Page 35 of His Dark Purpose

Deep down, the answer resonated.Somethingwas different—some tiny dynamic in the idyllic landscape had changed, and she hadn’t consented to the shift.

But this ismydream!

She lifted her chin in defiance, certain suddenly that’s where she was—in a dream—the most marvelous dream she could ever remember enjoying, even though her right arm still wouldn’t budge.

Yanking at the limb harder, she realized abruptly that the world around had altered. The blue skies she’d relished had vanished, replaced by a suffocating grayscale interior she didn’t recognize and one that seemed to be closing in all around her.

Silently, insidiously, the walls about her shifted, forcing the space she’d been thrust into to grow smaller, and still, however hard she struggled, she couldn’t get her blasted right arm to shift from its awkward position.

She searched the sky, hoping for a reprieve, but there, too, her freedom had been replaced by a cell, ever-decreasing in size and apparently determined to pulverize her.

Panic spiraled, threatening to explode from her in a giant cry if she didn’t get a grip on her emotions, but there was no ‘getting a grip’ on terror as pervasive as the sort ballooning in her belly. When the sinister wall on the right grazed her outstretched fingertips, she took a deep breath and screamed.

It was a cry that came from her soul—pure fear laced with panicked frustration—and it pierced the bubble of sleep that had cradled her.

Bursting awake with a gasp, she jolted upright in bed, aware that she might actually have hollered in real life. Her lips were still parted, her breaths labored with alarm as her senses finally accepted the nightmare hadn’t been real.

She was in Kyle’s expensive bedroom suite, the vast space illuminated by a single lamp at the far end of the room, and as she twisted to look, she realized what had stirred her—her right wrist was trapped in one of his pairs of handcuffs.

The dull inevitability of her bondage was crushing. He’d cuffed her again—even after all the bullshit he’d told her about loving her.

“Shit!” She tugged at the metal, already knowing the effort was pointless. “I can’t believe it.”

The sex, the orgasms, and the cuddles—all the time and attention he’d invested in her—had all meant nothing to him. In the end, she was nothing but his captive—a thing he could torment and bind at will.

Her head pounded at her conclusion, but her growing misery made it no less accurate. Kyle couldn’t love her. If he had, he wouldn’t have cuffed her and insisted she use the dehumanizing bucket. She was only his property—another thing he could own and control—like the cars, staff, and house.

The sound of a message alert on her phone reverberated from the other side of the bed, and heart racing, her focus landed on the device, illuminated by the incoming message. She’d left it there when she’d dressed as his maid and gone to ‘clean’ in his office, but however hard she tried to grasp it at that moment, her fingers couldn’t quite reach, the metal at her wrist depriving her of the inches required.

“Damn it!” Frustration furled at the loss.

She couldn’t even reach her own phone.

It might be Seth trying to reach her—or Jonah—and she hated the thought that they were trying to get in touch and might be worried by her radio silence. What if Seth needed money or somewhere to stay? She had to be there for him, had to find a way to reach the bloody phone, but however hard she strained, she couldn’t convince the cuff to permit her. Her exertion was all in vain.

“Fuck it!” Angry tears pricked in her eyes.

Kyle might have paid her debt and, in doing so, changed her life forever, but that didn’t mean he owned her.

She wasn’t his.

That’s how he sees me.She hugged the blankets closer.I’m a whore he can fuck, who he thinks will come running back for more.

The idea was soul-destroying. She had to be stronger, had to erect boundaries to protect herself, but how could she do any of those things when he wouldn’t even leave the room without cuffing her?

A smothering sense of infuriation bloomed, making it all but impossible to follow a logical train of thought. As her tears fell thick and fast, she let out another bloodcurdling screech.

Part Three

Change

Chapter Twelve

Arrival

Seth

“It should be just up here, mate.”

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