[ ISABELLA’S POV ]I woke to the sound of the key.Not the soft scrape of someone trying to be quiet. The deliberate, unhurried turn of metal in the lock, the heavy deadbolt sliding back like it had been waiting for this exact moment. Rain still hammered the window. The room was dark except for the weak orange bleed of a streetlight through the dirty glass. My body ached in places that had nothing to do with the thin mattress and everything to do with the man who had used me and left me leaking onto the sheets.I didn’t move.The door opened. Closed. Locked again. Footsteps crossed the floor, slow, barefoot, certain. I kept my eyes closed and tried to slow my breathing, but my heart was already slamming against my ribs hard enough that I was sure he could hear it.The bed dipped.A hand, large, warm, calloused, settled on my bare hip. Thumb stroking once over the bruise he’d left earlier. Then higher, palm sliding up my side, over my ribs, until it cupped my breast. He squeezed. Not g
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