HIS ENTERTAINER

Chapter 47

                 IVY SILVER POV.
The room was small, dimly lit by a single window shuttered tight against the world outside. It was nothing like the freedom I had known, yet Wilmert made sure it was bearable-soft blankets, fresh water, food laid out with an odd tenderness that unsettled me.

The door creaked softly as Wilmert entered, holding a tray with food, his footsteps deliberate, measured-as if each one was part of an unspoken ritual. He set the tray down gently before sitting near the edge of the bed, eyes steady on mine.

"You look exhausted," he said, voice low, almost tender. "Do you want to talk?"

I swallowed hard, the silence thick between us. "Why are you doing this to me?" I asked bitterly.
His voice was low and calm, almost gentle. "I'm not your enemy, Ivy," he said, eyes flickering with something I couldn't quite name. "Everything I've done... it was to save you."
He sighed, the sound heavy, "Because danger surrounds you like a storm, Ivy. Your family-your parents-made enemies far worse than you realize"
His gaze didn't waver, but there was a vulnerability beneath the hardened exterior. "You don't understand what they did. Roberto's patience didn't last forever."
His words hung in the air, strange and discordant.

"Roberto?" I echoed, incredulous.

He nodded, swallowing hard. "Your parents... they betrayed Roberto years ago. It wasn't just business-it was blood debt. Roberto is my closest friend. When I begged him to spare you, he agreed. But the rest of your family... they were less fortunate."

I sat frozen, the weight of his confession pressing down like a suffocating cloud. It was true-the background whispers I'd brushed off as rumors flashed before my mind's eye.

"Tell me, Ivy," he said, leaning forward slightly, "have you ever felt truly seen? Truly understood? I see you."

His words unsettled me. it was obsession, The way his eyes softened, yet glinted with something unhinged, was chilling.

"I don't want your pity, Wilmert," I whispered, trying to keep my voice steady. "I want freedom."

"You will have your freedom. When this all ends." His hand brushed the bed near mine, tentative but deliberate. "But until then... I am the only one who can keep you safe."

Safe-or a prisoner?

dangerous devotion. It was love, but not the kind I knew. It was something fierce and wild, laced with obsession and madness. A storm I couldn't escape.

Each time he approached, I caught glimpses of it-in the way he lingered too long, the quiet possessiveness in his gestures. It chilled me to my core.

I recoiled slightly, but his expression didn't harden. Instead, he spoke more quietly, almost mournfully. "Ivy, I never intended to hurt you. Everything I did was to protect you from a world that would gladly see you destroyed."

I looked away, heart pounding. "If you truly cared, you wouldn't cage me. You wouldn't talk about marrying me as if I'm a trophy to claim." I said quietly.

His eyes darkened with a dangerous intensity. "Marriage is protection. For you, for your future, that's the only way"

I swallowed hard, the weight of my reality sharper than ever. "And if I refuse?"

He stares deep within me, "If I were you, I wouldn't do that baby girl."

I prayed silently, a desperate plea whispered into the stale air, that Hermann would come in time. That he'd break through the walls and shadows to reach me-before Wilmert's intentions turned from captivity to something far more terrifying.