Chapter 6
633 Words
The choker felt heavier than it looked.
I stood there in my threadbare tank top and trembling hands, pressing the velvet band to my throat like it might explain something to me—why I was still standing here, why my pulse was racing, why I wanted to feel it tighten.
I should’ve been afraid.
But I was already past that.
This wasn’t fear. It was something else.
A sickness. A craving. A need to be devoured.
My phone lit up on the bed.
Unknown Number.
I didn’t answer.
Then a message.
Put it on.
And don’t take it off. Not unless you want me to come over and do it for you.
My knees went weak. My fingers betrayed me.
I fastened the choker around my neck, the velvet soft but firm—too snug, like it was made exactly for me. Like he knew every inch of my body, even the parts I hadn’t let him touch.
I looked at myself in the mirror.
I wasn’t me anymore.
Not the girl who fought for scraps. Not the girl who danced to survive.
This woman… was owned.
And when I reached up to unclasp it—
Another knock.
I jumped.
But I didn’t move.
Then I heard it—the sound of the door unlocking from the outside.
He had a key.
The door swung open slowly.
And there he stood.
Dominic Vale.
Black suit. No tie. Shirt unbuttoned just enough to tease sin. Eyes the color of stormclouds and intent sharper than any blade.
He stepped inside without a word. Closed the door behind him.
I stumbled back. “You can’t just—”
“I told you I don’t wait on permission,” he murmured.
His eyes dropped to my throat.
The corner of his mouth twitched into a satisfied smile.
“You look perfect in my collar.”
I swallowed. “I’m not yours.”
He advanced, slow, like a predator with all the time in the world. “You’re not?” he asked, voice like a seduction wrapped in steel. “Then why are your legs shaking, sweetheart?”
I backed up until my spine hit the wall.
He stopped inches from me.
“You keep running. Keep pretending you hate me. But you answered the door with nothing on but that little tank top. No bra. n*****s hard. Legs bare.” He leaned in, his breath brushing my cheek. “And that collar.”
His hand slid to my neck, thumb resting against the velvet.
“You put it on,” he whispered. “And now I get to decide when you take it off.”
I tried to turn away. “You’re insane.”
He grinned. “I warned you.”
In one brutal motion, he lifted me—lifted me—and pinned me against the wall. My legs wrapped around him before I could think. Before I could breathe.
His mouth found my throat.
I gasped. “Dominic—”
“I’m not going to f**k you,” he growled against my skin. “Not tonight.”
Relief warred with disappointment.
“But I am going to remind you,” he continued, dragging his lips up to my jaw, “that every part of you… already belongs to me.”
He didn’t kiss my lips. He didn’t have to.
Instead, he kissed just below the diamond on my collar. Slow. Possessive.
Then set me down like I was fragile glass.
“Take tomorrow off,” he murmured, brushing hair from my cheek. “You’re coming with me.”
“Where?”
His eyes burned.
“Somewhere I can show you exactly what it means to be mine.”
He turned and walked out without another word, leaving the door wide open.
Just like me.
- Writer
