Chapter 2

My steps felt heavy, as if filled with lead. I followed Mark into the elevator, watching the numbers climb, my heart sinking lower with every floor.

The room was on the top floor. It was a presidential suite. As soon as I opened the door, an overpowering sweet scent hit me, almost sickly. My head started spinning, and my limbs turned weak and limp.

Someone drugged me!

Before I could even wrap my head around it, Mark's voice came out, colder than I'd ever heard from him. "Cecily, do you know how long I've waited for this moment? Three years."

I jerked my head up, staring at him. The tenderness in his face had vanished, replaced by a wild, almost unhinged obsession.

"Leanne is getting worse. The doctors say she won't last much longer." Mark moved closer with a cold gaze.

He said, "I thought if I treated you right, you'd fall for me and willingly give up your kidney to save her. But you were always so logical. You never loved me, not the way I love Leanne."

My back hit the wall. I had nowhere left to run. Staring at the man who was both familiar and a stranger, my voice was rough. "So, you drugged me?"

Mark let out a cold, almost cruel laugh. "Drugging you? That's just step one. I looked it up. When a woman gets pregnant, her kidneys work better. That's the safest time to take one, with less harm to your body. I thought about sleeping with you, getting you pregnant. But I can't. My body only belongs to Leanne."

His words pierced my heart like a shard of ice. So even the thought of touching me disgusted him. He used to say he cherished me, wanted our first time to be on our wedding night, something beautiful to remember. However, the truth was so much more brutal.

"So, you brought in someone else?" My voice trembled violently.

Mark's eyes flickered for a moment, then hardened with ruthless resolve. "Yes. I've already set everything up. If you're pregnant, I'll marry you. If it doesn't happen this time, I'll keep bringing in other men until it does. When you give birth, I'll bribe the doctor to make sure you have complications.

"Then they'll claim they had to remove one of your kidneys to save the baby. Leanne will get to live, and you'll stay by my side, with the child, as my wife. I'll treat you just like I do now."

He spoke so casually, as if it was nothing. But every word sent chills down my spine, like I was plunging into a frozen pit.

Complications during childbirth? Taking out my kidney?

He didn't just want my kidney. He wanted to use a child to chain me to him for the rest of my life, as if I were nothing more than his possession.

"Does Leanne know about this?" I suddenly asked. I couldn't believe that Leanne, who always seemed so gentle and kind, was clueless about everything.

Mark's eyes grew colder, but he didn't say a word. That silence was answer enough.

I laughed, tears spilling down my cheeks. I laughed at my own stupidity, my own innocence, and at how, for three years, I'd been nothing but a pathetic fool, played by them like a puppet.

The drug was hitting me harder. My head was spinning, and it felt like my blood was on fire. I knew I couldn't stay here. If I did, I'd end up as a kidneyless vessel, a prisoner trapped here for good.

I locked eyes with Mark, then caught him off guard and kicked him hard in the gut.

Mark let out a muffled groan and doubled over in pain.

I shoved him aside with everything I had and staggered toward the door. My steps were shaky, my vision was swimming, but I knew I had to escape this hellhole.

"Stop her!" Mark yelled behind me, his voice full of rage.

In the hallway, a tall man hurried toward me, a sleazy grin plastered across his face. He was someone Mark had sent.

My heart was pounding in my chest. As he closed in, I spun around and raced toward the stairwell. I had no clue how many floors there were. I knew I couldn't stop, not now.

The drug was tearing through me, my body burning up, and my mind slipping into chaos. I could barely breathe, sweat soaking my clothes. The footsteps and shouts behind me grew louder, like a curse driving me toward my doom.

Just as I was about to collapse, I spotted a door left slightly open out of the corner of my eye.

Desperate, I lunged for it like it was my last hope. I twisted the handle, slipped inside, and locked the door in a rush. My back slammed against the wood as I struggled to catch my breath.

The room was dim, the curtains pulled shut so tightly that only a few faint streaks of neon from outside managed to slip through.

The air was tinged with a subtle hint of alcohol and a crisp cedar scent. It was completely different from the cloying sweetness that always lingered around Mark.