Chapter 2
1179 Words
Emery’s world shrank the moment Nicholas led her out of the gallery. She didn’t even have enough time to processs the situation. Ordinarily, she would take some time to come up with a solution that would be favorable to herself, but that was a luxury right now, one that was out of her reach. It was easily the most clueless moment of her life.
The air outside was sharp with the bite of late autumn, but it wasn’t the chill that sent shivers down her spine, it was him. The figure that has become her problem now as well as a possible nightmare.
He had placed a possessive hand at her back, guiding her toward a clean black car that gleamed under the city lights. At first, she hesitated, her instincts screaming at her to turn and run away from him. But then his fingers curled, which served a silent warning, and her breath caught in her throat.
“Please get in,” he ordered, his voice smooth, too controlled for the situation.
He didn’t look at her, he didn’t even look in her direction as he ordered her into the waiting vehicle. He was instead, looking around as if scanning the area for something Emery could not see. He also refused the driver holding the door open for him, ordering him to get behind the steering instead.
Emery resisted. She was not sure as to why he was acting this way, and was much more unsure if it was a wise decision to follow him to wherever it was that he wanted to take her.
This is not a good idea. She thought to herself. Considering it was just him, herself and his driver. Not even a word of where they were heading to.
She swallowed hard. “Where are we going?”
Nicholas arched a brow. In his world, he saw no reason why she should oppose, resist or even question him “You belong to me now, Emery. Do you think you get to ask questions?”
He sounded very serious, which made Emery’s pulse raced wildly, a mixture of fear and something else, something darker, something dangerously close to anticipation. She hated that her body reacted to his dominance, that his presence sent a rush of heat through her veins. He was a storm, and she was being pulled into the eye of it.
Still, she refused to make this easy for him. She needed to be careful, to play safe “But I don’t belong to you.” She said, masking he fear so perfectly it couldn’t be detected in her voice. But she was indeed scared. “There is no where we had such agreement.”
Nicholas’s lips curled into a smirk. “You keep telling yourself that.” He said, soothing his forehead with his fingers “You know, the mind plays tricks, good ones though… I must say. It tries to make us feel comfortable or confident when we shouldn’t… it gives hope even when we find ourselves in the most hopeless situations.”
“You speak as if I’m—"
Nicholas won’t let her finish. He knew she was stalling and he didn’t have the time for those games. He opened the car door, waiting. The power in his stance was undeniable, and when she didn’t move fast enough, he leaned in, his breath hot against her ear. “That’s it. Now get in Emery. Before I decide to carry you.”
This time, he sounded dead serious.
A shiver ran through her, and she hated herself for the way her stomach twisted in response. Without another word, she reluctantly slid into the car.
Nicholas Vale was dangerous, so everyone said, and so she believed too. And God help her, she was already caught in his web.
The silence inside the car was suffocating. The hum of the engine, the faint sounds of the city beyond the tinted windows, none of it mattered. All Emery could hear was the steady, controlled breathing of the man beside her. He didn’t speak, didn’t so much as glance her way, but his presence filled the space, pressing down on her like an invisible weight.
She clenched her hands into fists in her lap and summoned the courage to start a conversation. “Where are you taking me?”
Nicholas exhaled, slow and deliberate, as if considering whether she was worth answering. Finally, he turned his head, his eyes pinning her in place. “Home.”
Her stomach clenched. “Yours?”
A smirk flickered at the corner of his lips. “Where else, if not mine?”
Emery’s heart pounded. Of course, she had known from the start. But hearing her suspicion being confirmed made it real. Too real.
“This is insane,” she muttered, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. “You can’t just—”
“Actually I can,” he interrupted smoothly. “And I have.”
She turned to face him fully, her eyes blazing. “You think you own me just because I owe you for some artwork?”
Nicholas reached out, his fingers tracing the line of her jaw with a touch so soft it sent a tremor through her body. “That was not some artwork.” He said calmly “and I don’t think, I know.”
She pulled her face away from his touch, her breath uneven. “If there is one thing you should know, it is that I won’t let you control me.”
His smile was slow, portraying a dark confidence “You’re already mine, sweetheart. Normally, I’ll say I don’t think you have an option. But in this situation, there is nothing to think about because I know for a fact that you do not have an option. The only question is how long you’ll fight it.” And with a relaxing tone, he finished “I believe not too long.”
“You’re too confident for these things that exist only in your head.” Emery shot back.
“Only in my head?” he scoffed, “if you had any other option, you would have proposed it to me already.”
He was saying the truth. Emery knew this. And she felt pained, not because of the truth, buut because of the mockery laced confidence with which he reinforced every word.
The car pulled to a stop outside a towering skyscraper, its glass exterior reflecting the city lights like a fortress of steel and shadows. The driver stepped out, opening Nicholas’s door first, then hers.
Emery hesitated, her pulse racing. The moment she stepped out, she was crossing a line. One she might never be able to come back from.
Nicholas extended a hand, an unspoken command in the way he waited. She could refuse, maybe she could run too. But they both knew she wouldn’t get far.
With a deep breath, she placed her hand in his. His fingers curled around hers, firm, possessive.
She stepped out of the car and then he led her inside.
- Writer
