The Secret
345 Words
Chapter 6 – The Secret
The next morning, Alesia sat in the steaming bath Nico had drawn for her.
He hadn’t said a word since the cellar. Just carried her to bed, laid her down, and pulled her into his arms like he hadn’t just ruined her under the cold stone archways.
Now, as warm water kissed her skin, she wondered how much of herself she’d already lost.
When she emerged, he was waiting.
Black shirt. Black coffee. The devil dressed for war.
“You stayed,” he said without looking up.
“You didn’t give me a choice.”
He glanced at her—sharp, unreadable. “You always have a choice. I just make it very hard to choose anything but me.”
He slid a file across the table.
Alesia opened it—and froze.
Inside were photos. Her. Taken months ago. At university. Walking. Laughing. Alone.
“You were watching me?” she whispered.
Nico stood slowly, walked around the table, and tilted her chin up.
“I never stopped,” he said. “After high school, I tried to forget you. But I couldn’t. You haunted me. So I bought you.”
Her stomach twisted.
“You’re sick,” she whispered.
He didn’t deny it. “You’re the only sickness I want to keep.”
She slapped him.
He caught her wrist. “Good,” he said. “Hurt me. Make me feel something. You always did.”
Then he kissed her—punishing and desperate.
He pushed her back against the wall, pulled the tie from her robe, and bared her inch by inch.
His mouth followed every reveal.
And when he lifted her, she wrapped around him not out of submission—but because something inside her needed him just as brokenly.
“I hate you,” she breathed against his throat.
“No,” he whispered, thrusting into her hard and deep. “You hate that you love this.”
And maybe she did.
But it didn’t stop her from crying out his name all the same.
- Writer
