Subdue-X

The Monster Inside Grief

I woke up, my breath stolen by a rough hand clamped over my mouth. My heart raced as my eyes flew open, locking onto Christian's face, inches from mine. His expression was cold, his gaze intense and unforgiving, anger blazing behind those dark eyes. Dom was slumped in a chair nearby, asleep, unaware of what was happening in the shadowed room.

"Don’t move," Christian hissed, his voice a sharp whisper, cutting through the silence. His hand pressed harder over my mouth for a second, a silent warning. Before I could even process what was happening, he ripped the sheets off me, exposing my skin to the cool air. The suddenness of it made me flinch, but he didn’t seem to care.

He grabbed my ankle and yanked, swinging my legs off the bed and forcing me upright. The movement was harsh, and I found myself struggling to keep my balance. My mind was still foggy from sleep, disoriented, but he wasn’t giving me time to catch up. He tugged my sleep shirt over my head in one swift, almost violent motion, leaving me cold and vulnerable in the darkness.

I barely had a moment to react before he was forcing my arms into the sleeves of a shirt he’d grabbed from a nearby chair. The fabric scratched against my skin as he pulled it roughly down my torso. His fingers brushed against me, but there was nothing gentle in his touch—only command, only control. He buttoned the shirt with quick, jerky movements, his eyes never leaving mine, the intensity in them making it clear I had no choice in any of this.

“Not a sound,” he breathed into my ear, his voice low and menacing. His hand slipped under the shirt, his fingers trailing up my bare skin until they found my throat. He gripped it possessively, the pressure just enough to remind me of the control he held over me. Then, without warning, his lips crashed into mine. The kiss was hard, demanding—nothing affectionate about it. It was a claim, a brutal reminder of who was in charge, leaving me breathless and shaken.

Just as abruptly as it started, the kiss ended. His hand moved to the back of my neck, gripping it tightly as he forced me to look at him. His eyes burned with anger, but there was something else there too—something darker that sent a chill down my spine.

He didn’t say anything more as he crouched down, roughly shoving my feet into a pair of pants. He yanked them up with a force that made me wince, fastening them without a word. His hands moved with a brutal efficiency, every touch a reminder that I was entirely at his mercy.

Once I was dressed, he grabbed me by the back of the neck again, pulling my face close to his. “You don’t make the decisions, Ana,” he growled, his voice thick with contempt. “You know that. Now look at what I have to do to remind you.”

I didn’t have time to respond before he was dragging me out of the room, his grip iron-tight around my wrist. My heart pounded in my chest as we descended the stairs, each step a jolt that shook me further awake. At the bottom, he slammed me against the wall, pinning me there with his body, his face inches from mine.

“You don’t make the decisions,” he repeated, his voice bitter, full of control. I tried to turn my head, to look away from the intensity in his eyes, but his hand shot out, seizing my jaw in a bruising grip. He held me there, forcing me to meet his gaze, before his fingers loosened slightly, dragging down my neck to my chest. The touch was unsettlingly tender, given the fury in his eyes, a dark contrast that made my stomach twist.

My body tensed as he lifted me off the ground again, carrying me with a strength that left no room for struggle. “Don’t move,” he ordered, his voice cold and final. Inside the van, he tied my wrists to the chair with a rope, the rough fibers biting into my skin. The loathing in his movements was palpable, every knot and pull of the rope a reminder of his anger.

I stayed silent through it all, too exhausted and overwhelmed to fight back. As Christian secured me, I caught a glimpse of someone through the window, their eyes widening in shock as they spotted me. They rushed toward the vehicle, but Christian was already reversing, flipping the man off with a cold sneer.