Chapter 003 - First Rules, First Battle
1059 Words
The morning sunlight cut through the blinds in sharp lines across the floor, illuminating the pristine apartment Neya had spent an entire night staring at in disbelief. Her eyes opened slowly, muscles tight with the memory of yesterday.
She had signed her freedom away. Not for love. Not for curiosity. Not even for a joke. She had signed herself into Adrian Kade’s life—an invisible cage built from money, control, and danger—and now she had to live in it.
The thought made her stomach twist.
How do you live with a man who doesn’t even blink when he claims ownership of you?
Her phone buzzed. A reminder? No… a message. From the man himself.
“Breakfast at 8. Dining room. Be punctual. —A.K.”
Neya groaned.
“Punctual,” she muttered bitterly. “I’m already a prisoner, now he’s my warden too?”
She dressed quickly—jeans, a plain top, sneakers—trying to keep herself unnoticed, though she had no idea what that meant in a place like this. The apartment was too clean, too perfect, and every piece of furniture seemed to have been placed with purpose: to make her aware she was not in control.
When she entered the dining room, Adrian was already seated, hands folded neatly on the table. He didn’t glance up immediately. His calm, unreadable presence was suffocating.
She forced herself to take a seat across from him.
“Good morning,” he said finally, voice smooth, low, controlled.
“Morning,” Neya muttered.
The table was laid out with a breakfast spread that screamed excess: eggs, fruits, pastries, juice… nothing simple, nothing ordinary. Everything perfectly arranged.
Neya glanced at it. Her stomach churned—not because she was hungry, but because this was his world, and she was just a visitor in it.
“Rules,” he said suddenly, cutting the silence. “We have rules. And I expect you to follow them.”
Neya raised an eyebrow. “Rules?”
“Yes.” He leaned back in his chair, cold eyes piercing hers. “First: You are to address me properly. Second: You will not enter my office without permission. Third: You will attend meals when required. Fourth: You will… act like you belong here.”
Neya blinked. “Act like I belong? You mean… live like your property?”
Adrian’s lips quirked just slightly, not quite a smile. “Property implies ownership. You are legally mine, yes. But this is about survival, not insult. Consider it… coexistence.”
Her hands curled into fists. “Coexistence,” she repeated bitterly. “You think I’m going to just accept this?”
“Think? I don’t think, Neya. I know.”
Her heart slammed. That word again. Know.
She hated it.
“Know what?” she snapped.
“That you will obey. Eventually.”
Neya’s blood boiled. She slammed her hand on the table. The sound echoed in the large room. “I will never obey you! You can’t force me—this is insane, it’s illegal—”
Adrian raised a hand to stop her mid-sentence. “I didn’t say I would force you. You signed willingly. That makes it legal. And you will follow, whether you like it or not.”
Her hands shook. Panic and anger battled inside her. She leaned forward, voice sharp. “And if I refuse? If I run? If I tell the world what you’re doing?”
His gaze was steady. Deadly calm. “Then you will fail. And I promise you, it will not end well for you.”
Neya wanted to scream. She wanted to grab the contract and rip it apart. She wanted to flee from the apartment and never return.
Instead… she sat there, frozen.
He’s serious. He actually means this.
The thought made her stomach twist. Every instinct screamed to fight, but every rational thought screamed he is not someone you fight and win.
Breakfast passed in tense silence. Neya barely touched her food. Adrian ate slowly, his eyes occasionally flicking toward her—not in curiosity, but in assessment.
He’s watching me, she realized. Every move, every expression, he’s cataloging it.
A shiver ran down her spine.
Finally, he pushed back from the table. “You will have a tour today. The apartment, the city, the rules of engagement. Consider it… orientation.”
Orientation.
She wanted to laugh. She wanted to scream. She wanted to throw something at his perfectly calm face.
“I’m not a student!” she snapped.
“You are in my world now,” he replied evenly. “Adapt, or fail.”
The apartment tour was worse than she imagined. Adrian explained things she didn’t want to know: which rooms she could enter, which doors were locked, what she could touch, where she could go. His calm delivery made her blood boil.
This man is insane. And terrifying. And…
No. She refused to think about him that way.
By the time he left for work, she was exhausted. Mentally, emotionally, physically. Her life had changed in a single day, and she hadn’t even realized it yet.
She slumped on the sofa, staring at the city below. For a brief moment, she allowed herself a small thought: Maybe I can survive this… maybe.
Then her phone buzzed.
A message. From Adrian.
“Rules are not suggestions. Follow them. —A.K.”
Neya threw the phone across the room.
I hate him. I hate him so much.
But somewhere deep inside… a tiny spark of fear whispered:
He’s not lying.
Evening came, and the apartment was silent. Neya paced, restless, thinking about the morning, about the rules, about the man who had claimed her life in a single signature.
And then—she heard the sound.
A key in the door.
He was home. Early.
The tension in the room thickened instantly. Her pulse raced.
Adrian stepped in, calm as ever, but his eyes flicked toward her with something she couldn’t read. Not anger, not pleasure, not amusement… something sharper. Something that made her skin crawl.
“Dinner,” he said. “Now.”
She didn’t argue. Not today.
But tomorrow? Tomorrow, she vowed, she would find a way to push back. A way to fight.
Because surviving Adrian Kade wasn’t just about obeying rules. It was about winning her life back.
- Writer
