Chapter Thirty-Two – The Walls Close In
A prison isn’t only made of bars—it’s made of rules that shrink your world until there’s nothing left.
The morning after the trash truck came and went, Julia noticed the first change.
Her phone, always kept locked in a drawer, was gone.
When she asked Daniel, he smiled faintly.
“I’ve decided it’s better for us not to have distractions. Don’t you think so?”
Julia forced a nod, her throat tight.
That afternoon, he added another lock—this one on the study door.
The place where she had first found the compartment.
Her stomach twisted, rage and fear mixing.
By the end of the week, Daniel’s control spread like vines.
The front door now had a new deadbolt.
The curtains, once hers to open, were pulled shut and pinned.
Even the mail, which she us
