Chapter 16 Between Fear and Care
I stand there for a few moments, completely still. My feet feel as if they are rooted to the ground. Breathing becomes difficult, and my heart is pounding so loudly that it feels like Mr. Wilson can hear it.
He takes a step toward me. Instinctively, I take a step back.
“Are you okay?” His voice is deep.
I want to answer him, but my throat tightens. No words come out. Tears begin to roll down my cheeks, uninvited and unstoppable. Maybe this day is meant to be like this everything breaking and spilling out at once.
He looks straight into my eyes. For a brief moment, his gaze falls on my trembling state.
“I’m asking you… are you okay?” This time, his voice softens even more.
I nod my head slightly in response.
Just then, his bodyguards surround us from all sides. Before I can react, he grabs my wrist firmly and says, “Come.”
I stop right there, anger rising inside me.
“No, I’m not going,” I say sharply.
He looks at me with visible anger. Then, without saying another word, he suddenly lifts me into his arms. I gasp in shock, completely stunned by his action.
He starts walking toward the mansion, holding me tightly. I keep staring at his face, searching for answers, but my mind is completely blank. Nothing makes sense anymore.
He lifts me up in his arms, and before I can even understand what is happening, I am already inside the mansion. I struggle in his arms, trying with all my strength to free myself, but his grip is unbreakable. My heart is pounding violently against my chest.
Without saying a word, he carries me straight into the room. The door closes behind us, and my breath gets stuck in my throat. The next moment, he throws me onto the bed. I am left stunned, my eyes filling with tears, my throat tightening with unspoken pain.
Tears begin to fall from my eyes, and my entire body starts trembling. He leans over me, rage burning fiercely in his eyes. Grinding his teeth, he asks, “Who gave you permission to go there?”
There is authority in his voice, mixed with obsession.
In a broken, trembling voice, I say, “I don’t want to stay in your house… I want to leave this place.”
Before I can say anything more, he presses his lips against mine. I freeze completely. Time seems to stop for me.
He steps slightly away from me. The moisture of my tears glistens on my face. My eyes burn, my heart pounds violently inside my chest. He takes a deep breath, as if trying to steady himself, then speaks in a low but heavy voice, “Don’t go.”
His words don’t just reach my ears they crash straight into my heart. I look at him in anger, tears in my eyes, my voice trembling with hurt. “Why shouldn’t I go? I will go… I will definitely go.”
He takes a step closer. Darkness fills his eyes, and his voice grows deeper, “I don’t allow you. You’re not going anywhere.”
Something inside me breaks. Trying to hold myself together, I snap back in anger, “And who are you to allow or stop me?”
He clenches his jaw, dominance and fury hardening his gaze, “Your husband. Don’t forget that. You signed the contract… and now you can’t go anywhere.”
His words fall on my chest like a crushing weight. Restless and shaken, I say, “That contract never mentioned the things you did to me.”
He leans toward me in anger, his voice sharp and cold, “Shut up! Don’t forget you enjoyed that moment too.”
His words feel like a slap across my soul. I fall silent instantly. My voice gets stuck in my throat. Yes… it hurt, but deeper than the pain was a strange sense of comfort something I don’t even understand, something I had been craving without realizing why.
With shame, anger, and confusion weighing on me, I turn my face away.
In a cold tone, he says, “You’ll stay in this room now.”
I turn back in shock, “What?”
With no expression, he replies, “You can’t refuse.”
My anger rises again,“I will never stay with you.”
He stands up and moves away, as if none of it matters to him, “Fine. Go.”
I get up quickly, a small hope flickering inside me that this nightmare might finally end. I walk toward the door but then his voice slips into my ears like poison, “The moment you leave, your sister’s treatment stops.”
My steps freeze. My breath catches. In a single second, everything comes rushing back my sister, her illness, the hospital bills… and the truth is that he is the one paying for all of it.
I stop right there. He comes closer and says softly, in a deep voice, “Go.”
I stand with my head lowered. Tears fall from my eyes, but no sound escapes my lips. A faint smile appears on his face as he says, “Good. Obedient girls listen like this.”
He picks up a file from the bed and starts walking away. At the door, he suddenly stops and turns back. His eyes lock onto mine, “After what happened between us last night… I won’t let you go.”
My heart starts pounding violently. I lift my head in shock and stare at him. Without another word, he walks out.
The room is left with only me… and my silence.
Slowly, I sink down onto the floor. My hands tremble. Broken sobs rise from my chest. I sit there quietly, crying uncontrollably like a woman lost somewhere between her emotions and her helplessness.
Before I realize it, night has fallen. Hours slip by, unnoticed. I don’t even step outside once. I stay there, in the same room, crying silently, my body curled inward, my heart exhausted. Time feels frozen, as if the world outside has stopped moving.
Around nine at night, the door opens.
I am still crying. I don’t lift my face even for a second. I don’t need to. I already know who it is.
I keep staring at the floor, my vision blurred with tears, when I feel his presence close to me. He sits down right there on the floor, beside me. Not above me. Not standing. Beside me.
In his hands, there is a plate of food. I don’t react. I don’t look. I don’t speak. My eyes remain fixed on the ground, empty and tired. Then I see movement from the corner of my vision his hand. He lifts a spoonful of fried rice and gently brings it toward my lips.
I freeze.
Shock runs through me, not loud or dramatic, but heavy and confusing. I finally lift my eyes just a little, my breath uneven. I don’t understand him. Not at all. His actions don’t match his words. His silence doesn’t explain his cruelty. His care doesn’t erase his control.
Why now? Why this gentleness after so much pain?
TO BE COUNTINUE...!!!