Page 54 of Sinful Obsession

But he wasn’t done. As I reached the master bedroom, the door creaked open behind me, and I turned to find him standing in the doorway, his expression unreadable but heavy with intent.

“You’ve been hiding something,” he said, his voice low. “And I don’t tolerate secrets, Charlotte.”

Before I could respond, he crossed the room and gestured to a chair in the corner, its high back and leather upholstery giving it an almost throne-like menace.

“Sit,” he commanded.

My stomach twisted, but I obeyed, sinking into the chair as he loomed over me.

From a drawer, he produced a small, ornate box, its surface engraved with intricate patterns that seemed to pulse in the dim light.

He opened it, revealing a delicate silver bracelet, its surface etched with faint, cryptic symbols. “This,” he said, his voice cold, “is your first punishment.”

I frowned, confusion warring with fear. “A bracelet?”

“It’s not just a bracelet,” he said, fastening it around my wrist.

The metal was cold, biting into my skin, and a faint hum emanated from it, like a heartbeat just out of sync with my own.

“It’s a monitor. It tracks your every move, your heart rate, your stress levels. If you lie, if you hide anything from me, I’ll know. And if you try to remove it, it’ll send an alert to me—and to others who’d be very interested in your whereabouts.”

My breath caught as the implications sank in.

This wasn’t just surveillance; it was control, a psychological leash designed to strip away my autonomy.

My hand trembled as I touched the bracelet, its weight a constant reminder of my captivity.

And worse, it could detect changes in my body—changes like a pregnancy.

If Cassian found out, if he realized the child wasn’t his, the consequences would be unimaginable.

“You think I killed your sister,” I said, my voice shaking but defiant. “Why go through all this? Why not just... end it?”

His eyes darkened, a storm of emotions flickering across his face—anger, pain, something softer I couldn’t name.

“Because I need to know the truth,” he said. “And until I do, you’re mine to watch, mine to protect, mine to punish.”

He turned and left the room, the door clicking shut behind him.

I stared at the bracelet, its faint hum a mocking echo of my racing pulse. The child growing inside me, the child of a faceless monster, was now a secret I had to guard at all costs. But with Cassian’s eyes on me, and this device betraying my every heartbeat, how long could I keep it hidden?

Hours blurred into a tense vigil; I paced the bedroom, my mind a whirlwind of fear and calculation.

The pregnancy test’s red lines haunted me, a secret that could unravel everything if discovered.

When midnight finally cloaked the halls in darkness, I slipped out of the room, my bare feet silent on the cool marble floors.

The mansion breathed around me.

My heart pounded as I navigated the dim corridors, pausing at each corner to listen for footsteps.

If Cassian caught me now... the thought alone made my blood run cold. The bracelet on my wrist would summon his wrath in an instant—rage that wouldn’t stop with me, but would crush the fragile life growing inside me.”

He’d see it as betrayal, proof of my “guilt,” and whatever punishment he’d held back would crash down like a tidal wave.

I eased the library door open, the hinges whispering a faint protest, and slipped inside.

I retrieved the burner phone from its hiding spot in the hollowed-out book, my fingers trembling as I powered it on and dialed Ethan.