Chapter 61 Hiding to escape
Lila POV
The second he opened that bedroom door telling me that I had a choice, I knew he was wrong. I didn’t have a choice. I never had a choice.
I had to run. It was my only option, and that was why I rushed out the door before I could convince myself not to. If my time with Nico taught me anything, it was to always expect the unexpected. And every decision had consequences, good and bad. It was up to me to make sure I made the right ones. I’d learned not to underestimate him and to not allow myself to think I knew him. I was no longer the naïve, weak woman he had kidnapped with the intent to kill. I was stronger, wiser, and hopefully, I was learning how to play this game between us…a game of master and pet.
We’d been living in his uncle Lucas home since the day we fled from the Moretti mansion, but I hardly ever left the room. I couldn’t. No matter what happened that fateful day, I was still Nico prisoner. The matter of my freedom had not yet been discussed. He owned me, and for that reason, I obeyed and accepted my place.
Even though the bedroom door had never been locked, I chose not to open it, not to set foot out of the room I shared with my captor. Call it cowardly. Call it stupidity. Call it what you want. But I had learned the only thing to fear was the unknown. Outside that bedroom door lay the unknown, and I was too afraid to open it…until Nico opened it for me.
Now, while I ran through the unfamiliar halls with no damn clue where I was going, a part of me wished I was brave enough to have stepped outside those four walls sooner. Then maybe I might have stood a chance to not get caught. But deep down, I knew there was no getting away from him.
My heart was racing at a million miles an hour, the adrenaline swooshing through my veins like angry waves. The thoughts inside my head were too loud, making it impossible for me to think and focus.
The halls were dimly lit by a few antique lamps hanging from the walls. The smell of freshly polished furniture hung in the air, the oak floors guiding me from one hall to another. If Nico caught me, there was no telling what he would do. He might have given me a choice, to decide whether I wanted to run, but I knew him. I could see it in the darkness of his eyes as he stared at me, the way his jaw ticked while he waited for me to decide. Nico wanted me to make my decision based on what would please him. Everything was always about pleasing him. But tonight, I made the decision based on what would please me. Based on what I wanted…and I wanted to run. I needed to feel the adrenaline in my veins as Nico prowled the halls searching for me. Hunting me. It was thrilling to know his determination to find me was fueled by his desire to possess me, to dominate and devour me. Predator versus prey.
With a quick turn to the right, I stumbled and caught myself against the wall. I had no idea how long I’d been running through the maze of halls, but my legs started to feel weak, and my stomach clenched tighter with each passing second. But the fast beating of my heart, the anticipation and excitement that rushed through my veins incited me to move faster, farther, to see how this all would end.
“You can’t hide from me much longer, little pet.”
The sound of his voice caused me to gasp, and with my hands against the dark walls, I started to move, my chest rapidly rising and falling as I struggled to breathe.
“Do you really think you can run from me? That I would let you get away?”
I heard it in his voice as it echoed through the halls. The threat…the promise.
“The longer you make me search for you, the harder your punishment will be, little pet.”
Stumbling around yet another corner, I knew I would never find my way out of this maze of expensive architecture and Italian furnishings. So I opened the first door on my left, ran inside, and closed the door behind me.
It was dark, but I didn’t dare switch on the light. Darkness became my friend the moment I realized it no longer held the power to hurt me but rather the ability to liberate me. There was nothing to fear in the dark. Nico showed me that for people like us, darkness turned into our playground. A place where we could acknowledge our deepest, most sordid desires and embrace the shadows that cling to our souls.
I’d learned to love the dark.
Footsteps came down the hall. It was him. My master.
With a racing heart and heaving chest, I searched the room for a place to hide. There were two couches with a huge desk on the other side of the room. Long, thick curtains draped the big window behind it, and there was a large cabinet to the left, a few feet away from the wall.
I rushed across the room and hid behind the cabinet. I was still trying to catch my breath when I heard the soft, slow creek of the door.
“Are you in here, little pet?”
His voice was low, dark, and I could feel how its sound reached for my soul like a demonic whisper, pulling me, willing me to give in. To give up.
“If you’re in here, it would be in your best interest to come out willingly.”
The door clicked closed, and my heart skipped a beat. He didn’t leave. I knew that. I could still feel him, his presence, the way the atmosphere pulsed whenever we were in the same room together. It felt like there was no air, only us, and the suffocating pressure of the knowledge that he owned me completely, undeniably.
“I know you’re in here, little pet. I can feel you.”
The same way I feel you.
The sound of his slow footsteps filled the darkness. Knowing he was so close made my pulse race, my insides coil tight with the most thrilling kind of anticipation.
“There is no escaping me. I own you, and the sooner you accept that, the better off you’ll be.”
I tried my best to not even breathe. Sweat trickled down my spine, and my heart hammered against my ribs. I was almost certain he would be able to hear it.
More footsteps. “Your body is calling out to me, Lila. I can hear the hum of your desire, the way it flows through your veins. It wants me, my touch.”
Desire flared, and I closed my eyes as I sucked in a breath.
“Your body needs me. It craves the ecstasy only I can give it. The release.”