(Emma’s POV)
I stared out the window of the car, watching the blurred scenery fly by. The words Luca had spoken to me—so cold, so sure of himself—echoed in my mind like a never-ending drumbeat. I hated him. I hated everything about the way he controlled me, the way he looked at me like I was nothing more than a possession.
But deep down, there was something else, something I couldn’t shake. A pulse of heat, a spark of desire that flickered in the dark corners of my mind whenever he touched me, whenever his eyes held mine a little too long. I could feel it now, a familiar tension coiling in my chest.
And I hated myself for it.
We arrived back at his mansion—my prison, my gilded cage. The door opened, and I stepped out of the car, trying to ignore the steady thrum of my heartbeat, the co
