"YOU WERE MINE, YOU'RE MINE, AND YOU WILL ALWAYS BE MINE, " he declared, his voice a low growl as he thrust deeper into me.
"Ahh, I h-hate you," I managed to gasp, the intensity of the moment making it hard to think straight.
"SAY THAT AGAIN AND SE...
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I had spoken to the maid. A moment of weakness, a fleeting impulse I couldn’t control. A single, forbidden sentence that had slipped out of my mouth without thought. It was just water—just a request for water—but it was enough. Darius had warned me, explicitly, never to speak to anyone without his permission. But I had broken his rule.
Now, I stood before him, trembling, the weight of my disobedience heavy on my chest. His silence was far worse than any shouting or rage. He simply stared at me, his eyes narrowing, his hands clasped behind his back in a stance that radiated control.
He said nothing at first.
The tension in the room pressed down on me like a vice, suffocating, unbearable. My stomach twisted into knots as his cold, calculating gaze lingered on me, as if he were deciding what to do with me, how far he would go this time. I had never seen him this still before, never seen him so calm in the face of my disobedience.
“You spoke to the maid.” His voice was so low I almost didn’t hear it. It wasn’t a question. It was a statement of fact, a pronouncement of guilt.
I nodded, my throat too tight to respond with words.
“And what did I tell you about speaking without permission?” he asked, his tone smooth, dangerously soft.
My heart pounded, the memory of his rule flooding back. “You told me not to.”
“And yet you did,” he continued, stepping toward me, his movements slow, deliberate, as though savoring the moment. “You disobeyed me. After everything I’ve done to teach you. After all the warnings.”
I could feel the blood drain from my face. I had crossed a line I couldn’t uncross, and now I would have to face the consequences.
“You’re going to learn today, Aurelia,” he said, his voice growing colder. “You’re going to learn what happens when you defy me.”
Before I could even respond, he grabbed my wrist with brutal force and dragged me to the center of the room. His grip was unrelenting, a promise of what was to come. Panic surged through me as he pushed me down onto the cold, hard floor, the shock of the impact sending a shiver up my spine.
“You will strip,” he ordered, standing over me like a shadow of authority. “Now.”
I hesitated for a fraction of a second, but the look in his eyes made it clear that any delay would only make things worse. My fingers shook as I fumbled to remove my clothes, each article of clothing feeling heavier as it fell to the floor, leaving me more exposed, more vulnerable. When I was finally bare, I knelt on the cold floor, every inch of me feeling the weight of his gaze.
Darius didn’t say anything for a long time. He just stood there, looking down at me, as if drinking in my vulnerability. Then, without warning, he moved behind me, his hand gripping my neck, not enough to choke me, but enough to hold me in place, to remind me that he was in control.
