Married to the Devil

“I don’t need chains, Darling”

The storm outside hammered against the windows, lightning carving jagged scars through the night. The mansion groaned with thunder, every shadow stretching long and sharp across the walls.

Leia’s breath came fast as she shoved a chair against the door. Her heart pounded so loud it drowned the rain. She had been waiting, watching, for the moment Jake left, listening to the echo of his footsteps fade.

Now.

She ripped the pins from her hair, letting it fall wild around her shoulders. Her wedding gown dragged across the floor as she darted to the wardrobe. Empty. Of course. Jake had already stripped it of everything that could belong to her.

Her fists slammed the wood. “Damn you!”

But she wouldn’t break. She couldn’t.

Her eyes darted to the balcony doors. The storm raged, but beyond the rail… freedom.

She pushed them open, rain lashing against her skin, soaking her silk dress. Wind whipped her hair into her face as she climbed over the railing. Below, the estate grounds sprawled like a dark labyrinth, guarded, no doubt, but she didn’t care. Better to break her bones than her spirit.

She swung one leg over…

“Going somewhere, wife?”

The voice was velvet and venom.

Leia froze. Slowly, she turned her head.

Jake stood in the shadows of the room, leaning lazily against the doorframe. He hadn’t left. He’d been watching. Hunting.

Her stomach dropped. “You…”

“Me,” he drawled, stepping into the flickering candlelight. Rain streaked across his shirt as if even the storm bowed to him. His smirk was sharp enough to cut. “I did say I enjoy chasing.”

Leia’s pulse spiked, but her defiance burned hotter. “Then catch me.”

Before she could second-guess, she let go.

The night swallowed her scream as she leapt from the balcony…

…but strong arms caught her mid-fall.

Her body slammed against his chest, the air knocked from her lungs. Jake held her like she weighed nothing, rain dripping down both their faces.

“You have got to be kidding me,” he murmured, voice hot against her ear.

She thrashed in his grip. “Put me down!”

“Oh, I will.” He carried her back inside, dripping rain across the polished floor. “Right where you belong.”

He kicked the balcony doors shut and dropped her onto the bed. Leia scrambled up, fury blazing in her eyes. “You don’t own me!”

Jake towered over her, jaw tight, stormlight flashing in his dark eyes. “That’s where you’re wrong.” He leaned down, caging her with his arms, his face inches from hers. “I warned you, Leia. Test me, and I’ll make you wish you hadn’t.”

Her voice shook, but her chin stayed high. “Do your worst.”

The silence stretched, thick, electric. Then Jake smiled, slow, merciless. “You don’t know what worst means. Yet.”

He reached into his pocket and tossed something onto the bed. A small velvet box.

Leia’s chest tightened. She flipped it open; inside was a diamond collar, glittering like a chain of ice.

Her blood went cold. “What is this?”

“Your reminder.” His voice was steel wrapped in silk. “You’re not a guest here. You’re mine. Body, name, freedom. All of it.”

Her hand trembled over the collar. “You’re a crazy person.”

Jake’s smile deepened. “And you’re married to me.”

Before she could answer, the lights snapped out. The storm outside cut the mansion into darkness.

Leia’s heart slammed against her ribs. “Jake?”

Silence.

Then, a whisper in the pitch-black room, right at her ear…

“Run if you want. I’ll always find you.”

The power stayed out.

Rain hammered the windows, thunder rolled like war drums, and the mansion sank into shadows. Leia’s breath came quick, every sound sharper in the dark: the creak of the floorboards, the steady rhythm of her heartbeat, and the soft, deliberate steps Jake made across the room.

“I can’t see you,” she whispered, hating the tremor in her voice.

“You don’t need to,” he murmured back. “I’m already closer than you want.”

Her hands searched blindly, fingers brushing the edge of the bed frame. She forced herself to stand tall. “You creep, stay away from me.”

He laughed, low and dark. “That’s not how this works.”

A streak of lightning split the sky, and for a flash, she saw him…towering, soaked, eyes burning with something that wasn’t just cruelty. Something far more dangerous.

Desire.

Her chest tightened. No. Impossible. She wouldn’t let her mind twist what she saw. He was the devil in silk, nothing more.

