Chapter 33
Sophia
The Nightmare
Irolled over on soft, vanilla-scented sheets. A smile pinched my cheeks as a warm body stopped me, then pulled me close.
“Peach.” Grant murmured, brushing the hair from my face. “You’re awake.”
My smiling lips faltered, but I couldn’t figure out why. “Yeah,” I said, kissing his chest. “What’re we doin’ today?”
His deep chuckle vibrated along the side of my face as I looked up at him like he had hung the moon and the stars. “Don’t you remember?”
“Remember?” I asked, feeling a tug on my bottom lip. It took a moment to realize it was his thumb. “What am I supposed to remember?”
Grant kissed my forehead, leaving his touch even after he pulled away. I reached up to touch the spot, surprised to high hell when my fingers came back, covered in blood. I stared at my dripping fingers as Grant said, “It’s your wedding day, Princess.”
Suddenly, the room turned black, and the body beneath me—the man I’d fallen so hard for—was gone. I was alone with blood sliding down my hand, turning colder and colder.
“Grant?” I whispered, trying to see past my bleak surroundings. “Grant?” I said louder, raising my voice.
That only felt like razors digging into my throat.
“Grant!” I screamed past the pain. “Please, don’t…don’t leave me!”
“Princess,” a voice echoed, turning everything in me stiff and cold.
So cold.
A dim light came on above me, and I shielded it from my eyes with the back of my hand as I peered up into the nothingness.
More sounds. More voices, all a blur.
Then, a sharp pain on my scalp. I screamed, thrashing above me, but there was nothing there.
“Give her more,” a familiar voice said sternly.
That dim light above me faded, just like my will to stay.
My head throbbed, the weight of it stiffening my neck while the rest of my body felt like air.
Like I was suspended in it.
I was no longer in blackness, yet as I blinked my dry eyes open, I wished I was.
“There she is.”
I groaned, realizing just how tight my ribs were as my lungs inflated. My head rolled to the side and I jolted as a shadow cut out the light.
An all-too familiar scent filled my nostrils—rich amber and cardamom. That was all that was needed to send me wretching on the floor.
Snapping fingers echoed in my ears. “Clean this up, and for God’s sake, get her something else to wear.”
“No,” I said as best I could. It came out more like a powerless whine. A plea, like it always had around Riyan. I vomited more, the pressure hurting my head, making tears stream down my cheeks.
“Damnit, Princess. You need to get your shit together.” His words rolled around in my cloudy thoughts. “Those idiots slipped you the wrong fucking drugs.”
“Wha…what?”
“Look at me.” Riyan cupped my cheeks and I weakly jerked my head away. Heavy tears dripped down his thumbs as he put his hands on me again, his blue eyes so cold on mine.
“We’re together now. You don’t need to be afraid.” I whimpered as his lips brushed my forehead. “I knew you’d come back to me.”
I shook my head. “N-no.”
He stood and glanced at his watch, then sighed. “You took longer than usual to wake up. You used to snap right back. It’s a little disappointing.”
“F-fuck you,” I forced out, licking my dried lips.
Riyan smirked. “I knew you missed me.”
I shook my head again. He leaned down and gripped my chin, squeezing hard. “What’d I say about that word? There is no ‘no’ between us.” He released me and adjusted his cuffs, staring at them while speaking to me. “And there will be no more of it moving forward.”
My brows creased as I looked around the room, my brain fog clearing enough to take it in. It was an office I’d been in before—his. I gasped when I looked down, noticing the young man by my feet, cleaning what I’d done without a word.
“W-what are you going to do?”
“Him?” Riyan chuckled and leaned forward, picking at the ends of my hair. “Or me?”
Fear crept down my spine. I no longer wanted an answer. The only people who saw me like this—well, they were no better than Riyan. His head cocked as his eyes darted between me and the man still cleaning the floor.
In an instant, Riyan snapped. “Get out.”
The man left the room without raising his head.
Riyan circled the chair he had me tied to. I knew fighting against the restraints only made the marks worse, so I didn’t bother. He didn’t need that satisfaction.
“You know, I really did miss you. When you didn't come home after your friend’s party, I thought you ran away again.” He leaned over my shoulder from behind and pressed his lips to my neck. I dug my nails into my palms. “And you know how crazy it made me when you left.”
More kisses trailed along my neck and up to my ear. I squeezed my eyes shut. “It drove me insane, Princess. To go without your body, your screams. It consumed me in the worst ways possible.”
