Chapter 108: Earning Every Breath

Ivery Clark POV

The heavy weight of his words hung in the air, cold and final, crushing the breath right out of my lungs.

He can't just casually rewrite the rules, stretch my existence in this house into an endless sentence!

​Alrigo released his grip on my neck, his long fingers sliding away with terrifying indifference as he took a slow step backward, creating space between us like the conversation was already finished.

​"No," I choked out, the word tearing from my throat.

I grabbed the front of his collar before he could get any farther, “You…you said you'd let me go! You promised me, Alrigo!”

“You said the wedding was the condition—you promised that once it was done, I was free. You can't just change it now. You said I'd get to leave!”

Alrigo's eyes dropped slowly to my fist clenched around his collar before returning to my face, an infuriating smirk forming on his lips.

“Oh really? I think I said I would let you go if you're innocent.”

“You just said you could keep me here for five years!”

“And?”

My mouth fell open. “And you expect me to just accept that?”

His expression remained infuriatingly calm. “You're the one who wanted an exit.”

“You gave me one!”

“No.” His voice was quiet, as he leaned dangerously over me. “I gave you a condition.”

​"I said your cooperation would dictate how this story gets told, ma bella." Alrigo cut in smoothly, his dark eyes glinting with a cold, terrifying amusement.

I glared at him, “You mean you're the one who decides whether I'm innocent regardless of anything.”

“Yes.” The answer came without hesitation.

My eyes widened. “You must be kidding me. That isn't freedom.”

“Maybe it isn't,” Alrigo said quietly. “But it's more freedom than you had yesterday.”

My temper flared. “Fredom my foot. You just want a house pet you can parade around when it suits you and lock in a cage when you're done.”

“You keep me here, you investigate me, you decide what evidence matters, and then you decide whether I deserve to leave. You're just giving me a promise you can take back whenever you want.”

“ So can I decide to leave before you decide I'm innocent? Can I walk out of this house and refuse to come back? Are you going to chase me down and drag me back here?”

I lifted my chin, refusing to let the fear tightening in my chest show. “Because if that's what you're planning, you should know something. I will run. I'll keep running until I find somewhere you can't reach me. I'll disappear if I have to.”

Alrigo went dead silent.

​The silence hung heavy between us, vast and stifling in the empty hall.

The infuriating, arrogant smirk that usually sat so comfortably on his lips vanished, replaced by an unreadable, absolute stillness that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

“You're still not listening to me, Ivery.” Alrigo’s gaze hardened.

He stepped closer, his voice dropping into something colder.

“You seem to be misunderstanding what I meant by freedom. I never promised that I would wake up one morning, decide I was tired of looking at you, and simply open the gates. I never promised that the wedding would be the moment you walked out of my life.

“I told you that if you were innocent, and if you gave me everything you knew, I would have a reason to let you walk away. Those are two very different things."

“And right now… I don't have that reason. Right now, too many things point in your direction, ma bella.” Alrigo hissed melavolently, I instinctively moved back, but my shoulders met the glass wall before I could put any real distance between us.

“Like.. you had exclusive access to my cabin. You were one of the few people who could enter that room without raising suspicion. The USB was with you, and someone breached my security system without setting off the alarms. I still don't know how that happened, and until I do, I'm not going to pretend those things don't matter.”

“So I suggest you don’t get comfortable or in a delusion of freedom, Ivery. I didn't bring you here for a picnic.”​ He leaned in until his lips almost brushed the shell of my ear, his tone dropping into a low, lethal sneer that sent a shiver straight down my spine.

“You're still a suspect. Nothing about this house changes that. You will follow the rules, you will cooperate with my investigation, and you will stop behaving as though you're entitled to do whatever you want simply because I gave you more freedom to move around.”

“Don't mistake my restraint for kindness, because I can take that away just as easily as I gave it. Keep provoking me, keep talking to me as though you have nothing to lose, and you'll find out exactly how unpleasant I can become.”

Hot, helpless tears welled up in my eyes, blurring his sharp, unforgiving silhouette. So this is how it is.

After everything I had told him, after every tear I had shed, every time I had tried to explain myself, he still looked at me as though I were some criminal waiting to be exposed.

It didn't matter that I was standing in a beautiful estate instead of a cold dungeon.

In his eyes, I was still guilty until proven otherwise.

I swallowed past the thick lump in my throat, my eyes darting frantically around the vast, silent foyer.

​The vaulted ceilings felt impossibly high, the polished stone floors stretching out into endless, shadowy corridors.

There were no footsteps. No hushed whispers of staff. No sign of life whatsoever in this hollow, sprawling fortress.

“Where... where are the others?" I whispered, my voice cracking. “The staff. The maids, the housekeepers... who else lives here?”

​"None," he said smoothly, his tone terrifyingly casual.

​My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird. "What do you mean, none?!”

“I said what I said. There is none. No staff, no maids, no housekeepers. You're all alone."

The flat, nonchalant delivery of his words felt like a physical slap.

My eyes widened, my heart beating wildly against my chest. “You're insane, Alrigo. A mansion this size—you can't just keep me isolated here with no one else around! What do you mean I'm all alone?!”

​"I already told you, I didn't bring you here for a picnic, Ivery." Alrigo cut in coldly, “And I certainly didn't bring you out to this estate to give you princess treatment."

​"You don't get to sit around looking pretty while servants cater to your every whim, that was before…but now.." he continued, his dark eyes glinting with a sharp malice. "You have to earn what you get in this house. Every scrap of food, every privilege, every single breath you draw under my roof. From today on, you will be working on everything here. You clean the rooms, you wash the clothes, you cook the meals.”

I looked at him in disbelief.

“And don't get any ideas about running. There are guards stationed around the perimeter. You may not see them, but they're there. And trust me they have very explicit orders."

​

My breath hitched, freezing in my chest.

​"They won't ask questions," Alrigo continued, stepping back toward me just enough to let the reality of his words settle in. "They won't bring you back to your room. They will directly shoot you on sight. So you better think twice before you run.”

A sickening chill swept through my veins, washing away the last heat of my anger.

The air in the grand hallway suddenly felt razor-thin, barely enough to pull into my lungs as I looked toward the endless glass walls.

Beyond them nothing but towering trees disappearing into the darkness. The estate suddenly felt enormous, empty, and frighteningly far from everything I knew.

My fingers curled into my palms. I looked back at Alrigo, trying to keep my voice steady, but the fear creeping into it betrayed me.

“I'm…really supposed to stay here alone?”

Alrigo's gaze settled on me. For a brief moment, something unreadable flickered across his face.

But then a faint, almost amused curve touched his lips.

“Don't worry, ma bella. You won't be alone.”

My gaze faltered, “What do you mean?”

“I'll be staying here with you.”

My heart stumbled. For one humiliating second, relief flickered through me at the thought of not being completely alone in this enormous house.

Then reality caught up with me.

Alrigo.

My relief vanished so quickly it almost made me dizzy.

“Y-You're going to stay with me?”

….

A/n: Hi everyone, I'm just in a big family mess that is why I couldn't regularly, please don't think I abandoned this book, I'll definitely finish this book rest assured.