The darkness swallowed him again, but then, heat. His body was suddenly near, his breath ghosting her temple. She froze.

“Why do you fight me so hard, Leia?” His voice was low, silken. “Is it because you hate me… or because you’re terrified of what happens if you don’t?”

Her stomach flipped. She shoved at him in the dark, palms hitting his chest. “Get away!”

His hand caught hers, holding it against his heartbeat. It thudded strong, steady, alive under her fingers. “Feel that?” he murmured. “Does that scare you, too?”

Leia yanked free, stumbling back. “You disgust me.”

“Liar.” His voice was sharp, but not cruel, like he was cutting straight through her armor.

Another flash of lightning. Their eyes locked, her chest heaving, his lips curved in that wicked smirk.

Heat crawled up her neck. She hated him, every ruthless word, every controlling move, but her body betrayed her, drawn to the danger like fire to oxygen.

“Even if you chained me, you couldn’t have me,” she spat, desperate to smother the burn in her chest.

Jake stepped closer, and this time, he didn’t touch her. He only leaned in, his lips hovering inches from hers, his breath hot against her mouth. “I don’t need chains, darling.”

For one terrifying, breathless second, Leia thought he would kiss her. And worse, she thought she might let him.

But then the storm cracked louder, and Jake pulled back, his smirk deepening as if he knew every thought running through her mind.

“Sleep well, Leia,” he whispered. “Dream of freedom, if it comforts you. Tomorrow, you’ll learn how deep your prison really goes.”

He left her in the dark, the door closing with a soft click.

Leia collapsed against the bed, hands trembling, her pulse still racing.

“I hate him,” she whispered to the silence. But the burn in her chest, the way her lips tingled like a ghost of a touch…

…it betrayed her.

—

The storm broke at dawn.

Golden light poured through the curtains, sharp against the chaos inside Leia’s chest. She hadn’t slept; her body still hummed from Jake’s nearness on the stairs, every nerve burned raw.

She told herself it was rage. It had to be.

The door opened without warning.

Jake stepped in, fresh shirt, hair damp, as if the night hadn’t touched him. His eyes found her instantly, and something in his gaze made her knees weaken.

“You look like you didn’t sleep,” he drawled.

Leia shot to her feet. “Maybe because I was too busy plotting your murder.”

His smirk sharpened. “Good morning to you, too, darling.”

“Don’t call me that.”

He moved closer, slow and deliberate, and suddenly the room felt too small. Leia backed up until her spine hit the wall.

“Don’t,” she snapped, breath catching.

Jake’s hand pressed against the wall beside her head, caging her in. His face hovered inches from hers, his scent, dark spice, rain, danger, pulling her under.

“You keep saying don’t,” he murmured. “But every time I get close…” His lips brushed her ear, not quite a kiss. “…you stop breathing.”

Her chest rose and fell, furious at him, furious at herself. “I…hate…you.”

“Say it louder,” Jake whispered, leaning in, his lips just shy of hers. “Maybe then you’ll believe it.”

Her body betrayed her. Heat coiled low in her stomach, her pulse thundering so hard she thought he must feel it.

In a burst of desperation, she shoved him. Hard.

But Jake caught her wrists, slamming them gently but firmly against the wall above her head. Not cruel. Just claiming.

Leia gasped, fury and fire mixing until she didn’t know which burned hotter.

Jake’s eyes locked on hers. For a moment, the smirk was gone. His voice dropped low, raw. “You feel this, too. Stop lying to yourself.”

Their lips hovered, a breath apart. The storm inside her screamed, Kiss him, kill him, both.

And then, he pulled back. Just like that.

Jake released her wrists and stepped away, his control cutting sharper than any touch. “Not yet,” he said softly, almost to himself. “You’re not ready to beg me.”

Leia’s knees almost buckled. Fury flooded her, but so did something darker, something she refused to name.

She wiped her trembling hands on her dress. “I will never beg you.”

Jake glanced back, smirk returning, slow and lethal. “We’ll see.”

The door closed behind him, leaving her shaking, burning, and angrier than she had ever been, at him, at herself, at the way her lips still ached for the kiss that never came.

He hadn’t just cornered her. He had caged her.