Chapter 35

**ALINA**

My stomach lurches.

"What are you doing?" I whisper, afraid to speak too loudly, afraid that one wrong breath will pull the trigger.

Alexander watches me with the patience of a predator, his grip steady as he lifts the gun already in his hand. The metal gleams under the dim light, a chilling contrast to the warmth of his skin.

A soft click breaks the heavy silence as he pulls back the lever, checking the chamber with practised ease. His gaze flicks to the weapon for a fraction of a second before returning to me—calculated, unreadable, deadly.

"Your father's debt will be paid."

His voice is calm, almost conversational, but the weight behind it is anything but. His eyes stay locked on mine, dark and unrelenting.

"And you, Alina?" His head tilts slightly, his eyes dragging over me in a slow, deliberate sweep as if assessing the worth of his newly acquired possession. The sheer weight of his stare sends a violent shudder down my spine.

"You’re the payment. Payment"

The gun remains poised in his grip, his fingers resting lightly on the weapon as if he’s contemplating its use. The slow, deliberate way his eyes rake over me sends a violent shudder down my spine.

"So don’t test me."

My pulse thrashes against my ribs as silence stretches between us, thick and suffocating. The only sound in the room is the pounding of my own heart, each beat a brutal reminder of the cage snapping shut around me.

I can’t move. I can’t breathe.

And then his lips curl into something that isn't quite a smile, something colder, sharper—something that sends ice into my veins.

"Whether you like it or not."

The words settle in the air like smoke, suffocating and inescapable.

I swallow hard, but it does nothing to ease the knot in my throat.

My father’s betrayal.

Alexander’s ruthless claim.

It all crashes down on me at once, pressing into my chest, anchoring me to the cruel reality I can no longer outrun.

With a lazy sweep of his hand, he gestures to the room, his expression unreadable.

“This is your home now.” His voice is low, edged with finality, a sentence passed without room for appeal. "Everything you see, everything under this roof, belongs to me." He takes a step closer, his presence wrapping around me like a vice. "And that includes you."

I stiffen, but he doesn’t stop.

“You’ll eat when I say. Sleep when I allow it. Breathe without consequence only because I permit it.” His gaze locks onto mine, dark and searing. "There is no escape, Alina. There is only me. Only what I decide for you."

"And you belong to me."

The words slither over my skin, sinking deep, wrapping tight like chains I can’t break.

Home.

The word is almost laughable.

I glance around—at his bedroom.

Grand chandeliers cast a warm glow over pristine marble floors. The furniture looks like it belongs in a palace rather than a place meant for living. Every inch of it screams wealth, power, and ownership.

But a gilded cage is still a cage.

Alexander watches me carefully, his gaze unwavering, as if waiting for something—a reaction. A flicker of gratitude, perhaps. A sign of weakness. A crack in my defiance. But I give him nothing.

His sigh is sharp, edged with frustration, his jaw tightening as his patience thins.

"You came with me willingly," he says, his voice like sandpaper against my skin—rough, unyielding, and meant to grate.

"No one forced you, Alina. No one dragged you kicking and screaming. You walked out of that office and stepped into my world on your own two feet."

His eyes glint with something unreadable—challenge, amusement, maybe even something darker.

"So don’t act like some untouchable saint."

He takes another step forward, slow and deliberate, his presence suffocating, his heat searing into me even from inches away.

"We both know you’re not innocent," he murmurs, his voice lowering to something almost intimate. His fingers ghost along my jaw before gripping my chin, forcing me to look at him.

"You made your choice. And now, you’ll live with the consequences."

His smirk deepens, cold and knowing, as his thumb brushes over my lower lip.

"You’re mine now—to do with as I please. Your body, your breath, every little defiant thought in that pretty head of yours—it all belongs to me."

His grip tightens just enough to make my pulse hammer against his touch, his next words slipping from his lips like a cruel promise.

"So you’d better learn to live with it, sweetheart. Because no one is coming to save you."

The words hit like a whip cracking against my spine. My entire body tenses, rage flashing hot and wild through my veins.

I spin around so fast that my vision tilts for a moment, dark spots dancing at the edges of my sight.

"I didn’t have a choice!" The words tear from my throat, raw and unfiltered.

"My father was going to sell me to that bastard Robert Solas—"

I want to scream that Alexander is no different. That he’s just another monster in an endless line of men who see me as nothing more than a transaction.

I clamp my mouth shut before the words spill out because it doesn’t matter. Screaming won’t change a damn thing.

Alexander’s lips curve into a slow, cruel smirk.

"True, you didn’t have a choice." His voice drops, deceptively soft, yet laced with something dark and unyielding, like a blade hidden beneath silk.

He takes a step closer, his heat pressing into me, his presence suffocating.

"Because I don’t give choices, Alina."

His fingers trail up my arm, slow and deliberate, before gripping my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze.

"I take what I want." His lips brush against the shell of my ear, his breath warm, his words a whispered threat.

"And I always get what’s mine."

He steps closer, his presence consuming, suffocating. His eyes hold mine, unreadable and endless, pulling me under like a black hole, swallowing every last ounce of resistance I have left.

"But still…" he murmurs, tilting his head slightly, watching me like he's already figured out every thought running through my mind.

"You made yours." His voice is almost gentle, but there's something cruel beneath it.

"You walked out of your father’s office with me. No chains. No gun to your head. No one forcing your hand."

He leans in, his breath ghosting over my lips, his voice a dark whisper that coils around me like a noose.

"You chose me, Alina. Not that pathetic bastard, Robert Solas." His eyes burn into mine, daring me to deny it.

"And now?" His smirk is slow, predatory. "There’s no turning back. No escape. No one coming to save you."

His words coil around me, twisting the truth into something suffocating, something inescapable.

"A perfect choice, I’d say. And now, you belong to me—body, mind, and every breath you take."

A dark smile ghosts over his lips, full of arrogance, full of triumph.

I want to claw it off his face. To scream. To break something. To make him feel even an ounce of the rage burning inside me.

But I can only stand there, my fists clenched so tight my nails dig into my palms, the words pressing against my tongue like shattered glass.

"So you better stop fucking running your mouth and remember who I am." His voice is silk wrapped around steel, dangerously smooth, each word laced with quiet menace.

He tilts his head slightly, eyes dragging down my body with slow deliberation before flicking back up to meet mine. A smirk tugs at his lips, but there’s no amusement in it—only cold, unyielding control.

"Otherwise," he muses, his tone almost thoughtful, "I'll kill your dad."

The words land like a knife to the gut, sharp and merciless. My breath catches, my fingers curling into fists at my sides, but Alexander only watches me—waiting, daring me to fight back.

I hate him.

I fucking hate him.