Owned By My Enemy

Episode3

The cage was silent except for the sound of Alessia’s ragged breath. Every second she spent within its confines felt like a betrayal to her spirit. The metal bars pressed against her skin, their cold, unforgiving touch digging into her like a reminder of how trapped she really was.

Lorenzo stood just outside the cage, his eyes never leaving her. His posture was calm, almost casual, as if the entire scene unfolding before him was nothing more than a game to him—one he was winning. She wanted to scream. She wanted to fight him, tear the world apart just to escape the suffocating sense of powerlessness that gripped her chest.

But every time she looked at him, every time her gaze locked onto his, that unholy smirk of his seemed to freeze her in place. His eyes gleamed with dark amusement, a predator savoring the moment before the final kill.

“You think you’re in control,” she spat, her voice low but full of defiance. “But you have no idea who I am. You don’t know what I’m capable of.”

Lorenzo’s smirk deepened. His fingers flexed at his sides, and he slowly, deliberately, took a step closer to the cage. The tension in the room thickened like smoke, swirling around them both.

“I’m well aware of who you are,” he said, his voice cutting through the air like a blade. “The daughter of the Romano family. Blood and sin running through your veins. You think you can play this game, Alessia? You think you can walk in my world without consequences?”

Her heart skipped a beat at the mention of her family name. How had he known? She hadn’t spoken it aloud since the moment she’d entered the city. But of course, Lorenzo De Luca wasn’t just anyone. He was a monster cloaked in the skin of a man.

“You think you’re the first to underestimate me?” she demanded, fists clenched at her sides, her mind racing to find a way out of this hell. “You think you can break me with this pathetic little trap? You’re wrong, Lorenzo.”

His eyes gleamed with something dangerous, something darker than anything she had seen in him before.

“You misunderstand, Alessia,” he said softly, stepping closer until the bars of the cage separated them by mere inches. “This isn’t about breaking you. It’s about making you understand your place.”

She glared at him, but inside, her mind was a whirlwind. He knows. He knew exactly who she was and what she represented. And somehow, that realization made the walls around her feel even more suffocating. She wasn’t just trapped by the metal cage. She was trapped by the weight of her own bloodline.

“Where’s your bravado now?” Lorenzo taunted, leaning forward, his breath hot against the cold bars. “The great Alessia Romano, the princess of your family, now reduced to a frightened little girl locked up in a cage. How does it feel, knowing you’re powerless against me? That no one in your family can save you now?”

Her pulse thundered in her ears as she fought to steady her breath. Don’t show weakness, she reminded herself, her body trembling with anger and fear. But the fear… the fear was hard to ignore.

“I’m not afraid of you,” she growled, though the tremor in her voice betrayed her. “You’ll never control me, De Luca. You’re just a man.”

Lorenzo chuckled, the sound dark and full of menace. He stepped back, keeping his eyes locked on hers. “Oh, Alessia… You still don’t understand, do you?”

He turned away from her, a single glance over his shoulder enough to send a chill down her spine.

“This game has only just begun.”

Alessia clenched her fists. Game? That’s what this was to him? A game?

But she had underestimated him—again. She had thought she could play her cards, lie, deceive, and make him bow to her will. But Lorenzo wasn’t like the men she was used to dealing with. He wasn’t some arrogant fool who thought his power was a joke. He wasn’t some man who could be bought, controlled, or manipulated. He was the darkness she had spent her entire life running from. And now… now she was standing right in the heart of it.

She could feel it. The weight of it pressing down on her chest, making it hard to breathe. She wasn’t in control. Not here. Not now.

Lorenzo moved toward the far corner of the room, his hands casually slipping into his jacket pockets as if he were in no hurry at all. But Alessia knew better. He was always in control, even when he pretended to be anything but.

Without turning to face her, he spoke again, his voice as smooth and deadly as ever.

“Tonight was a lesson, Alessia. A small taste of what happens when you step too far out of line. You’re playing with fire. And in my world, fire burns.”

Alessia’s heart clenched at the thought of what he was implying. The Romano family had their own share of darkness, but De Luca… He was a different breed altogether. He was chaos, wrapped in a sleek suit, and he thrived in the destruction of everything around him.

Her pulse quickened as she realized the depths of the situation. Lorenzo wasn’t just trying to scare her. He was trying to break her down, piece by piece, until she was nothing but a weapon for him to use.

But she wasn’t so easily broken.

She pressed herself against the bars, refusing to let the fear consume her. “You think I’ll just bend to your will?” she scoffed. “You think I’ll let you break me? No. I will fight you until my last breath. You may think you’ve won, but you’ve only woken something inside me.”

Lorenzo stopped in his tracks, his back to her now, but his presence still looming over her like a shadow. “Fighting me won’t change anything. You’re mine now, Alessia. No matter how much you struggle. And you will struggle. I’ll make sure of it.”

With those words, the door to the room opened, and two more figures entered, their faces hidden behind black masks. The men stood in the doorway, silent, their presence as suffocating as the room itself.

Lorenzo turned back to her, his eyes burning with cold malice. “And now… you’ll meet my associates. They’ll be taking over from here.”

Alessia’s heart sank. She wasn’t sure what she had expected, but it sure as hell wasn’t this.

Lorenzo’s voice cut through the thick air one last time, as chilling as ice.

“Welcome to your new reality, Alessia.”