Chapter Three
1178 Words
The Cage That Closes
Sienna’s POV
The gates slam shut behind us and the sound echoes through the night, it was loud, final, and inescapable. My chest tightens.
No.
No, no, no.
I lunge for the door again, yanking at the handle even though I already know it’s useless. Locked. Of course it’s locked.
“Stop the car!” I snap.
No one listens.
The vehicle glides smoothly up the long driveway, like nothing just happened or like I wasn’t dragged out of my apartment and thrown back into the one place I fought to escape.
“Dominic,” I say, turning to him, my voice sharper now. “Tell them to stop the damn car.”
He doesn’t even look at me. “Keep driving.” He hesitated.
My hands curl into fists. “hmph….you don’t get to do this!”
That gets his attention and his head turns slowly, with his gray eyes locking onto mine. Calm and controlled and he looked unmoved. “I just did.”
Something inside me snaps. “Take me back,” I demand. “Right now.”
“No.” He said.
I let out a shaky breath, trying to hold onto the anger instead of the fear clawing its way up my throat. “You can’t just decide I live here again.”
“I’m not asking you to live here,” he says.
The car slows as it pulls up in front of the mansion. Lights blaze across the massive structure. Guards line the perimeter. Cameras shift, tracking every movement, like a fortress and like a prison.
My stomach twists. “Then what exactly are you doing?” I ask.
The car stops, and Dominic reaches for the door. “Keeping you alive.”
It’s so simple and so certain. Like nothing else matters.
The door opens and cold air rushes in. He steps out first, then turns back toward me, holding out his hand.
I stare at it. “I’m not taking your hand.”
A flicker of something crossed his face, it was gone too quickly to name. “Then don’t,” he says.
And just like that, he reaches in, grips my arm, and pulls me out anyway.
“Dominic…!” I screamed.
“Enough.” He said. The word is quiet. But it shuts me up.
Not because I want it to. But because something in his tone tells me pushing him right now won’t end well.
My feet hit the ground and the stones crunched under my heels as I steady myself, glaring up at him. “You don’t get to control me anymore.”
His jaw tightens. “Then stop putting yourself in situations where I have to.”
My breath catches. “I didn’t ask for that!” I shoot back. “I didn’t ask for men to break into my apartment!”
“No,” he agrees. And for the first time, there’s something darker in his eyes. “You didn’t.”
A chill runs down my spine. Before I can ask what that means, he starts walking, pulling me with him toward the entrance. I dig my heels in. “I’m not going inside.”
He doesn’t stop. “Dominic, I mean it….” I snapped.
“You’re already inside.” He replied.
The massive doors swing open before we even reach them. Of course they do. Someone was watching and someone is always watching.
I hate it. The moment we step in, the doors shut behind us with a heavy thud.
And just like that…. I feel it. I feel that invisible weight pressing down on my chest.
It felt like a cage. It never left. “Take her upstairs,” Dominic orders.
My head snaps toward him. “Excuse me?”
A man steps forward, he is broad, intimidating, and his eyes sharp. I recognize him. That was Marcus.
“I can walk by myself,” I say coldly.
Dominic’s gaze flicks to me. “Good.” Then he turns away. Like I’m already handled and like I’m already contained. Rage burns through me. “Dominic.”
Then he stops and slowly turns back.
“This doesn’t mean anything,” I say, my voice steady despite the storm inside me. “I’m not staying.”
Silence stretches between us. Then he steps closer. Too close. “You are,” he says quietly.
My heart pounds. “No,” I whisper. “I’m not.”
His eyes darken. “Yes,” he says.
And then…. He leans in slightly. But close enough that I feel his breath against my skin. “Because the next time they come for you…” his voice drops to something low and deadly, “…I won’t be there to stop them in time.”
My stomach twists and fear flickers. I hate that it does. I pull back, shaking my head. “You’re lying.”
He straightens. “No.”
“They weren’t there to scare you, Sienna.”
My breath catches. Something about the way he says it, sounds too certain and too final.
“They were there,” Dominic continues, his gaze locking onto mine, “to take you.”
The room spins slightly. “What…?”
“And if they had succeeded,” he adds quietly, “you wouldn’t be alive right now.”
Silence crashes over everything. It felt cold, heavy,and unforgiving.
I stare at him, my pulse roaring in my ears.
“No,” I whisper. “That doesn’t make sense. I don’t have enemies.”
Dominic doesn’t respond immediately.
And that…That terrifies me more than anything. Because when he finally speaks…His voice is colder than I’ve ever heard it. “You do now.”
My heart stops. “What did you do?” I breathe.
His expression doesn’t change, but his answer does something worse…. It confirms everything I didn’t want to believe.
“I didn’t start this war,” Dominic says.
A pause followed and then…. “But you’re the reason it’s about to get worse.”
He added.
My chest tightens. “What does that mean?”
He holds my gaze. And for the first time. There’s no control in what he says next. Only the truth. “It means…” he says slowly, “they know about you.”
A sharp chill runs through me. “They know you left.”
My breath shakes.
“They know you’re alone.”
I take a step back. “No…”
“And now,” Dominic finishes, his voice dropping into something deadly quiet…
“They’re coming to finish what they started.”
A loud crash suddenly echoes somewhere deep in the house, shouting follows and footsteps. Fast and urgent. Marcus turns instantly, with his hand moving toward his weapon. Dominic doesn’t move and he doesn’t even look away from me. Alarms begin to blare and red lights flash across the walls.
My heart slams against my ribs.
“What was that?” I whisper.
Marcus’s voice cuts through the chaos. “Sir….there’s been a breach.”
- Writer
