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Julian

“I’m so full, I think I might explode.”

“I wanted to tell you that I’ve decided to move the wedding up. It will be in a few days, and I hope by then you’re behaving better.”

“A few days?” She squeaks. “Why have you moved it up?”

“Your father’s motives mostly. You’ll be my wife by the end of the week.”

She doesn’t say anything to that, not that her objecting would change a damn thing. I would still marry her even if she begged me not to, though strangely, she hasn’t fought me on that at all. Being locked in the room, handcuffed, and trapped, yes, but everything I’ve asked her to do, she has done.Text © 2024 NôvelDrama.Org.

Stripping out of my clothes, I walk into the bathroom. I start the shower and jump in, washing my hair and body quickly. When I’m done, I walk out of the bathroom without even a towel slung around my hips.

Elena pretends as if she’s not looking at me, but I can feel her eyes roaming over my naked form, and I swear I can see her cheeks turning pink even from a distance. She is an enigma. One moment she wants my touch, and the next, she wants to claw my eyes out.

Walking into the closet, I find a pair of boxers, tug them on and return to the bed. I slide beneath the sheets and turn away from her.

“Good night, Julian,” she huffs, tugging against the cuffs. “At least one of us gets to be comfortable.”

“Be a good girl, and the cuffs might not be needed.”

“What do you mean might not be needed?”

“They might not be needed to restrain you all the time, only when I want to restrain you.”

“There is something wrong with you.” She twists and turns, ruffling the sheets with her movements.

“You have a lot to learn, sweetheart,” I whisper and turn the light off, blanketing the room into darkness.

“So do you, like this isn’t how you get me to listen to you.”

Rolling over, I face her, and even though it’s dark, I can still make out some of her features. “You ran, knowing I would punish you for it. That sounds like the only person who has a listening problem is you.”

She sighs. “I ran because I thought you were going to hurt me, and I wasn’t going to run initially.”

“Then what were you going to do?”

“I thought you were with someone else, and I was upset. You rejected me, and then I heard your men talking… they said you moved the timeline up. I thought you were going to kill me or do something worse. I panicked.”

I wouldn’t admit it out loud, but I understood. Deep down, I got why she ran, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t a slap to my face. Had it been during the day, or one of my men had found her, it would’ve looked bad for me. Worse yet if she got away.

“I understand, but a punishment is a punishment.” Fluffing my pillow, I rest my head on it and do my best to ignore the heat of her body calling to me.

I don’t say anything else and let my eyes drift closed. My body itches to bring her closer to me, to hold her in my arms, but lately, she’s been feisty, refusing to let me touch her, and I don’t want to rehash anything with her. I just want to sleep.

Eventually, her breathing evens out, and I decide to let the exhaustion pull me under.

* * *

The sound of someone crying fills my head, lifting me from a foggy sleep. Soft whimpers fill my ears, and I roll over to find Elena with her eyes squeezed close, struggling against the cuffs, her tiny body trembling.

A nightmare. She’s having a nightmare.

Gently, I grasp onto her shoulders and give her a tiny shake. A sob breaks from her lips, and her cries get louder when her eyes blink open.

I find myself wrapping her up in my arms, pulling her closer, rather than pushing her away. My eyes are glued to her face, watching as the tears cascade down her cheeks like raindrops on a window. In all the time she’s been here, she’s never looked as broken as she does right now, and the emotions swirling in her eyes grab onto me, digging their claws into my subconscious.

Her vulnerability is pushing through, and I can’t do anything but cup her by the cheek and wipe the tears away. My mouth makes soft shhh sounds, the noises I’m expelling are so foreign, I didn’t even know I could make them.

After a while, she stops crying, but I continue stroking her cheek, loving the feel of her skin beneath my hand.

“What was your dream about?” I croak, wondering what could’ve brought emotions out of her like that.

“My mom,” she whispers. “In the dream, I was there again, in the bathroom. When she killed herself… and I found her. There was so much blood, on the tub, on her body, on my hands. I can still see the vacant look in her eyes, feel the coldness of her skin.”

I swallow, taking in everything she says. I’m shocked, mainly because that’s not the story her father told everyone. According to him, she died in a car accident. Why would he lie about something like that? It gets the wheels in my head turning and reminds me further of what a pig Romero is. He’s hiding something, and I’m going to figure it the fuck out.

“I miss her so much, Julian, and I wish she was here now. Wish she was going to be at our wedding.” She starts to cry again, and her broken emotions reach inside me, tugging at my heart. “She would’ve wanted to be here. I know it. She loved me. Far more than my father does.” She sniffles before continuing. “After her death, everything changed. I used to be able to go outside, cook in the kitchen, go shopping, and then he took it all away.”

Every word she speaks resonates through me. I don’t want to be like her father. I don’t want to lock her in a cage, but I have to. I can’t risk her leaving or someone getting to her. She’s reached a part of me no one ever has and as terrifying as that is, I can’t let her go. I won’t. I’ll kill, destroy, and hold her against her will if need be.

She is mine until death.

“Sleep, I will keep the nightmares away,” I whisper into her hair, my lips grazing her forehead.

“Will you ever let me go?”

“Untie you from the bed, yes. Leave me? Never. If you ever get away from me, I’ll hunt you down, find you and drag you back here. The day you signed your name on that contract is the day you became mine. I will never let you escape me. Never let you go.”

Silence settles over us, and even though she doesn’t say anything, I know she’s still awake. I ignore that fact and hold her until we both fall asleep, wondering if things have to change so much, or if I can keep her like this forever.