Bondage

Chapter Six: The Price of Defiance

The dining room stretched long and glistening, lit by an overhead chandelier that looked like dripping ice. Tari sat at the end of a polished mahogany table, surrounded by women she’d never met but somehow already knew.

Not by names.

By the silences they wore like makeup.

Bride Number Two, elegant and quiet, sliced her fruit with surgical precision. Number Three, younger than Tari, stared at her plate like it might scream. Number Four had the sharp eyes of a woman who once dared and regretted it.

And then there was Bride Number Five—the woman in red—smiling like she knew how the story ended.

Felix stood at the head of the table, charming as ever. “To family,” he toasted.

Only Tari raised her glass halfway.

---

After lunch, Tari lingered near the gallery wall where their portraits hung—one frame per wife. Her own image had already been painted, but the eyes were wrong. Dull. Trained.

“What’s the real cost of saying no?” she asked aloud.

“You want truth?” a voice came from behind.

It was Bride Number Four. “Last time someone refused him, her tongue ended up in a gift box.”

Tari swallowed hard.

“She’s Bride Number One. You didn’t meet her because... well, you can’t talk with a breathing tube.”

---

That night, Jericho found her alone on the terrace. The moon hung low, silver and cold.

“I thought you said this phase meant less danger,” she said.

Jericho’s face darkened. “I said it would look safer. Not be safer.”

He leaned in closer, whispering, “Felix’s real leverage isn’t money. It’s the ledger. Names. Codes. Blackmail. And blood.”

“Then why are you still here?” Tari asked.

Jericho’s eyes flickered, haunted. “Because I helped build this hell. And I’m the only one who knows how to burn it down.”

---

Flashback – Seven Years Ago

Gunshots echoed inside the shipping warehouse. Smoke clouded the air as two men ran—one dragging a bloodied briefcase, the other carrying a duffel bag full of cash.

“Move, Jericho!” Felix shouted, younger and wild-eyed.

Jericho followed, pistol drawn, firing blindly at shadows. Operation Cleaver was a success, but the fallout was worse than they’d imagined. Dozens died. Evidence was buried. Enemies were made.

And among those enemies... was Richard.

They didn’t know it yet, but that night sealed their fates. And Tari’s.

---

Present Day

Tari stood by the locked safe Felix kept hidden behind his bookcase.

The very safe from the surveillance feed. The one that held the ledger.

She traced her fingers across the steel.

And whispered, “Let’s play.”