Alessio's grip tightened around Elena's wrists, the pressure enough to remind her of his control over her—over everything. He hovered above her, his gaze dark and unreadable. The force of his presence was like a storm, impossible to ignore, and Elena couldn't escape it, no matter how hard she tried.
"Do you think you can defy me?" he asked, his voice low and dangerous, his breath brushing against her skin like a promise. "You think I'll let you challenge me? Let you walk away?"
Elena's chest rose and fell with quick, shallow breaths, her body a battleground between the desire for freedom and the undeniable pull of him. Her mind screamed at her to resist, but her heart—the part of her that had begun to crave him, to need him—was weakening with each passing second.
She had been broken down, piece by piece, until there was nothing left of the girl she used to be. She wasn't sure if she hated him for it or if she had come to need it. But the truth was undeniable: she was trapped in his world, suffocated by his control. And no matter how many times she tried to fight it, she couldn't escape him.
"You belong to me, Elena," Alessio continued, his lips curling into a cruel smirk. "I've claimed you, body and soul. You can't run from me anymore."
The words stung, but in a twisted way, they also soothed something inside her. She was his, whether she accepted it or not. And maybe that was the only truth that mattered now.
But the anger—oh, it still simmered beneath the surface. The fight, the resistance that had once defined her, wasn't entirely gone. She still wanted to scream at him, to claw her way out of his grip and back into the freedom she had once known.
But Alessio knew her better than she knew herself. His gaze softened for a fraction of a second—just long enough to make Elena's heart skip a beat. But then, as if he realized the moment of vulnerability, it hardened again.
"Don't mistake this for weakness, Elena," he warned, his fingers digging into her wrist with enough force to make her wince. "I will never let you go. Not now. Not ever."
She tried to pull away, but the more she struggled, the tighter his grip became, until she was pressed beneath him, trapped beneath the weight of his dominance.
Her heart hammered in her chest.
The moment of tenderness was gone, replaced by something far darker.
And Elena? She was beginning to realize that Alessio wasn't going to let her go. He wasn't going to allow her to run, to hide, to fight.
She was his.
And there was nothing she could do to change it.