CHAPTER 2: A CONTRACT WRITTEN IN BLOOD
275 Words
The contract was thicker than she expected.
Pages of terms. Clauses. Conditions.
Ownership disguised as legality.
Elize flipped through it slowly, refusing to rush—even with Luca standing across from her, watching like a predator with patience.
“You’re taking your time,” he noted.
“I’m reading what you expect me to sign my life away to,” she replied.
His lips curved slightly.
“Smart.”
She didn’t return the compliment.
Halfway through, she paused.
“Clause twelve,” she said. “I live in your house. Under your rules.”
“Yes.”
“Clause sixteen,” she continued. “Public appearances required. No deviation.”
“Yes.”
Then she looked up.
“Clause twenty-one.”
Something shifted—just slightly.
“Define loyalty.”
Luca stepped closer.
Close enough that the air changed again.
“Loyalty,” he said, “means you don’t betray me.”
Simple.
Clean.
Terrifying.
Elize held his gaze.
“And if you betray me?”
A beat.
Silence stretched.
Then—
“You won’t be in a position to ask that question,” Luca said.
There it was.
The truth.
Not hidden. Not softened.
She nodded slowly.
Then picked up the pen.
Her hand didn’t shake.
Not when she signed her name.
Not when she sealed her fate.
But as she pushed the contract back toward him, her eyes met his again.
And this time—
There was something deeper there.
Something he didn’t understand yet.
“Congratulations,” Luca said quietly.
“You belong to me now.”
Elize smiled faintly.
No fear.
No hesitation.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
- Writer
