Chapter 9: A Night of No Escape
Some doors lock from the outside. Some from the inside. Either way, she was trapped.
The applause had faded. The guests had left. The grand estate was quiet.
But in Sophia's mind, the screams never stopped.
She stood frozen in the bedroom, her wedding dress feeling like a noose around her body. The scent of roses lingered in the aira cruel reminder of the vows she had been forced to speak.
Adrian moved across the room, pouring himself a drink, his movements unhurried, calculated. Like a man who had already won.
Sophia's breath hitched as reality closed in. This wasn't a nightmare she could wake from. This was real.
Her fingers dug into her palms. She refused to sit. Refused to acknowledge the silk sheets behind her, the bed she was meant to share with a man she loathed.
Her gaze darted to the door. Locked. Just like every exit in this place.
No escape.
A memory flashed in her mind, almost knocking the air from her lungs.
Noah.
She could still hear his little voice, the way he had clung to her dress before she left home that last morning.
"Will you come home soon, Sophie?"
"Of course, silly," she had whispered, kissing his forehead. "I always come home."
But she hadn't.
She wouldn't.
Noah was out there somewhere, hidden away under Adrian's orders. Safe, Adrian had said. But safe from whom?
Sophia swallowed hard. From Adrian? Or from her?
Tears burned in her eyes as another memory surfaced.
Her mother's voice. The way it used to hum softly in the kitchen. The way it had turned raw with desperation when the debts became too much.
Her father's hands, strong but tired, holding hers before he left one evening. A simple errand, they had said. He never came back. A hit-and-run, they had told her. No culprit. No justice.
Her mother had unraveled after that. Until one night, she left too.
Sophia had found her days later. Cold. Lifeless. Gone.
She had been fourteen. Noah had been two.
Sophia had sworn that night that she would protect him. That she would work hard, study, build a future where they never had to beg or fear.
But now?
Now, she was owned.
Her future was stolen.
Adrian had made sure of that.
The sound of glass clinking pulled her back to the present.
Adrian turned toward her, his dark eyes watching. Calculating.
She could feel it his patience thinning.
Her heart pounded violently.
"I'm not—" She swallowed hard. "I can't—"
Adrian's jaw tightened. He set his drink down, stepping closer.
"You don't have a choice, Sophia."
She flinched.
The words cut deep, a final reminder of how little control she had left.
She trembled as he reached for her veil, sliding it off.
Tears burned behind her eyes.
She wanted to scream. To fight. To run.
But where would she go?
Noah was still out there. Liam was still being watched.
If she resisted, Adrian would remind her why she shouldn't.
Her fingers twisted in the fabric of her dress, her breath coming in shallow, desperate gasps.
Adrian's fingers traced along her jaw. "You're trembling."
She clenched her teeth, fighting the tears.
A slow, knowing smirk crossed his lips. "You're my wife now."
She felt sick.
A tear escaped.
Adrian caught it with his thumb, his touch gentle, deceptive.
"Don't cry, little dove," he murmured, voice soft, coaxing. Manipulative.
She hated him.
But more than that
She hated herself.
For standing there.
For not fighting harder.
For breaking.
And as Adrian led her to the bed, pressing a final, possessive kiss to her lips, she realized something that shattered her completely.
There was no way out.
Not anymore.