Charlotte, a failed artist, finds herself stuck between the man she loves and her fiance who loves the power and control he has over her.
****
Charlotte knew she had met the love of her life, Chase Sinclair, when she was only 20. Their relationship...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Chapter 17
Sun was streaming through the large window early the next morning despite the cool change of weather. The sunlight woke Charlotte from her dreamless state, and when her eyes adjusted to the bright light as she forgot to close the blinds last night, she saw Chase still sleeping next to her.
One arm was thrown across his bare chest as his deep breathing caused his chest to rise and fall in a luring and hypnotic rhythm. His mouth was slightly open as she slept peacefully. The sunlight streaming into the room illumined his red hair, making it stand out brighter against his pale complexion. Freckles danced across his arms and chest that was dusted lightly with ginger chest hair. He looked so perfect, and for a second she could imagine waking up to him like this every day.
She could imagine what life would be like with Chase. It would be beautiful, but that was not her reality. She couldn't escape Landon and even if she could, he would always be there in the shadows, making her look over her shoulder.
She couldn't leave him because she had nothing, no money, no clothes because he owned everything. If she left, she would leave with nothing but the clothes on her back. He held all her documents and controlled everything down to her credit cards. She wasn't allowed to get a driver's licence despite being able to drive. She was only allowed to use her passport when he demanded it.
Landon owned her. In every sense and leaving meant it would leave her with nothing. Not only would she leave with nothing, but there would be a harsh punishment. He was powerful; he had controlled, and she feared if she ever told anyone of authority, he would hunt her down and kill everyone she loved before taking her back and locking her in the giant house someplace far away and away from civilisation.
Sighing, she carefully rolled out of bed and grabbed her silk robe and closed the blinds, allowing Chase a few more hours of sleep. It was still early, so Charlie went downstairs to make coffee.
She lent over the island bench and waited for the coffee to brew, wanting nothing more than to have a smoke.
However, she didn't.
She grabbed herself and Chase a mug and made her way back upstairs where he was still sleeping. She softly smiled at him when she entered the room and took a minute to admire him before setting his coffee on the bedside table.
Charlotte set her own coffee down and got on her hands and knees and lifted the loose board under the bed and grabbed out her blank sketchbook and drawing pencils she bought with cash a few weeks ago.
Carefully she got back into bed not wanting to disturb Chase and flipped open to a blank page and drew her knees up so she could rest the book on them. Charlotte grabbed her ceramic cup and gently blew across the surface of the hot drink before taking a small sip, making sure not to burn her tongue.
The coffee warmly filled her belly, and she gently placed the hot mug on her bedside table before grabbing a pencil and started drawing. She wasn't sure what she wanted to draw, but her subconscious knew as her pencil tip gently started drawing lines across the page.
