Page 47 of The Secretary Volume II

And then, casually:

“Don’t worry.It won’t be like this forever.Even you’re replaceable.Sometimes these things just take longer than we want them to.”

The words are a scalpel.

I say nothing.

Because anything I say will be used against me later.

He leaves the room before I’ve caught my breath.

I don’t know how long I lie there, skin burning, throat raw, legs trembling beneath the sheet someone draped over me like an afterthought.The ache between my thighs is dull.Bruised.But it lingers.Just like everything else.

The staff brings me a robe and tells me a car is waiting.

No words.

Just silence.

Just the knowledge that tonight, I was not his first choice.

I was the outlet.

And Ellis?

Ellis never fucks without purpose.

Even cruelty is curated.

I find my clothes folded on the chair.Like I was never even in them.

There’s a note on top.

Folded.Neat.Precise.

I unfold it with trembling hands.

Just one line.In his handwriting this time.

“She won’t stay away forever.They never do.”

My stomach twists.I don’t know who he means.

But I know exactly what he wants me to think.

I crumple the note.I don’t throw it away.

And when I step out into the hallway, I know he’s still watching.

From somewhere in the house.

Likely from her room.

From wherever he keeps the things he thinks he owns.

But tonight—tonight I see something he doesn’t.

I see that pattern.The rhythm of his cruelty.The way the punishment comes before the replacement.