Unraveled

Chapter 10: Breaking Point

When Agatha finally crawled into bed, exhaustion tugging at her, sleep wouldn't come. Every time she closed her eyes, Vidal's voice echoed, looping through her mind with maddening clarity.

"What do you want, Agatha?"

The question rippled through her, reverberating deeper with each replay.

"Maybe... a part that wants to let go, just for once, to let someone else take over..."

The words haunted her, slipping beneath her defenses, teasing out questions she wasn't ready to answer, taunting her in the quiet dark.

The idea of letting someone else take control—it was foreign.

Unthinkable.

Agatha was always in command with sexual partners, always the one setting the pace, dictating every step from the first touch to the last breathless moment.

It suited her.

It kept her comfortable.

And the men she'd been with expected it, welcomed it.

She was known for her dominance, and the men she was with weren't really surprised when then that same dominance carried into the bedroom.

It was who she was.

Or... was it?

The question snuck up on her, seizing her in a moment of raw, startling clarity.

Was it the control she craved, or what it the easiness that came with keeping her control?

Agatha shifted uncomfortably, feeling the weight of it settle, heavy and intrusive, as her mind raced in ways she couldn't quiet. The answer loomed before her, unsettling, as she replayed each moment she'd taken the reins, every move she'd calculated to secure her power. But here, in the stark quiet of her bedroom, the control she'd held so fiercely didn't feel like true strength.

It was like armor—layer upon layer that shielded and insulated her, something she'd never questioned. But, as if it were real armor, it suddenly felt—weighted. And now, for the first time in her life, she could feel the pressure of it, the toll it took.

Could she let go?

The question stirred something in her chest, unsettling and foreign. She didn't like the thought at all—it wasn't who she was. But her mind turned it over, breaking it down like a case, examining it from every angle.

And then a factor surfaced she hadn't considered before—gender.

Could she surrender to a man?

The thought twisted something deep inside her, but not with any thrill. Instead, it pulled at her with a discomfort that bordered on disgust. The idea of letting a man take charge, to dominate her, felt about as enticing as rubbing one out with sandpaper. She could almost laugh at the absurdity of it—there was no appeal, no thrill, only the stark repulsion that reminded her exactly why she kept men at arm's length in every sense of the word.

But a woman...

Now, that stirred something different.

Unexpected.

Exciting.

Safe.

The thought, foreign and strangely electrifying, sent a shiver racing down her spine, igniting something deep within her. She couldn't ignore the way her pulse quickened at the image: a woman, self-assured and confident, taking her by surprise, challenging her in ways that went beyond words. The allure was undeniable, clashing with everything she thought she knew about herself, but it was there, daring her to explore the idea further.