CHAPTER 005
1696 Words
FIORELLA’S POV
PROPERTY OF DON RHYS
I stared at the fresh tattoo on my waist in the mirror hung on the wall of the office, rage brimming inside of me.
The tattooed skin still burned.
Yes, I was no stranger to ink—the tattoos on my body were proof of that—but having him tatted on my body without my permission made me see red.
Behind me, Rhys sat lazily on the edge of the bed, watching my reaction like he was admiring his handiwork.
He even had the audacity to make the lettering elegant.
“You’re insane,” I whispered again, my voice trembling with fury this time instead of fear.
Rhys didn’t look remorseful in the slightest. “You keep saying that like it’s news.”
I tore my eyes away from the mirror and turned to face him. “You branded me like an animal.”
“I don’t care how it makes you feel if that’s why you’re mad,” he said. “I’m thinking of the placement for your next tattoo.”
My stomach twisted violently.
The worst part was how calm he looked about it all.
Like forcing me into marriage and tattooing his name onto my body in the span of a few hours was perfectly normal behavior.
I grabbed the nearest thing I could reach—a glass paperweight from the desk—and hurled it at him.
Rhys caught it effortlessly before it could hit his face.
A dangerous smile spread slowly across his lips. “Fighting me will only make things worse for you. It’s very late. You should get some rest.”
Rage nearly blinded me. “You’re ruining my life!”
“And you ruined mine first.”
The words hit like a slap.
Silence crashed between us.
Rhys stood and walked toward me.
I refused to back down even when every instinct screamed at me to.
His gaze dropped to my waist in the mirror behind me, then back to my face. “Do you hate it?”
“I hate you,” I retorted. “I hate everything you’re doing to me. You’re f*****g sick in the head. Just wait until I tell your brother about this.”
I turned to walk away but he caught me and pinned me to the mirror, his hand around my neck.
“You will tell him nothing,” he warned. “To everyone else we’re madly in love but privately you can do whatever you want. Do you understand?”
I leaned closer despite the hand around my throat. “f**k. No.”
His grip tightened, almost cutting off my air. “If you so much as breathe a word about how I treat you in private to anyone, I’ll kill you.”
My eyes widened with horror.
The look in his eyes told me he wasn’t bluffing.
A chill slithered down my spine.
In that moment, all I could think about was my son who had no one else but me and the people I paid to watch over him.
If I died, they would discard him.
No.
“You can scratch me as much as you want, doll,” he said, then his voice dropped to a whisper, “it only turns me on.”
He leaned closer until his lips were just an air’s breath away from mine.
“You can fight me every step of the way and I’ll tolerate that because honestly, I’d be disappointed if you made this easy for me.”
My breath came out in short, uneven bursts.
“But when we’re in public, you’ll keep your lips sealed and act like the perfect loving wife or I’m going to hurt you very badly,” he continued. “Do you understand me?”
Fear crawled into my chest.
I could handle myself with everyone else, but with him, I felt weak and helpless.
I wanted to hurt him so bad.
But I knew I was no match for him physically so I needed to act smart.
I nodded. “Yes.”
His tone turned cruel. “As it stands, you’re just one of the many whores at my disposal. Nothing more. Do you understand?”
No.
I hesitated for a second, then said, “Yes.”
“Good.”
Then he pulled away.
I almost stumbled when he let go, but caught myself quickly.
“Get some sleep,” he said, picking up his phone from the desk. “We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”
He moved to the door, then paused with his hand on the doorknob.
“By the way, our wedding is in a week. You’ll officially become my queen.”
Then he disappeared through the door, shutting it with more force than necessary behind him.
Whatever remorse I carried for the past died the moment he walked out that door.
I’d do anything to leave the hell he had created for me. I just needed to be smart about it.
❧
It had been hours since Rhys left, no doubt to see his mistress who coincidentally looked like me.
I didn’t even care.
I just wanted to get out of here.
But each time I checked the peephole on the door, I spotted an armed guard standing outside the room.
I had searched every corner of the office for anything that could pry the windows open as they were sealed shut, but I found nothing.
By 3AM, I checked the through the peephole again and to my surprise, the guard wasn’t there anymore.
Maybe he had gone to use the bathroom or something else, but I didn’t care to wait.
I opened the door and peeked at both sides of the hallway.
Fortunately, it was clear.
I shut the door behind me gently, careful not to make a sound, then hurried down the stairs to the main hall.
I froze mid-step.
Some men were smoking by the front door, so I quietly moved behind the staircase to the back of the warehouse.
My heart kept thumping too loudly.
I couldn’t hear anything else.
I walked into a room that looked like a kitchen, except it wasn’t properly furnished.
It was almost pitch-black save for the light coming in through the window, illuminating only a small part of the room.
But I was certain it would have a door leading outside.
I just had to keep feeling along the walls until I found it. Anything was better than staying here.
That was how badly I wanted to escape Rhys Gravari.
Voices echoed from outside the kitchen.
I pressed my back against a wall and waited until the voices faded away before continuing my search for the door.
I was still blindly groping the wall like a pervert when my side hit the counter.
Hard.
A scream almost escaped me.
I clamped my mouth shut with my hand and forced myself to stay still as pain racked through me.
The pain was unbearable, even for someone like me who had a high pain threshold.
Eventually, the pain dulled into a throbbing ache.
I continued searching for the door and that was when my hand fell on something on the counter, a small knife.
I picked it up and shoved it into my back pocket.
A few more minutes passed and I finally felt a crack between the brick wall and the metal door.
My hand went lower until it closed around the doorknob.
Taking a deep breath, I turned it.
And it opened.
I nearly cried from relief.
Fresh, cold air hit my face as I opened the door.
“Leaving already?” I heard a voice behind me.
I jumped, nearly peeing my pants.
I turned and even in the dim light, I could see Rhys standing shirtless behind me, a murderous expression on his face.
My heart leapt into my throat.
I moved to run away but he caught me before I could take two steps outside the building.
His hand reached out and grabbed my wrist.
I used his momentum against him and twisted out of his hold.
From the surprise look on his face, I was certain he wasn’t expecting that.
He had no idea how hard I’d trained to survive the life I’d lived.
Adrenaline pumped through my veins.
I used his shock to my advantage and tried to kick him in the groin—my go-to defense move.
Rhys moved even faster, sweeping my legs clean off the ground.
I fell to the ground on my ass hard enough to hurt. “f**k—“
Before I could even process the pain, he was on top of me, pinning me to the ground with his palm dangerously close to my cleavage.
He smirked in my face like he was enjoying this.
I reacted fast and hit him in the jaw with all my strength, causing his head to snap back as I rolled out from under him.
I stood up and tried to run away again but his hand closed around my ankle and pulled, making me lose my balance.
I fell again, this time on my stomach, the impact knocking the air out of my lungs.
But my body didn’t register the pain.
I began crawling away, dragging my body on the ground in a desperate bid to escape him.
He turned me over and pressed his warm body against me, his hips settling between mine and his smile still in place. “Is this your definition of foreplay, doll?”
I struggled against him with one hand, the other reaching behind me. “Get off me!”
“I’m curious to see how far you would go to escape me,” he teased huskily. “Make me.”
With all my might, I moved to hit my head against his nose, but he ducked in time.
That was enough distraction for me.
I pulled out the knife from my pocket and drove it into his side without thinking twice.
Surprise and desire flashed across his face. “Impressive. That’s so… hot.”
Then his body went limp on top of mine.
- Writer
