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Light from the French doors floated into the room, splashing across her face. She looked ethereal when the sun hit her cheek just right. Alex was so fucking beautiful, perfect in every way. I saw the way every man looked at her, and I wanted to kill them for having dirty thoughts.
Alex was mine.
She probably thought the cameras in her room were because I was a possessive dickhead who needed to control everything. And she would have been right. But the cameras were for her protection. My enemies had almost gotten to her a few weeks ago. If Marcello hadn’t been there to intercept the threat, Alex would have been halfway around the world by now and in the hands of human traffickers.
I was a dangerous man. She was a good girl who was only bad for me. My business often overflowed into my personal life, but none of that mattered until they discovered my obsession with Alex.
I’d kept her away for a reason. I made her hate me because it was necessary. And now, there was only one way to keep her safe. Dangerous men knew she was my weakness… and they wanted to take her from me.
17
ALEX
The darkness consumed me,swallowing me whole as I sank to the floor and pulled my knees into my chest. I blinked a few times to clear my vision, pinching the skin on my forearm.
“Wake up, Alex. Not real,” I whispered, but it was no use.
Nothing.
Same as the last time.
This was my hell.
Tears fell from my eyes, coating my cheeks as I screamed for someone to let me out and come to my aid. I pounded my fists against the wooden door until my knuckles cracked open and my hands were numb.
I got on my hands and knees and felt around the cramped space. My chest heaved as I struggled for air, fighting the wave of anxiety that ripped through my body like a hurricane.
I hated the dark.
Hated small spaces.
Desperate to escape, I clawed at the molding. Anything that could provide me a way out. But no matter how hard I tried, I could never escape the closet.
This was my punishment for being born.
For taking everything from her.
My mother.
She blamed me for everything that didn’t go her way. The woman should have loved me. And yet, she had never shown me an ounce of affection. She saw everything I had stolen from her when she looked at me.
Youth.
Beauty.
Money.
Fame.
Her father’s love.
My mother had locked me in a tiny closet for most of my life. I didn’t have to do anything to deserve her punishment. Just existing was enough for her.
Someone shook my shoulder, and strong arms wrapped around me like a warm blanket. “Alex, wake up.”
My eyes snapped open. A soft breeze from the bay flew into my bedroom through the French doors. I listened to the water crash against the beach. My heart slowed, and eventually, my hands stopped trembling.
“I got you.” Marcello leaned against the headboard, his muscular biceps holding me in a vise. “You’re safe, Alex.”