Alicia's POV

I jolted awake, head spinning, every muscle aching as if I'd been dragged through glass. For a moment the room didn't make sense the mattress too soft, the curtains too heavy. Where am I? I asked the empty room.

Then the memory crashed back: the escape, the chase, the face that had caught me. Dante. My chest tightened. Getting away from him felt impossible now; the thought of surviving him felt like a coin with two terrible sides . death or worse.

I pushed myself to my feet and crossed to the floor-to-ceiling window. Sunlight etched the silhouette of the city; his wealth, my father had said. Dante wasn't the sort to leave a loose end.

The door clicked open behind me.

He came in wearing a black shirt that accented the breadth of his shoulders. "What are you doing?" he asked, voice casual as if he'd only popped in for coffee.

I folded my arms to hide my trembling. "What do you want from me?" I said, forcing a steadiness I didn't feel.

He chuckled, slow and amused. "Did your parents tell you what your job here is?"

"I don't know whatever agreement you had with my dad, but I'll pay you back. Just let me go-give me time to find the money." My words rushed out. I meant them. I needed them to be real.

He watched me without a flicker of sympathy. Then he laughed - the sound was wrong, a jagged thing that set my teeth on edge. "How much do you think your father owed?" he asked.

"I don't care. I'll pay you back," I said, too proud to beg.

His smirk widened. "There are other ways to pay me back."

He stepped closer until the light caught his face. He was twice my height, an immovable wall. He tipped my chin up with one large hand until I had no choice but to meet his eyes. His breath ghosted my mouth.

I shoved him. "What are you doing?"

He smiled like a predator. "What does it seem like, my love?" he murmured.

"Don't call me that," I snapped. The word tasted like bile in my ears. "I am not your-"

"You don't have a choice, darling," he said, voice silk over steel. "You are here to do a job. To carry my child."

I burst out laughing because it felt like the only way to keep from screaming. "I will not carry a monster's child."

The smile on his face turned slow and satisfied. "That's the problem, darling. You don't get to choose." He clamped a hand over my mouth and hauled me in close. Panic clawed up my throat. I bit down hard on his hand. He didn't flinch. If anything, his eyes brightened.

His fingers moved to my neck. I choked and clawed, useless against his strength. He held me while a phone buzzed at his hip; he answered with a single hand, never taking his eyes from me.

"Sir," a voice crackled through his ear. "We found him, but he insists the goods aren't with him."

Dante's eyes flashed like ice. He laughed softly. "Kill him."

A pause. Then the other voice on the line said something low; I couldn't make out every word, but the intention was clear - cruelty measured and deliberate. "Burn them alive. Let him watch. Then kill him."

My stomach dropped. I could hear pleading in the background - a woman's voice cut short by a strangled sob. A metallic sound, a sharp groan - then the report of a single gunshot. The line went still for a heartbeat.

"Done, sir," the voice said. "Now find the rest."

Dante pocketed his phone, his face as calm as a man checking his watch. He loosened his hand from my throat and smoothed his shirt as if straightening a tie. I gasped for air, my lungs burning.

"That will be your fate if you ever disrespect me again," he said, voice cold as frost. Then he walked out of the room as though he'd only gone downstairs for a moment.

I slid down the wall until I was crouched on the floor, the world narrowing to the taste of copper and the pound of my heart. My body shook. I just listened to my ragged breathing, waiting for the next step, the next command.

Then, from far below, something changed. A distant engine hummed. A gate clanged. Voices moved like shadows across the house.

I reached for the phone with hands that barely obeyed. It buzzed on the bedside table a single, sliding vibration. I snatched it up and saw the screen light: a new message from an unknown number.

The text was short.

burns everything.

My fingers went cold. Behind me, on the landing, I heard the slow, heavy thud of footsteps coming up the stairs.

Alicia's POV

I panicked the moment Dante left the room for the second time. My heart thudded against my ribs like a trapped bird. I pressed a palm to my chest, trying to steady it, but my mind kept flashing to what I'd just witnessed an entire family destroyed on his command, lives snuffed out for a debt that wasn't even theirs.

"How can anyone be that heartless?" I whispered, the words trembling out of me. His voice still echoed in my head. That will be your fate if you ever disrespect me again.

I forced a long breath. "No," I murmured. "I won't let this man be the end of me. I'm getting out."

The door clicked softly when I tried it. Not locked. I eased it open, poking my head out. The hallway was empty. A flicker of relief darted through me. Today I will study every corner of this place. Tonight, I'd run.

I slipped into the bathroom, showered quickly, then pulled on a white gown from the wardrobe. My legs felt like water but I made myself walk down the stairs. The mansion was unnervingly quiet. From a window I glimpsed Dante leaving with several men. Only a handful of guards remained, silent as statues. Perfect, I thought. The fewer eyes, the better.

I wandered the house as casually as I could, memorising doors, corridors, stairwells. Every little axis became part of my mental escape map. The guards didn't speak; their faces were carved from stone. Even the staff averted their eyes. It was like living among ghosts.

Back in my room I exhaled shakily. "It doesn't matter. One thing's for sure.... I will escape this place," I told myself. Then I lay on the bed, replaying the map until I could trace it with my eyes closed.

When darkness finally settled over the house, I moved. I pulled a black jumpsuit from the wardrobe someone else's, but it fit. "Thank you," I whispered to the unknown girl and zipped it up.

