I screamed, a shrill, helpless sound, and spun around, my hands instinctively flying to cover my body. It was a pathetic, futile gesture. The flimsy lace undergarments the maids had forced me into revealed everything, offering no solace or real coverage. His eyes, dark and predatory, dilated a
“The boy stays here, in this mansion, where I can see him,” I said, my voice firm despite the tremor in my hands. “None of your men will harm him. He will be treated as one of the family.”Ryker pulled away from me, his face unreadable. He turned to his men, his voice a thunderous command that echoed through the grand hall. “My wife says he’s harmless and poses no danger. He will live in this house, and no one will harm him.”A roar of protest erupted among the men. They pleaded with him, their voices laced with panic. "He could be a threat in the future!" one man yelled. "Don't trust him, boss!" another cried. Ryker silenced them with a single, icy glare.“Of course,” Ryker said, a cruel smirk twisting his lips, “if we are attacked, none of you are obligated to protect him. In that case, if he dies, he dies.”The men instantly fell silent, their previous protests replaced with nods of approval. The sudden shift in their attitudes sent a chill down my spine. The way they so easily acc
That conversation was the beginning of the end. My world had narrowed to a single, stark choice: keep my head down and survive, or stand up and fight for the women around me who had no one to fight for them. In that one gut-wrenching moment, I made my decision, and it set off a chain reaction. I knew it would change everything, not just for me but for so many others caught in the web of this place. The path ahead, I realized with a certainty that chilled me to the bone, would lead to a future that was both profoundly good and utterly, irrevocably bad.“Are these women doing this of their own free will, or is it the only way they can feel safe?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper. Ryker gave me a look that screamed I was being naive, even ridiculous.“They do this because they want to,” he said with a conviction that was chilling. He truly believed these women weren’t degrading themselves just to survive in a world where only men held the power. I bit down on my lip and didn’t speak, b
A groan rumbled in my chest as my feet, heavy with the weight of my indignation, thudded down the marble floor. "I don't want any dessert," I announced, the words tasting like sour grapes on my tongue. The plush carpet of my new room swallowed my footsteps. I grabbed the blanket, a thick, quilted monstrosity that felt suspiciously like it was made from the pelts of a hundred fluffy clouds, and rolled myself into a tight, human-sized burrito. I squeezed my eyes shut, willing my brain to fall into a peaceful, Ryker-less coma.I heard a soft, familiar chuckle of a devil, a sound that could either charm a snake or make a saint want to throw something. I kept my eyes clamped shut, pretending to be a particularly lumpy piece of furniture. To my surprise, he didn't come closer. The silence that followed was a small, precious gift, the kind you get from an enemy when they think you're not looking. I could finally breathe. My tense shoulders slumped a little, and I was just starting to drift o