Chapter 9 #4
My throat tightened. “He whispered something to you.”
Still nothing.
“If he plans to kill me...” The words lodged painfully in my chest. “...just tell me now.”
I forced myself to keep talking.
“At least I’ll have time to prepare myself.”
Keegan finally spoke.
“He’ll do anything except kill you.”
I frowned. “Why?”
“Because if you’re dead...”
He glanced at me briefly. “...he can’t claim his inheritance.”
The answer offered no comfort.
If anything, it terrified me even more.
There were fates far worse than death.
And Romeo Flynn had already shown me exactly the kind of man he was.
I lowered my eyes to my trembling hands.
My fingers twisted together over and over, desperately searching for something to hold on to.
Anything.
After several long minutes, I gathered enough courage to speak again.
“Any news about my mother?” My voice cracked. “Please. Just tell me she’s alive.”
I searched Keegan’s face for an answer.
His jaw tightened.
“Stop asking questions.” The words came like a whip.
His foot slammed harder on the accelerator.
The engine roared.
The car surged forward, pressing me back into my seat as the scenery outside blurred even faster.
I fell silent, trembling violently, too terrified and broken to speak.
The rest of the journey passed without another word.
When we finally pulled into the driveway, the headlights swept across the front of the bungalow. Keegan killed the engine and stepped out without looking at me, as though he were too careful—or perhaps too afraid—to meet my eyes.
I swallowed hard.
The knot in my stomach tightened.
Slowly, I opened the door and stepped onto unsteady legs.
The night suddenly felt much colder.
Keegan remained several feet away, his expression grim.
“Romeo gave me one order,” he said. “You stay inside this house until he says otherwise.”
My stomach tightened. “I’m his wife, Keegan. Not his prisoner.”
“You’re both, as far as this order is concerned.”
My eyes swept desperately across the property, searching for some way out.
As if he could see exactly what was running through my mind, Keegan spoke before I could make a move.
“Don’t.”
I looked at him.
He took a slow step forward.
“I know what you’re thinking. Running. Climbing the walls. Looking for a blind spot.” His tone remained calm. “Don’t make me stop you.”
My pulse hammered.
“You’d hurt me?”
His expression hardened. “I’d rather not.”
A beat of silence.
“But if you force me to choose between disobeying Romeo and putting you inside, I will choose his orders every time.”
His eyes held mine.
“So don’t test how far I’m willing to go to enforce them.”
His tone remained calm, almost bored.
“He’ll let you out eventually. This isn’t permanent.”
My chest rose and fell rapidly.
So this was my life now.
A prisoner in my own husband’s house.
Locked away because I had chosen to spend time with my best friend, while Romeo was free to spend as much time as he wanted with Yarina.
He could have her beside him all day, yet I was being punished for wanting the same simple freedom.
My heart twisted painfully.
Romeo had no right to do this.
No right to decide where I went, who I saw, or how I lived.
I had loved him for so long that I couldn’t remember what my life had felt like before him.
And this was what I had received in return.
A locked door.
A guarded house.
A husband who treated me like a slut.
Keegan began walking toward me.
I knew he was coming to force me inside.
I refused to give him the satisfaction.
I turned toward the bungalow myself and walked through the doors.
The second I crossed the threshold, the double doors slammed shut behind me.
Bang.
I spun around and grabbed the handles.
Locked.
My breathing became shallow.
“No...”
I pulled again.
Nothing.
I knew Keegan had locked it, but some foolish part of me kept trying, as though the door might suddenly feel sorry for me and open.
It didn’t.
I rested my forehead against it, my breath trembling.
Then I heard Keegan’s footsteps retreat.
A moment later, the car engine roared to life.
I listened as the sound faded into the distance.
He was gone.
And I was alone.
My legs finally gave out.
I slid slowly down the door until I collapsed onto the floor, the tears I’d fought so desperately to contain finally breaking free.
My hands shook as I covered my face.
I wanted someone—anyone—to tell me that I wasn’t alone.
But I had no one left to call.
My father was gone, abandoning his own family as though we meant nothing.
My sick mother had been taken by Romeo’s grandfather.
My sister hated me so much she wanted me dead.
And Romeo—the man I had loved for as long as I could remember—looked at me as though I were someone he wished he had never known.
How long was he going to keep me here?
Twenty-four hours?
Two days?
A week?
The thought made me sob harder.
This wasn’t the life I had dreamed of.
I had dreamed of love. Of family. Of coming home to people who wanted me there.
Instead, I was locked inside a house with nowhere to go and no one to turn to.
For years, I had foolishly believed that if I loved Romeo long enough, somehow, someday, it would mean something.
I was wrong.
He was a monster.
And he would never be mine.
I curled into myself, sobbing until my body trembled.
My nails dug deep into my palms, the sharp pain almost welcome against the agony in my chest.
This was my fault.
I should never have gone to that wedding.
I should have dared Romeo to make good on his threat.
I should have walked away the moment he offered me that marriage.
I should have listened when Yarina threatened me, warning that if I dared to become Romeo’s wife, I would spend the rest of my life paying the price.
But I hadn’t agreed simply because Romeo had threatened me.
I had been vulnerable.
Frightened.
And worst of all, I had secretly loved him.
For years.
That secret love had been my greatest weakness, and now I was paying for it.
I had become the bride of the one man who could destroy me without even trying.
The one man who hated me enough to make me wish I had never loved him at all.