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Serene’s POV
The red room pulsed with shadows, its satin bed a stark island in the dim light. I knelt on all fours, my palms pressing into the soft mattress, my skirt hiked up to expose my trembling thighs.
My face buried in the sheets, muffling my ragged breaths, my black hair spilling like ink across the red fabric.
Nervousness coiled tight in my chest, my body a live wire after disobeying Nicholas by entering this forbidden space. I was trembling in fear and my eyes hut tightly.
The air was thick with his scent—cedar, bourbon, danger—and I felt him moving behind me, a predator circling its prey. My heart raced, anticipation and fear tangling into a knot I couldn’t unravel.
A jolt shot through me as his hand landed on my ass, firm and deliberate, smothering my tender skin.
