"His hands used to set me on fire. Now they cage me in a heat I can't escape."
His scent was still here — musky, warm, with something sweet she couldn't name. Bella lay still, staring at the ceiling as pale light leaked through the curtains. The bed beside her was empty. His side still smelled of him, a scent that clung to her skin like memory.
Her chest rose in a steady rhythm. It ached. Not from sleep, but from a weight she couldn't name—an ache tightening around her ribs like unseen chains.
A faint rustle in the hallway stirred her. Her stomach tightened. Not with fear — with something else, something that made her pulse thud harder. The sound of his footsteps was too quiet to be accidental.
She swung her legs off the bed, bare feet brushing the cold floor. The air was heavy, the quiet loud. Her reflection in the cracked mirror told her what words couldn't — pale skin, wide eyes, lips pressed thin. She wasn't the girl she'd once been. She was thinner. Harder. Burning inside, a fire no one could see.
Her fingers itched to touch something familiar, something safe. But the only thing she could reach for was her own trembling hands.
The first time she met him, it was chaos. In her second year of college, books slipped from her hands. His fingers brushed against hers without warning.
His eyes—dark, magnetic—held her there, not with a question, but with a claim.
"Sorry," he'd muttered then, voice breaking in the way that made her want to hear it again.
She had walked away. But she hadn't forgotten.
For four years, they had been the couple everyone envied. Laughter spills over the lecture halls. Kisses that tasted like promises and sin. Nights when his lips lingered on her skin until her breath came in shudders.
She remembered his cologne mixing with the scent of her shampoo, his fingers curling in her hair during lectures, and his eyes searching hers whenever she teased him in the library's silence.
But somewhere, that warmth became a shadow.
When she thought of him, her skin remembered more than her heart did.
She traced her fingers over the sheet where he'd slept. The memory of his touch lingered—possessive, claiming, yet tender.
The memory of last night cut sharper.
He had pressed her against the bed without warning. His mouth had found hers, his hands roaming like a man marking territory. Her pulse had gone wild. Not with fear. With something dangerous that hummed deep in her veins.
"Bella…" he'd murmured against her skin. His breath was heavy, rough. "You're mine."
It wasn't a promise. It was a warning.
She'd pulled away then, breath ragged, heart pounding. But she'd felt it too — the pull, the hunger that had threaded between them since the beginning.
Now, that hunger was both her curse and her anchor.
She rose, pulling a silk robe over her shoulders, her toes curling against the cold floor. Somewhere in the silence, she could still hear his voice. The way it had lingered in her ear was low and dangerous.
Her phone buzzed against the nightstand, sudden and jarring. She froze. Her robe slipped from her shoulder. She hesitated before picking it up.
The screen lit up with a message she didn't recognize.
"I know what he's taking from you… and I can give it back."
Her breath caught. Her thumb hovered over the screen. She wanted to delete it. Pretend it wasn't there. But something told her she shouldn't.
Somewhere outside their window, the city breathed. Somewhere inside her, something shifted.
Chris's voice came then, soft but sharp in her mind, like an echo: "You're mine."
Her lips curved into a bitter, knowing smile. She knew she shouldn't. But something told her she would.
Because deep down… she wasn't sure if she wanted to walk away.
She sank onto the bed, her robe sliding off her shoulder, skin chilled. Her phone felt heavy in her palm, the message still burning in her mind.
She didn't hear the floor creak behind her at first.
But then — a whisper, low and breathy, curled against her ear: "Don't open it."
Her breath caught. She turned. The room was still. The air is heavier now. Somewhere in the silence, a decision was waiting.
Her thumb hovered over the screen again.
She pressed the message open.
The words on the screen were different now.
"Meet me tonight. Or lose him forever."
Her breath hitched. The silk of her robe slipped completely from her shoulder.
Somewhere deep inside her, a fire broke free.
And she knew — this night would change everything.