Following my memorised path, I slipped into the corridor. The coast was clear. No footsteps, no murmurs. It was too easy, but I didn't care. Keep moving, I told myself. Just keep moving.

I reached the last window before the outer grounds. My pulse roared in my ears. Almost free. I swung a leg over the ceiling and a hand shot from the shadows, clamping around my ankle.

"Please... help me..." a hoarse voice whispered.

I froze, biting back a scream. My plan could shatter in an instant. I twisted free, heart hammering, and dropped to the ground outside. My landing jarred my knees but I didn't stop.

I vaulted the first fence and grinned through the ache in my ribs. I'm doing it. I'm actually....

Then I saw it.

A severed head hung from the branches ahead, blood dripping in slow, deliberate beads. The metallic smell hit my nose and turned my stomach. The ground around it was dark, slick.

Fear gripped me but I forced my feet to move. There had to be a way out beyond the trees. I pushed forward, deeper into the shadows and that was when I heard it.

A soft click.

A glint of steel.

And then a familiar voice behind me, low and cold:

"Going somewhere, little dove?".

Alicia's POV

After my attempt to escape here was bursted by the don himself.

I've been locked indoors since that night trapped with no food, no water, and no clue what time it is. Day or night, light or darkness... it all blends together now. The only constant is the crushing silence, broken only by the occasional grumble of my empty stomach.

It's been three days. Three long, agonizing days.

They said he wasn't around. That this was my punishment until he returned. And despite Madam Sonia's pleas, he stood firm in his decision.

Cruel.

I still don't understand how Madam Sonia stays loyal to him. Maybe he's threatened her life too, maybe she has no choice. Yet, she keeps saying he's a "nice guy." Nice? That's laughable. What kind of "nice guy" leaves a woman who he wants to get pregnant starving and locked away like a criminal?

I was already losing myself... but now, I was starting to lose my mind.

The worst part? I am supposed to carry his child. His.

What would happen once the baby's here? Will he starve us both at the slightest disobedience? Will he use the child to control me even more?

The thoughts wouldn't stop. They hit me over and over like violent waves threatening to drown me in fear, confusion, and anger.

"God," I whispered, pressing my palm to my forehead. "My head... it's too much."

I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to hold on-trying to stay sane.

I needed to breathe. I needed calm.

So I closed my eyes. Inhaled deeply.

And just like that, my body gave in to exhaustion.

Darkness finally came, not from the locked room, but from the sleep I could no longer fight.

A soft touch on my leg startled me awake.

"You stubborn little dove," his voice whispered near my ear, smooth but laced with menace.

I flinched, my heart pounding. "What time is it? How did you get in here? What do you want?"

He chuckled a low, unsettling sound. "I told you to stop asking me that, little one. Next time, I might not be so... gentle."

I scoffed, but the sound caught in my throat when I tried to sit up and felt cold metal on my wrists. Handcuffs?

"What the hell is this?" I asked, staring at him with a mix of shock and confusion.

"Don't look at me like that," he said sharply, his eyes narrowing. "You brought this on yourself. Did you really think you could run from me?"

He stepped closer, his hand trailing slowly along my exposed leg. I jerked away instinctively, but his grip tightened.

"I told you not to think of stupid things. You belong to me now."

His tone wasn't loud but it was final. Commanding.

Something in my chest squeezed, and despite the fear, I felt my body betray me with a tiny, involuntary gasp.

He noticed.

"You like that, don't you?" he said, a smirk creeping across his lips.

I looked away, embarrassed, but he wouldn't have it. He grabbed my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you," he said, low and firm.

For a moment, the room was filled with tension, his control pressing down on me like a weight I couldn't shake.

Then, without warning, he stood up and began undoing his trousers.

My eyes widened. "What are you doing?" I asked, panic rising.

He smirked again. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

I immediately shut my eyes, willing myself to disappear.

I shut my eyes tight, not out of modesty but strategy.

Let him think I was scared. Let him believe he had won.

But deep down, something in me clicked. I can't keep being the victim.

I forced myself to breathe calmly, then slowly opened my eyes, meeting his gaze with a softness I hadn't shown before.

"You want me to look at you?" I whispered, letting my voice drop into something gentler... warmer.

That smirk on his face faltered for a split second. Just as I hoped.

"I'm not trying to run away from you ,not anymore," I said, letting my eyes trace his face, keeping my tone low and persuasive. "But you scare me when you act like this. I want to understand you... really understand you."

He tilted his head, intrigued. "Is this another trick?"

I shook my head slowly. "No. I just realized something... Maybe I've been too stubborn. Maybe if I listened, things wouldn't have turned out like this."

His eyes scanned mine, trying to read me, unsure if I was bluffing. That was my cue to lean in emotionally.

"You like control, don't you?" I asked softly. "But I could give you something better than fear..."

He blinked, caught off guard.

"You think you've won because I'm chained. But men like you don't keep women locked up because they're strong. You do it because you're scared."

He frowned.

"You're scared someone might actually get into your head... someone who could make you feel."

Silence fell over the room.

"I see you, Dante," I said, barely above a whisper. "You want someone to submit but not out of fear. You want someone who chooses you, even after knowing what you are."

He stared at me for a long moment. His hands, which had been at his waist, slowly dropped.

"I'll make you a deal," I said, seizing the moment. "Uncuff me. Let me show you loyalty without chains. You can always put them back on if I betray you."

He stood still, his expression unreadable. But something in his eyes shifted, something uncertain.

Got you, I thought. Then an evil smile spread broadly on his face which confused me.