Sin & Silk

Chapter 2: His House,Her Cage

Ashley

I don’t remember getting dressed. One moment I was pacing my room like a caged animal, the next I was stuffing clothes into a small bag I barely thought to pack. Pajamas. Toothbrush. The necklace my mother left me before she died, the only thing in this house that was mine and couldn’t be sold off to pay my father’s debts.

I thought about climbing out the window. About running barefoot down the street, flagging down a passing car, begging a stranger to take me anywhere but here, but when I peeked through the curtains again, Riley was still there. Still staring. Like he’d known I’d try to run. Like he was daring me to test him.

And so, I didn’t run. Not yet.

When I stepped out of my room, my father was waiting in the hallway. His shoulders slumped when he saw the bag in my hand like he’d been hoping I’d fight harder or maybe hoping I wouldn’t hate him so much for giving me away.

“Sweetheart…” he started.

“Don’t,” I said sharply. The word tasted like poison on my tongue. “Just don’t.”

He opened his mouth, closed it again. I wondered what he’d tell people when they asked where I’d gone. Maybe he’d pretend I was studying abroad. Maybe he’d pretend I’d wanted this. Maybe he’d pretend I didn’t exist at all.

Riley’s voice echoed up the staircase. “Ashley.”

One word. My name. It sounded so different from his lips like a promise and a threat all tangled together.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced myself to move. Down the stairs, past the living room that still smelled faintly of my mother’s perfume. Past the old photographs of birthdays and Christmases and a life that was never really mine, not the way I thought it was.

And then I was outside, the night air cold against my skin. Riley opened the back door of the sleek black car himself. He didn’t offer to take my bag. Didn’t say a word. Just waited.

I paused at the edge of the car, clutching the strap of my bag so tightly my fingers ached. “Where are you taking me?” I asked.

He arched an eyebrow. “Home.”

I hated the way he said it. Like he was claiming something that wasn’t his to claim. Like he was right.

I ducked into the car, ignoring the way his eyes lingered on me as he closed the door behind me. The interior smelled like leather and something sharp and clean, nothing like my father’s dusty old car that hadn’t been washed in months.

Riley slid in beside me a moment later. The car pulled away from the curb without a sound. I didn’t look back at my father standing in the doorway. I didn’t want to see if he was crying. I didn’t want to see if he wasn’t.

For a while, neither of us said anything. The city lights blurred by outside the tinted windows. My hands trembled in my lap, but I refused to let him see.

Finally, I forced myself to speak. “What do you want from me?”

Riley didn’t turn to look at me. His voice was calm, almost bored. “You know what I want.”

“No, I don’t. Because none of this makes sense. You’re rich, you could have any woman you wanted. Why me?”

He let out a soft laugh that made the hairs on my arms stand on end. “Because I don’t want any woman. I want the one your father cares about most.”

The words hit me like a slap. “So this is revenge?”

“Call it leverage,” he said. “Call it a business arrangement. Call it whatever helps you sleep at night.”

I turned my head to glare at him. His profile was sharp in the passing streetlights cold eyes, a mouth that looked like it could be soft if he wanted it to be. But he didn’t want it to be. Not for me.

“I’ll never love you,” I said quietly.

He didn’t flinch. “Good,” he said. “Love is messy. Unreliable. I don’t want it from you.”

The car slowed, then turned down a narrow, private drive flanked by tall iron gates. My stomach dropped as they swung open to reveal a house…no, a mansion glowing like a dark promise at the end of the long road.

When the car stopped, Riley stepped out first. He didn’t wait for me, just opened my door, as if daring me to hesitate.

I stepped out into the cold night air. The house loomed above me, all glass and stone and shadows. It didn’t feel like home. It felt like a cage dressed up in luxury.

Riley stepped closer, so close I could feel the warmth of him against my chilled skin. He leaned down, his mouth close to my ear.

“Welcome home, Mrs. Carter,” he murmured.

And then, as I stood frozen on the gravel driveway, the mansion door swung open and a woman I’d never seen before stepped out into the light. Tall. Beautiful. Smirking like she knew a secret I didn’t.

“Riley,” she purred, ignoring me completely. “I didn’t expect you so soon. And who’s this?”

Riley’s smile was razor-sharp as he looked between us. “This,” he said slowly, eyes flicking back to mine, “is my fiancée.”

The woman’s smile didn’t fade, if anything, it grew sharper. “Oh. Interesting.”

And in that moment, I knew whatever I’d stepped into was worse than anything I’d imagined.