Chapter 4
Danny's grip was so tight that his nails dug into my skin.
"It hurts," I said.
He let go abruptly, then kept rubbing the deep red mark, his eyes twisted with guilt.
"If it hurts, remember this moment. The Feron family isn't your home. Your home is right here," he said.
He pulled the car over to the side of the road and suddenly leaned over, pressing in close.
The cramped space was saturated with the scent of his woody cologne, layered with a subtle hint of fresh greenery.
"Iris, what are you still waiting for? Are you hoping they'll come back to you? Or are you still wishing Mrs. Feron would hold you again?" Danny asked.
He tore the gauze from my knee, staring at the bleeding wound with a twisted excitement in his eyes, like a wolf thrilled by its wounded prey.
"They don't want you anymore. Only your brother does. Only I ache for your pain," Danny said.
He lowered his head, and to my horror, his cool tongue swept across the blood on my knee.
I screamed in terror, scrambling desperately toward the car door. My whole body was shaking uncontrollably.
"Danny, are you insane? I'm your sister!" I shouted.
He looked up, a streak of vivid red staining his lips, like a freshly fed vampire.
"I'm crazy," Danny said.
He laughed at himself, his eyes crazed. "Ever since you were three, when Mrs. Feron told me you were my sister, I've been losing it. In my mind, I watched you grow up, just waiting for you to mature."
He slammed the car doors shut, trapping us inside as rain poured down and neon lights flashed outside. He claimed my lips in a reckless, hungry kiss.
That kiss was laced with punishment, fierce and possessive.
I fought back with everything I had, but he caught my wrists in one hand and pinned them high above my head, leaving me helpless.
"Baby, since you're no longer the Feron family's daughter, nothing stands between us anymore," Danny growled.
He sank his teeth into my lips, mumbling in a hoarse, broken whisper.
"There's no running from me now," Danny whispered.
Our messed-up life finally exploded when Danny found out I'd been secretly saving up for a plane ticket.
I was just slipping my bank card into the crack between the mattress and the bed when he saw it.
Danny didn't say a word. He just calmly walked to the balcony and tore up the ticket, piece by piece.
The scraps of paper scattered in the wind, like pieces of my freedom blowing away.
The next day, he left the spare key to the front door out on purpose, like he was running some cruel experiment to see if I'd break.
I ran away.
I was overjoyed, thinking I'd finally tasted freedom. But reality slammed into me like a sledgehammer, crushing every hope I had.
The taxi driver kicked me out on the road. To make things worse, he snatched my wallet before taking off.
Some thugs passing by whistled at me and got handsy.
What crushed me most was that every person I begged for help looked at me with icy, mocking eyes, like I was nothing but a tragic joke in some silent film.
I dropped to the street, rain pouring down in torrents. Passing cars splashed mud all over me. I crumpled in the shadows, feeling like a pile of mud.
A familiar black car pulled up in front of me.
Danny stepped out, umbrella in hand, looking like a god sent to rescue the damned.
He looked down at me, filthy and broken. There was no pity in his eyes, just the mocking, derisive look I'd expected.
"Did you have fun out here, baby?" Danny asked.
He shoved me back into the car, grabbed a tablet, and showed me the security footage.
He didn't even bother to close the tablet. Instead, he left it open on a secret thread in the backend, just to mess with my head.
The title read: [How do you punish a stray you've raised for twenty years when she wants to run away?]
He wrote: [This morning, she was crying, clutching the sheets and begging me to let her go. My heart was torn up, so I branded her ankle.
[I don't even know what to do about this, but she looks especially beautiful when she cries. We grew up together like this. She can't leave me.]
Most of the replies called him a psycho.
But he fired back in the latest comment: [What do you know? She's got no one but me. The world won't take her in. The only place she's safe is with me.]
All that obsessive surveillance and his twisted posts made me feel like I couldn't breathe.
Danny's possessiveness wasn't limited to me. It extended to destroying every connection I had, erasing my social life completely.
My friend Polly Santiago visited the villa once.
She looked at the gold chain on my ankle, hesitating as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she just sighed, her eyes empty and numb.
Polly said, "Iris, honestly, Danny actually treats you pretty well. People out there are nasty.
"If your real identity gets out, someone like Alexander couldn't protect you. He'd just be looking to milk you for whatever he can."
"Even you think that? Polly, you really think I should be kept here like some prisoner?" I asked.