CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Serafina
The car jolted to a stop, throwing me forward against my seatbelt. Adrian was already out before I could process what was happening, his door slamming with a force that made the entire vehicle shudder.
I sat frozen for a moment, my heart hammering against my ribs.
Did I provoke him too much? No… I didn’t really say anything that bad.
Our verbal sparring had become habitual now. Adrian and I have both been arguing, insulting each other since we had gotten married. He said maddening things that made my blood boil, and I said things that made him angry. Our marriage had been built on this, our mutual resentment for each other.
But nothing I said has ever garnered such a reaction from him.
The darkness that had flashed in his eyes in the car, the look of pure insanity that could burn everything in his path, that was a danger I had never seen before.
With trembling fingers, I reached for the door handle, pushing it open and stepping out onto the gravel driveway.
Adrian stood before me, his expression a cold mask of indifference that sent ice through my veins.
His eyes were empty, devoid of any real human emotions—no anger, no hatred, nothing but a terrifying void that made my blood run cold.
He looked less like a man and more like a statue carved from marble, beautiful and utterly heartless.
The night air was cool against my flushed cheeks, but it did nothing to calm the storm raging inside me.
“Adrian?” I whispered, my voice barely audible.
He didn’t respond.
Instead, his hand shot out, fingers wrapping around my upper arm with bruising force. He jerked me forward, and I stumbled, one of my heels catching on the uneven ground. The shoe came loose, falling off my foot and pain shot up my ankle as I tried to regain my balance.
But Adrian didn’t slow his pace, pulling me behind him as I limped along.
“Let me go!” I cried out, trying to wrench my arm from his grip. “What are you doing? You’re hurting me!”
He didn’t acknowledge my words, didn’t even look at me as he dragged me across the driveway. My bare foot scraped against sharp stones, pain shooting up my leg with each step. We weren’t heading inside.
“A-Adrian…”
He didn’t respond, his grip only tightening as he pulled me around the side of the house. I realized with growing horror where he was taking me…to the back of the property where I knew his dogs were kept.
His three massive Dobermans that terrified me beyond reason.
“No,” I gasped, digging my heels into the ground and tugging against his iron grip. “Adrian, please. Why are you taking me there?”
Fear clawed at my throat, making it difficult to breathe. The memory of those large dogs, their dark eyes and sharp teeth, flashed through my mind.
I’d been terrified of them since the moment I’d seen them, and had avoided any part of the house where they might be.
I stayed in my bedroom most of the time, so it hasn’t been hard.
Sometimes I felt them behind my closed door, a soft bark, a little whine.
But I never, ever dared open the door.
And now… Adrian was taking me right to their lair. Inside their territory. Away from my sanctuary.
“Please,” I begged, tears streaming down my face. “I’m sorry. Whatever I said, whatever I did…I’m sorry. Just don’t take me there.”
He continued to drag me forward, his hold unrelenting.
“Adrian!” I pleaded.
His silence carved a crippling fear inside my soul.
My husband has never been silent. His arrogance never allowed him to be. He always needed to have the last word. Always needed to insult, to argue, to say the meanest things that made you want to cry.
But his silence?
It was utterly terrifying.
We rounded the corner of the house, and the backyard stretched before us, dangerous and ominous in the darkness of the night. I could hear the dogs before I saw them—low, rumbling growls that sent shivers down my spine.
God, please no.
What have I done?
All defiance bled through my pores, leaving me with nothing but absolute terror.
Adrian stopped abruptly in the middle of the grounds and released me with such force that I fell to my knees on the damp grass. Pain shot through my legs, and I looked up to see Adrian standing over me, tall and big, his face illuminated by the moonlight, jaw clenched.
He didn’t look human.
The coldness in his eyes, the way his jaw clenched, the mask of indifference, as if I was nothing… as if I was worthless to him… the mere image of him looming over me like that, he looked every bit of The Reaper he said he was—a dark avenging angel that had come to collect my soul.
My vision blurred with tears.
A low growl made me turn my head.
Thud.
Dread slithered through my veins.
Thud.
Three massive black dogs emerged from the shadows of their kennel.
Thud.
They moved with predatory grace, their sleek bodies gleaming in the moonlight as they came to stand at Adrian’s feet.
Their dark eyes fixed on me with unnerving intensity.
“What are you doing?” I whispered, my voice shaking so badly I could barely form the words.
I scrambled backward on my hands and knees, putting distance between myself and these beasts.
