Bound by Obsession

Chapter Two

The papers were already waiting.

I sat at the small rickety table in our apartment, my hands trembling as I stared at the thick stack of documents Alexander had placed in front of me. His lawyer—an older man with rimless glasses—watched in silence, while Alexander leaned casually against the wall, his hands in his pockets like he had all the time in the world.

“Read it carefully,” he said, his voice smooth and commanding. “Every clause, every line. I don’t want any tears later about how you didn’t understand.”

My throat felt dry. “And if I don’t sign?”

Alexander tilted his head, his eyes narrowing. “Then tomorrow morning your landlord will receive an anonymous offer to buy this dump. He’ll take it. And your mother will be in the street. Think carefully, Alina.”

My chest ached. He wasn’t bluffing. He didn’t look like the type of man who ever bluffed.

The lawyer cleared his throat. “Clause seven, Miss Monroe: no divorce petition may be filed within the twelve-month term. Clause ten: public appearances as husband and wife are mandatory. Clause fifteen…” His voice trailed off as I skimmed, my stomach twisting tighter with every line.

A marriage in name, but not in heart. My body stiffened when I reached clause nineteen. Physical intimacy is at the discretion of the husband.

Heat rose to my face. I snapped my head up. “What the hell is this?”

Alexander’s lips curved, but his eyes stayed cold. “Don’t look so shocked, sweetheart. You didn’t think this was going to be all fake kisses and polite smiles, did you?”

I swallowed hard, my fingers tightening around the pen. “So that’s what this is about. You don’t just want to trap me—you want to use me.”

His gaze sharpened, pinning me where I sat. “Don’t flatter yourself. You’re not my type. But in public, my wife will look like my wife. And if I decide to take what’s mine, you won’t refuse.”

My chest rose and fell rapidly, fury warring with the helplessness strangling me. I wanted to scream at him, call him a monster, but Mama’s labored breathing echoed faintly from the other room. I couldn’t risk her.

I forced my hand to move. The pen scratched across the page, my signature binding me to him. Each stroke felt like I was carving away another piece of myself.

When it was done, I dropped the pen like it had burned me.

Alexander pushed off the wall, stepping closer. His presence filled the room, suffocating yet magnetic. He reached for the papers, glanced at them, then gave a curt nod.

“Congratulations, Mrs. Knight.”

The words made my stomach flip. I wasn’t sure if it was dread or something I didn’t want to name.

“When do we…” I trailed off, my voice breaking.

“We leave tonight,” he interrupted smoothly. “You’ll pack whatever you need. The rest—forget it. You don’t need reminders of this life where you’re going.”

“I can’t just leave Mama,” I shot back, panic rising.

His gaze softened by a fraction. “Your mother will be cared for. Private nurses, medication, everything she needs. But she won’t live with us.”

My heart sank. “So you’re taking me away from her?”

“You signed the papers,” he reminded me coldly. “And I don’t share my home with liabilities.”

Tears stung my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. If he wanted me broken, he’d have to wait a long time.

Two hours later, I was seated in the back of a black limousine, the city lights flashing past the tinted windows as if mocking me. Alexander sat beside me, his long legs stretched out, his hand resting lazily on his thigh, perfectly at ease. I, on the other hand, felt like a prisoner being transported to some unknown fate.

“You’ll find the mansion more… accommodating than your old place,” he drawled, glancing at me from the corner of his eye.

I didn’t answer.

He smirked faintly. “Silent treatment already? You’ll have to do better than that. The media will expect devotion. Longing stares. The kind of performance that convinces the world you’re madly in love with me.”

“And what do you get out of this?” I demanded, finally turning to face him. “What’s so important that you’d force a stranger into marriage?”

His jaw tightened, the playfulness vanishing. For a moment, something raw flickered in his eyes, then it was gone.

“Revenge,” Alexander said simply. “And you’re the perfect pawn.”

The car slowed as the gates of a sprawling estate loomed ahead. Iron bars, stone walls, and beyond them a mansion so vast it looked like something out of another world. My stomach twisted.

This wasn’t just a new chapter. This was a whole new book—and I wasn’t sure I’d survive to the end of it.