Chapter 23 JEALOUSY
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
SAMANTHA’S POV
I woke up with my heart already racing
The ceiling above me was unfamiliar. It took only a second for panic to crawl up my spine, and then yesterday rushed back all at once. His voice. His hands. The way my body had betrayed my fear. Shame burned hotter than anger, and anger burned hotter than fear.
I sprang up from the bed, breath uneven. I needed to leave. Now. Before he came back.
The room was empty. His absence felt like a small mercy and i was glad he didn't come back. I stared at the room trying to study it…but…..Nah, I should get running
I moved quietly, every step cautious, my bare feet barely touching the floor. My hand was already on the door when I felt someone watching me
I looked up.
The nanny stood there, blocking my escape, her eyes fixed on me in a way I could not read. Not kind. Not cruel. Just calculating.
“Are you okay?” she asked softly.
“Yes,” I replied quickly. “I am. I really am.”
She studied my face like she was searching for cracks. “Come with me.”
I followed her down the corridor, my body tense, my mind racing through a thousand excuses I might need. We stopped near the sitting area, far from the rooms, far from listening ears.
She turned suddenly. “Why were you on Kane’s bed?” Her voice dropped. “Did he punish you?”
“Yes,” I said.
Relief flashed in her eyes, brief but unmistakable.
“You are not hurt though?”
I lowered my head. “No. I am fine.”
She hesitated, then asked the question.
“Did he touch you like that?”
I nodded.
Something dark passed through her expression. Anger maybe. Fear maybe. I did not know why it was there, but it made me scared
“You must be very careful,” she said. “You are a mutate. Easily disposed of. If you die, nothing changes. No one mourns. No one asks questions.”
The words hurt, but they were familiar. I had grown use to hearing them. I had survived them. Still, a part of me had believed she was different. That she cared.
“I know,” I said quietly. “That is why I am marking my territory. I want to be so good that he will not want to let me go. That he cannot.”
She laughed, short and sharp. “Is that why you now visit Micky?”
“What?” I stammered. “When?”
“I know you have gone to her room twice at night. The CCTV man told me. I also saw you the day you hid behind the door.”
I stared at her, my face empty even though my heart was pounding violently.
“Micky is the only person Kane truly cares about,” she continued. “Getting close to her is like signing your own death sentence.”
“But she is lonely,” I said. “She needs a mother.”
She cut me off immediately. “Are you her mother?”
No.
“Then stop acting like one.” Her voice hardened. “Do not make me tell Kane. I already hide enough.”
She stepped closer. “And do not think of escaping. I do not want to die because of you. Forget about the mutate control. You cannot escape Kane Draven. Without your master, you die in seven days. A mutate is nothing without ownership.”
My mouth fell open.
Seven days.
The word echoed in my head as she walked away, leaving me standing there with a truth I had never known a future that felt even smaller than before.
I clenched my fists.
So this was the law. This was the cage.
Then I would break it.
I would survive first. Learn next. And one day, I would tear this place apart. I would make sure no girl ever lived like this again.
“You must stay away from the child,” she added over her shoulder. “Kane already suspects you. Let it end there.”
I watched her leave and felt something shift inside me.
No.
I would not stay away.
Micky was his weakness. The only soft thing in a man who called himself indestructible. If he could use me, I could use him too. For everything he had done to me, I would take something back. I would gain ground. I would learn control.
Even if it cost me everything.
As I bathed, I scrubbed my skin until it burned, like I could wash away memory itself. I dressed slowly, my wrists aching, my body weak, yet my mind refused to settle.
What scared me most was not the pain.
It was the pleasure.
The way my body had responded. The way it had wanted more even while my heart screamed no. It made me sick with myself. It made me furious.
I walked down for breakfast carefully, scanning the halls for him. He was not there.
Good.
As I passed the other maids, I felt their eyes on me. Sharp. Bitter. Heavy with something ugly. We had laughed together . Shared whispered jokes. Now their stares felt like knives.
Why?
I tried to ignore them, but one suddenly stuck her foot out. I tripped and crashed to the floor.
“Sorrry,” she said, her lips curling as she walked past.
“Hey,” I snapped, grabbing her arm. “What is your problem?”
She turned, eyes blazing. “You do not know what you did?”
“What do you mean?”
“You do not know how privileged you are.” Another girl joined her. “A mutate like you gets to be in the master's bed. Little pain. Plenty of pleasure. And you still complain.”
My chest tightened. “Are you all mad?”
“You cry and act pitiful,” one continued. “Yet you live better than us.”
“They removed you from the work unit,” another added. “Master said you should not work anymore since you already work for him.”
The words made me nauseous.
I looked at them, anger burning clean and cold. “There have been less deaths lately,” I said calmly. “You are all forgetting where you are.”
They stiffened.
“Less deaths?” one scoffed. “What about Priscy?”
My eyes darted to the corner where Priscy stood, her face pale, eyes swollen.
“Her boyfriend was among those killed yesterday,” the girl continued. “They said he helped you escape…because of your selfish life”
My heart dropped.
Priscy looked away, tears spilling silently.
“I did not know,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “I am so sorry.”
“Master is coming for breakfast,” someone spilled
In seconds, they scattered, disappearing like smoke, leaving me alone in the wide dining hall.
My knees trembled.
I stood there, frozen, waiting for footsteps. Waiting for judgment. Waiting for the man who owned my body and my fate all because I couldn't run.