SEEDS OF DOUBT
The storm brewing inside Elena had been brewing for days.
Since that morning with Madeline, she couldn't shake the worry that had settled in her bones.
Alexander was hiding something.
Something that went deeper than his cold indifference, deeper than his cruel possessiveness.
She saw it in the way his eyes darkened as he pressed for an answer. The way he tightened his grip on his glass of whiskey every time she pointed to the contract.
He was hiding a truth so dangerous that even his arrogance couldn't hide it.
And tonight, she would find out what it was.
THE FIRST TRADITION
Blackwood Manor was eerily quiet when Elena emerged from her room.
She had waited until late at night, listening for the sound of Alexander's footsteps, waiting for the moment he would leave the office. Now was her time.
Her heart pounded as she walked down the dimly lit hallway, her bare feet making no noise on the marble floor.
She had been to his office many times before, always in his presence, always under his watchful gaze.
But tonight, she was entering the devil's lair.
Her fingers trembled as she turned the doorknob. It wasn't locked.
Careless, Alexander.
Or maybe he didn't expect her to be brave enough to betray him.
She slipped inside, closing the door behind her.
The office was a reflection of the man himself: cold, structured, incredibly powerful. Bookshelves lined the walls and elegant black leather furniture filled the space. A fire burned faintly in one corner, casting strange shadows across the room.
But her eyes were fixed on one thing.
Office.
She walked toward him with measured steps, her fingers gliding over the smooth surface. And then she saw it.
A closed drawer.
Elena bit her lip and her pulse raced as she tried to open it.
No luck.
Her gaze fell on the keys lying on the table. Her fingers hesitated for a second before she reached for them.
A deep breath.
Then…
Click...
The box opened.
And inside...
Elena's body went cold. Her hands shook as she reached for the document inside.
Her name was written here.
Her marriage contract.
But this... this wasn't the same one she had signed.
Her eyes scanned the words, her stomach twisting with each passing sentence. Date.
Conditions.
Signatures.
He covered his mouth as bile rose in his throat.
It was all a lie. She wasn't chosen by chance.
She wasn't chosen because she was desperate.
She was chosen even before she knew she was being sold.
Because the contract…
The deal between her father and Alexander...
It had been signed months before she knew about it.
The truth was devastating. It had never been a last-minute business transaction.
It was planned.
Stuck before she knew she was taken.
And Alexander…
He had always known.
THE DEVIL FINDS HIS HEAD
The sound of the door closing behind her sent ice through her veins. Slowly, painfully, he turned.
Alexander stood there, leaning against the door frame, his expression unreadable.
His eyes flicked to the open drawer.
To the document clutched in his trembling hands.
And then...
He smiled. It wasn't warm.
It wasn't sweet.
It was the kind of smile a predator shows when its prey has just fallen into its trap.
"Tell me, woman," he whispered as he advanced.
Elena retreated. But she kept moving forward.
Slowly.
With purpose.
Her eyes darkened with something terribly unreadable.
"Did you find what you were looking for?"
She swallowed, her breath coming out in short gasps. "You lied to me," he whispered, the words barely leaving his lips.
Alexander let out a small, quiet laugh, tilting his head.
"No," he corrected, his voice like silk on a blade. "I never told you the whole truth."
His fingers tightened around the document. "You planned this." From the beginning. Before I knew what was happening."
A slow, predatory jolt.
Elena's stomach twisted. "Why?"
For the first time, something flashed in her gaze.
A hesitation. A crack in the ice.
But it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.
"Because I always get what I want, Elena."
His words took her breath away.
They made her body tremble.
It surprised her...
What the hell had she gotten herself into? She shook her head. "You don't love me. You never have."
Alexander's gaze darkened.
"No," he admitted in a dangerously low voice. "But that doesn't mean I'll ever leave you."
Something inside her snapped. He had hoped - desperately, foolishly - that it would mean something to her.
How touching.
Jealousy.
Possessiveness.
It would mean something. But now she knew the truth.
She was nothing more than property to him.
A bird locked in a cage in his golden palace.
Her voice trembled, but she forced herself to ask the question she wasn't sure she wanted the answer to.
- What was I, Alexander? she whispered. His gaze held her.
And then…
"Perfect Puny," she said quietly.
Her heart was broken.
She took a step back, her gaze clouded.
She had been an idiot. He was crazy to think he was capable of anything other than cruelty.
But no more.
Not after tonight.
She would be safe.
She would be free. Even if it meant burning this golden cage to the ground.
Even if it meant burning it with him.