Chapter 3

The usual tricks weren't working anymore.

I decided to make a run for it.

And I mean, literally run away.

I reached out to my only bestie, a total nobody in showbiz, and asked her to help me pull off a fake kidnapping.

While Orion was away on a three-day business trip overseas, I used the black card he'd given me to bribe every bodyguard and servant in the villa.

Then, on a dark and windy night, my bestie kidnapped me and shoved me into a van.

'Goodbye, Orion. Goodbye, doom ending. I'm finally going to embrace my freedom,' I thought.

The van raced straight toward the docks in the next city.

I'd already secured my ticket for the late-night ferry. Everything was set for my escape.

But just as we pulled up to the docks, dozens of black Maybachs came out of nowhere, surrounding our rusty old van in seconds.

The headlights were so bright that they nearly blinded us.

The car doors flew open, and a hundred bodyguards in black jumped out all at once.

My bestie was so terrified that she could barely grip the steering wheel.

"Isolde, w-what the hell is going on?" she stammered.

My heart sank. 'Wasn't he supposed to be overseas? How did he find out?'

The window of the lead Rolls-Royce Phantom rolled down slowly.

Orion's face appeared, looking even scarier than Satan himself.

He hadn't gone on a business trip at all.

He'd been watching me the whole time.

Orion fixed his gaze on me and smiled.

Even from so far away, the icy chill in his smile felt like it could turn me into an ice sculpture.

"Baby," Orion called out. His voice echoed across the dock through the loudspeaker. "Did you enjoy this game? Game's over now. Time to go home.

They brought me back to the villa.

But it wasn't our old place. It was Orion's private estate out on the edge of the city.

The security here was insane, like I'd landed in a prison.

They locked me away in a room on the top floor.

The room was spacious and lavish, with floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out onto a stunning garden.

But the windows were sealed shut with iron bars as thick as my arm, and the door was a heavy alloy, only opening with a password and fingerprint scan.

I was nothing more than a pet now, locked away in a house.

Orion sat across from me, slowly wiping his fingers with a disinfectant wipe, as if he'd just touched something dirty.

"Why did you run?" Orion asked, his voice eerily calm.

I bit my lip and said nothing. 'Could I really tell him I was just trying to stay alive? He wouldn't buy it. He'd think I was messing around, playing some kinky roleplay again.'

"Not going to say anything?" Orion said. He tossed the wipe aside, stood up, and started walking toward me.

His shadow swallowed me whole.

I shrank back in fear, my back hitting the cold wall. There was nowhere left to run.

He crouched down so we were eye to eye. "Isolde, I'm really disappointed in you."

I couldn't hold it in anymore. I lost it and started bawling. "Orion, you psycho. Let me go. I don't want to be with you. I'm done with you."

Tears streamed down my face like beads from a broken necklace. I was sobbing so hard it felt like my chest was splitting open.

Orion just watched me, not angry, not impatient.

He reached out and gently wiped the tears from my face with his fingertips.

Then, right in front of me, he ran his tongue over his finger, tasting the salty tear.

His gaze was thick with obsession and madness, almost overwhelming. "You're still so beautiful when you cry. Don't cry, baby."

He whispered, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have made you cry. It's my fault."

I thought he was actually showing a softer side for once.

Suddenly, he reached into his pocket and pulled something out.

It was a stunning platinum anklet, encrusted with delicate diamonds that glittered in the light.

But attached to one end of the anklet was a long platinum chain.

Orion gripped my ankle and fastened the icy anklet around it, the metal biting into my skin.

A soft, metallic sound sounded, and finally, it sealed the lock in place.