Chapter 5 - The Velvet Leash
After the attack, security tripled. I wasn't just a prisoner anymore; I was Julian's most guarded treasure.
But the confinement was suffocating me.
One evening, overwhelmed by the violence of the world I was trapped in, I packed a small bag. Leo was asleep. I sneaked out of the bedroom, navigating the silent, dimly lit halls. I memorized the guard rotations. I made it all the way to the side garden, the iron gate just fifty yards away.
"It’s electrified."
I froze.
Julian stepped out from the shadows of the rose bushes. He wasn't angry. He just looked unbearably tired.
"If you touch that gate, it will kill you, Clara."
I dropped the bag, tears of absolute frustration spilling over. "I can't do this, Julian! I can't live in a warzone! I'm not a mafia wife. I'm just a woman who lost everything, and now I’m trapped in a nightmare!"
He walked toward me slowly, stopping inches away. He looked down at me, the moonlight catching the fierce, desperate emotion in his eyes.
"I know," he said softly. "I know I stole you. I know I am a monster."
He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a heavy iron key. He pressed it into my trembling palm.
"This disables the gate. There is an SUV waiting a mile down the road with a million dollars in cash and a new identity. If you walk out that gate, my men will not stop you."
I stared at the key, my heart pounding frantically.
"But if you leave," Julian’s voice cracked, "Leo loses his mother. And I lose the only light I have ever known in this dark, cursed life. So I am begging you, Clara. Don't leave us."
I looked at the gate. I looked at the key.
And then I looked at Julian.
May you like
I dropped the key into the grass. I threw my arms around his neck, burying my face in his chest. Julian let out a shaky breath, wrapping his powerful arms around me, holding me as if I were his oxygen.
I wasn't a prisoner anymore. I was staying by choice.
