THE DEVIL'S SILK

CHAPTER 4 - 90 DAYS DEAL

The handwriting was jagged and panicked, the ink slightly smeared, Amara stared at the write-up blankly.

“If you’re reading this, then he’s already chosen you, he doesn’t kill with knives. He kills with control. You’ll feel alive, loved, even safe, until you start hearing the music at night. Whatever you do, don’t let him play that song for you, the moment he does, it means he’s ready to destroy you too.”

Amara’s hands trembled, her heart raced.

She looked up, Lucien was staring at her. But he wasn’t angry, he wasn’t amused, he looked haunted. Like he had expected her reaction

“You know I admire your braveness alot, He spoke

“Is it true?” she asked, interrupting him, her voice breaking. “Did you kill her?”

“No.” he answered plainly

“Then why did she write this?”

He took a slow step toward her. “Because she fell in love with me.”

“And?” Amara asked

“And love turns people mad in this house.” He was close enough to touch her now, but he didn’t. His voice dropped to a warning whisper.

“You should have obeyed me, Amara. I was giving you time, I was being kind.”

“You think this is kindness huh?” she snapped. “Trapping women in this damn forsaken building or do you think it is by controlling them?”

“No.” He smiled thinly. “Kindness was not chaining you to the piano bench the first night.”

She moved to push past him. But he grabbed her arm gently, but firm enough to remind her who he was.

“You want the truth?” he asked. She remained still. “The last girl didn’t die because I killed her.”

He leaned in, eyes cold.

“She begged me to play for her, so I did and by the time the song was over, she was already hanging from the chandelier.”

Amara yanked herself free, stumbling back, heart pounding, she couldn't believe what he said “You're lying”

“Am I?” he said softly. “Then tell me Amara, why do you think you’ve started humming that melody already?”

She froze, how did he know about that? For some strange reason, the sound from the piano room couldn't leave her mind.

He walked past her, leaving her in the piano room, letter trembling in her hand.

And from somewhere deeper in the house, a single piano note played itself and no one was there.

Leaving the room, Amara walked to her room. Returning to her room, everything that occurred in the piano room replayed in her head.

She couldn't believe how much of a devil he is. The silence in the room was so quiet that she could hear her own heartbeat.

Just then the door opened, and standing behind it was the devil, Lucien Dante, he was holding a glass filled with liquor.

Taking a step inside the room, Lucien stood in front of the floor to ceiling windows, sipping his dark liquor from a crystal glass, his silhouette painted in moonlight.

Amara sat stiffly on her large bed, wrists on her lap, heart pounding against her ribs like it was trying to escape her chest.

“You wanted to leave right,” Lucien said without facing her. “You wanted a choice.”

But she didn’t answer.

“So I’m giving you one” Lucien continued

He continued walking, slow and calm like the storm he kept behind his eyes.

“You have ninety days,” he said. “Three months and in these three months, you will follow my rules, you will earn my trust, my protection and my favour.”

“And when the ninety days are up?” she asked.

“You’ll be free to walk or……” His lips curled, “You’ll beg to stay on your knees.”

He set a thick, black folder on the glass table between them. The seal was waxed with red blood.

“What is this?” She asked picking it up from the glass

“The terms” Lucien said staring at her trying to get her reaction

“Of what?” She questioned

“Your training, your obedience and your evolution.”

She opened the folder.

Pages of brutal detail, contracts without safe words, clauses about silence, consent to punishment, erotic conditioning, and complete submission to Lucien’s commands in exchange for luxury, protection and pleasure.

Her hand trembled. “This isn’t a contract,” she whispered. “It’s a leash.”

Lucien smiled. “No, Amara. This is a stage and I want to see you perform.”

He stepped closer, unbuttoning his cuff slowly. “You think I don’t see you? all that fire under your skin, burning for control, begging to be handled?”

He knelt in front of her, voice lowering. “You’re not scared of me, you’re scared of what I make you feel.”

“You don’t make me feel anything.” She retorted

“Liar.” he said while his hand brushed her ankle, slowly tracing upward. Her breath hitched.

He stared at her “Well your facial expressions say otherwise”.

Using two of his fingers, he slowly moves them upwards creating a hot sensation between her legs.

Amara gasped, trying to stop herself from moaning she hated how his touch made her feel

Lucien went ahead touching the tip of her c**t, gaining a moan from her.

“I love how you sound baby” Lucien said pulling his finger out of her

“I hate you” Amara said, she hates the fact that his touch sends shivers down her body, his touch, his words were just so controlling.

“ I love you more baby,” Lucien said, leaving a smirk. “I have something else for you baby”.

“If you agree, you will wear my collar. Not now, but when you’re ready to surrender the lie that you hate this.”

Amara stared at him, for a while. Ignoring her, he said, “And I will be needing your signature”.

“And if I don’t sign?” Amara questioned

Lucien stood up. “Then the games stop, you become just another broken pet in my collection fed, dressed and forgotten”, he said staring at her.

He slid a pen across the table. “Sign the last page, and the pleasure begins. Don’t sign and the punishments will begin.”

Amara stared at the final page.

It was blank except for the signature line and a name already printed beneath it.

“Amara Vale , Property of Lucien Dante.”

She looked up at him. He simply raised a brow and said, calmly

“Your first session begins in the punishment chair whether you sign or not.”