Rage turned my skin hot. “You still had me in Georgia,” I spat.
His hand wrapped around my throat as he bit down on my shoulder. I bit my tongue to keep from crying out.
“Not as much as I wanted.”
“Let me go, Riyan,” I gasped as his hand loosened.
“You needed me then, just like you need me now.” His lips swept up to my ear as more bile rose in my throat, even though I had nothing left in my stomach to give. “And I’m not letting you out of my sight again.”
He undid the ropes. I wanted to run through the door, but couldn’t find the strength to move. My arms and legs had gone numb from the bindings, my skin cold and purple.
Riyan was used to turning my body useless.
He hauled me up into his arms, and I recoiled into myself.
Riyan worked for my father as his Chief Financial Officer, which gave him an entire floor in their building.
I knew the layout like the back of my hand, and knew exactly where we were when a cold, hard surface met my back.
“You’re getting in the shower.” Riyan started removing the flannel shirt covering my body, yanking at the fabric. I felt like a doll, but not a precious one. More like the one whose head got swapped with another doll when kids played too rough.
His fingers dug into my thighs, and I cried out as he pushed my legs apart. “What did you let him do to you?” Riyan’s face twisted as he took in the tattoo on my breast. “You let him touch you.” A cold flush coursed through my veins. “You’ve always been such a fucking whore.”
He pulled a lighter from the counter beside a candle and flicked it on, illuminating the hatred that burned deeper than it had before.
Before I could process his movements, he removed his thumb from the lighter, the flame disappearing right as he pressed the hot metal to my breast. I screamed, even as he pressed a hand to my mouth and repeated the action again and again.
Tears stung my eyes as I clawed at his forearms, but it was no use. Riyan was too strong to fight off. He always had been. I was no longer in my body when he forced me off the counter and placed me in the corner of the shower.
“Clean yourself up. You’ve got twenty minutes.
” He slammed the door behind him. I wrapped my arms around my knees, pulling them close.
Heavy tears rolled down my cheeks, mixing with the water as it fell over me.
I pinched my eyes closed, wishing I could go back to my dream before it had turned ugly.
I wasn’t sure how much time had gone by with the water rolling down my trembling body. It must’ve been less than the time I was allowed, yet it felt like an eternity. An eternity of Grant’s face on replay in my mind as steam blanketed my eyes.
That’s what the past week had been—a blanket, shielding the real world. It had given me false hope that I could feel safe and secure. That warmth didn’t just roll right off my skin. Grant had tried his best, but it wasn’t enough when it came to Riyan.
It wasn’t enough.
But it had given me a week to feel like it could have been enough. That loving him was enough.
I didn’t care if that made me stupid or na?ve. I’d have that week with him on repeat in my mind for the rest of my days, and no matter who I was chained to, I’d think of him in the darkest of moments.
Arms looped into mine, pulling me from the shower and dragging me across the cold tile floors until I was sitting against a wall.
A towel was draped around my front, and then the water shut off.
The fabric grazed my chest uncomfortably, the new marks on my breast only the beginning of what he had in store for me.
I curled into myself again, shivers racking my body.
“I’ve laid a dress out for you on the bed.” Riyan crouched before me, taking my drenched curls in his fingers. I blinked up at him, watching disgust wrinkle his nose. “And someone will be here soon to make you look…presentable.”
He made to stand, but I reached out for his pants, tugging the fabric. “W-where am I going?”
“Princess.” He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he crouched again. As his hand wrapped over my shoulder and squeezed, I shuddered. “You still need to marry Walton.”
Confusion pinched my forehead. “B-but, he…”
Riyan pressed his forehead to mine, looking deep into my eyes.
Years ago, I dreamed of him being this close.
Then, when that day came and went, I never wanted another like it.
I recoiled deeper into the wall as he said, “You’ll still be mine, Princess.
You only have to marry him on paper, but the future will be ours. ”
I whimpered as the imagery of that future flashed before me.
His hand snaked up my thigh, and when I went to close them, he dug his fingers deep into my flesh.
I shrieked in pain as his other hand pried my thighs further apart before he was able to cup my pussy.
I cried as he dragged his fingers up and down my slit.
“If I find out that mutt fucked you, I swear to you, I will hang him upside down and slit his throat while you watch.”
Riyan wasn’t talking about Walton.