My bare foot scraped against the rough ground but the pain didn’t even register this time. “Adrian, please. You can’t do this.”
He watched me with that same empty expression, his head tilting slightly to the side as if studying a particularly interesting insect.
“A Doberman’s bite force is approximately 305 pounds per square inch,” he said, his voice flat and emotionless.
“Thay have what is called a scissor bite, where their teeth align closely to create a slicing action, making their bite highly effective for damage. They can reach speeds of up to 32 miles per hour. Faster than you, certainly.”
What… what…
My stomach dipped with horror.
His voice was terrifyingly calm.
How could he be so calm?
How could he just stand there… and be so… inhuman? So heartless?
I shook my head, disbelief and panic mingling in my chest. “You’re lying. This is just another one of your games. You can’t do this… I’m your wife. Please, Adrian. Please.”
Adrian’s lips twitched, the only sign that he’d heard me. “You beg very prettily,” he said, his tone devoid of any warmth. “Now I want to hear you scream. Run as far and as fast as you can.”
A sick sense of dread clawed at my throat as I continued to back away, distress gripping my chest. “Why are you doing this? I’m s-sorry for what I said in the car. You… you just made me so angry and I spoke without thinking. Adrian, are you listening to me?”
He made a sharp tsking sound, and all three dogs took a step toward me, their hackles rising. I scrambled backward, my heart pounding so hard I thought it might burst from my chest.
“These dogs don’t stop. They won’t until they get what they want. But I’ll give you a head start.”
“Adrian…” Tears streamed down my face.
“Run, wife,” he said and the coldness in his voice sent another wave of panic through me.
I looked around wildly, searching for an escape. The house was behind Adrian and the dogs…there was no way I could get past them. The only option was the dark woods that bordered the property, dense and foreboding in the night.
The dogs took another step, their barks echoing in the quiet night.
Something primal took over me. The need to live. To survive.
I turned and ran.
My bare feet pounded against the grass, then hit the rougher terrain at the edge of the woods. Branches and twigs cut into my soles, but I didn’t stop, didn’t slow down.
I couldn’t stop.
Behind me, I could hear the dogs giving chase, their barks growing louder as they closed the distance.
I ran blindly, crashing through underbrush, my dress snagging on branches and tearing as I pushed forward.
My lungs burned with each ragged breath, my heart hammering against my ribs. The darkness of the woods swallowed me, the moonlight barely penetrating the dense canopy above.
A root caught my foot, and I went down hard, pain exploding through my knee and hands as they scraped against the forest floor.
Don’t stop.
I pushed myself up immediately, ignoring the blood I could feel trickling down my leg, and kept running.
I can’t stop.
The barking was closer now, the sound of their paws pounding against the earth. I could hear their panting, could almost feel their hot breath on my heels.
Tears streamed down my face as I pushed myself harder, branches whipping against my arms and face, leaving stinging welts. My chest heaved with each desperate gasp for air, my vision beginning to blur at the edges.
I sobbed and sobbed.
I screamed and screamed.
I stumbled blindly through the darkness, tripping over roots and fallen branches.
“Please,” I cried as I fell, my hands scraping against the rough forest floor. I pushed myself up immediately, ignoring the pain, and ran again. ‘Please… stop.”
My lungs burned, and black spots danced before my eyes.
The world spun around me, darkness creeping in from the edges of my vision. I tried to push myself forward, but my legs wouldn’t obey anymore. Dizziness overwhelmed me.
I fell again and this time, I was unable to rise.
My body had reached its limit.
I couldn’t… breathe.
I couldn’t run anymore.
I couldn’t escape my death.
I tried… I really did.
I tried to survive… I really did.
I tried…
But it wasn’t enough.
It was never enough.
The barking was right behind me now and I lifted my hand to see them coming toward me, their eyes gleaming in the darkness.
“Please,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “Please don’t.”
I never thought what my death would look like.
But I didn’t want to die here.
I didn’t want to die alone.
Except, my husband had cruelly signed my death.
Adrian never claimed to care for me, but he said I would be protected.
He lied…
How naive of me, to believe him, to trust him when he had proven over and over again that he was untrustworthy.
That was he was a ruthless beast without a heart.
And tonight, I was going to pay the price of my naivety.
I was going to die here, torn apart by these beasts while my husband watched.
The world tilted, darkness closing in my body finally gave up.
My last conscious thought was of Adrian’s cold, emotionless face as the Dobermans lunged toward me.
Then everything went black.
I failed.