Sleeping With The Devil

Chapter Two

Dangerous Promises

Willow’s

Though sunshine comes in through the wide windows, the room seems colder when I wake. As memories of last night flood back, my head hurts and reality begins to seep in. Adrian, ever-observant and ever-calculating, mutters at the engagement party. His comments ring true in my head, black and loaded with promises I cannot avoid.

Realizing I'm alone in his suite, I sit up with the silk sheets slipping off my shoulders. My pulse contracts. Right now, he is playing what game?

The door creaks open, and there he is, sharply dark suit-dressed, his gaze unreadable. "I see you're awake," he replies, his voice silky but faintly sarcastic.

I whisper, putting the covers about myself, "Adrian." "I find... confusing. Why not let me know about the contract? About the way my father arranged things?

He approaches closely, hands in his pockets, staring at me with that terrible look. Willow, your father, and I have businesses. Simply put, our marriage is an extension of that.

Trying to calm my voice, I grip my fists under the sheets. Is that all I represent to you? An instrument for negotiations?

He sighs, acting annoyed. "You are my wife. These days, that is what counts.

wife? Like an iron shackle around my neck, the phrase seems hollow and weighty. "This is a prison, not a marriage."

Something flickers across his face, lost before I can understand it. He gets closer, his voice almost whisper-like. "Where you would wind up without me is a prison, Willow. Alternatively, did you suppose your father's debts would simply disappear without any cost?

My pulse quickens as a mixture of wrath and terror rises in my chest. "You knew about the debt?"

He laughs, a low, hazardous sound. "I know everything, Willow".

I cannot stand it anymore. I removed the covers and confronted him directly. You believe you run my life? That will I just line up since you have some influence over my family?

He smiles, a shockingly confident sight that makes my blood boil. Indeed, I am. Because you are smart enough to see that me is the only path out of this.

"Or maybe I could just leave," I say, feeling a careless burst of rebellion. "What would you do then?"

Adrian narrows his eyes and stiffens his face. "I wouldn't test Willow," I said.

Between us, a quiet, heavy, crackling with tension stretches. He leans out and brushes a hair strand from my face, his touch sending shivers down my spine.

"You could hate me now," he says, his voice gentle but tinged with danger. But you'll start to see things my way by the time I'm finished.

My heart is hammering in my chest, his words encircle me like chains. Adrian knows I have been caught.

Holding the necklace Adrian placed on the vanity, I stood in front of the mirror, attempting to keep my hands steady. The diamond reminds me of what I have given up—and what has been snatched from me—feels cold against my flesh.

My ideas are broken off by a knock on the door. I say, "Come on," my voice almost above a whisper.

Sophia walks in when the door opens—my sole true friend in this house. She smiles sympathetically, her dark eyes reading my face as though it were the turbulence inside me.

She murmurs, "Dinner's ready," then approaches. But are you alright?

I nod even though the lie tastes bad. "I'm alright." Just... modifying.

Sophia's eyes became rigid. "If he's hurting you,"

I lie, my throat constricting: "He isn't." He's simply... complicated.

She sighs and looks across her shoulder, as though looking down the corridor. "Willow, you know you can count on me. Though Adrian seems unbeatable, everyone has flaws.

I grin forcedly, but her words stay in my head. Flights of weakness Adrian seems impervious and unbreakable. Perhaps—just perhaps—she is correct. She goes in carrying the necklace I left for her head. Fantastic. She is participating, even if her disobedience is seething under the surface.

Sitting across from her, every action deliberate and elegant, I pay close attention to her. Her eyes sparkle with a fire unlike anything else. She hasn't broken even though she could feel imprisoned. Not Yet.

I started pouring wine into her glass. "How are you finding your new life?"

She looks at me, a flash of rebellion. Suffocating.

I sipped my wine, eyebrows raised. It doesn't have to be this way. You could create this easily.

She raises her glass and smirches. "Simpler? You mean, for you?

"For the two of us." I backed off and observed her. "You’d be surprised how good life could be if you just accepted it."

With a clink, she sets her glass down and fingers clench on the stem. I would never take it. Adrian, I will never be what you want.

I tighten my jaw and start to become annoyed. She resists more than I could have imagined. Still, I enjoy a challenge.

"I wouldn't be so sure," I added gently. "You would be surprised at how rapidly things might change."

She says, voice tinged with wrath and a trace of dread, "Is that a threat?"

"Just a fact," I say, allowing the stillness to envelop us thick and charged.

Staying in bed and staring at the ceiling, the weight of the day bears down on me. Bound to a man committed to possessing every aspect of me, I feel like a stranger in my own life.

Closing my eyes, sleep eludes me. I start to feel uncomfortable, then sit up and look around the dark room. Under the door, I see a flutter of light and hear muffled voices along the corridor.

Curiosity drives me out of bed as well as something else—perhaps dread. I slink to the door and open it just enough to find Adrian chatting to a towering, shadowless form. Their tones are quiet but urgent.

The man probes, "You sure she doesn't suspect?"

Adrian responds with a chilly demeanor. She is too little to know anything.

I get shivers running down my back. They refer to me, right?

"Just make sure you hold up your end of the deal," Adrian sharply says. "I won't let errors exist."

The man nods and then vanishes down the hall without another word. Adrian looks back, and my heart thumping, I fast close the door.

What was it about? An agreement? And why ought I be kept in the dark?

I back away from the door, thinking furiously. Adrian is concealing something that goes beyond mere regulation. something vast.

My pulse still racing, I fall back in bed and stare into the darkness, dread sinking into my stomach.

Now, I see that Adrian's influence over me has nothing to do with our warped marriage or the obligations of my family. I'm afraid to find out what it is; it's something deeper, something he's buried. One thing, nevertheless, is quite clear:

Whatever Adrian Blackwell hides will fundamentally alter everything. And I must learn before it is too late to survive.