Caged in his Love
She lay there in stunned silence, her breath caught in her throat, tears stinging at the corners of her eyes as pain, physical and emotional, rippled through her.
"You want me to let go of you? So that someone else can hold you, huh?" he hissed, looming over her like a man possessed. "All you ever told me was to let go of you! But then you could open your legs for another? Do you think you are going to get away with this? Do you think I'll just allow this to rest easy? A-and allow another touch what I've fought so hard to protect? Ana, do you want to drive me mad? Fine! If it's madness you want, you'll get it!"
His hands gripped her hair and he dragged her, mercilessly, across the room. Ana winced in silence, refusing to scream, refusing to give him the satisfaction, even though it felt like he was ripping the roots from her scalp. A sharp pain shot through her skull and a pounding headache followed, but she bit back her cries, her breath ragged.
"You think I won't do it?!" he shouted. "I'll kill you, Ana! I'll kill that bastard too! I swear I will! I won't accept this, I can't accept this! You slut! How could you? How could you?!"
He dragged her out of the room, down the hallway, her feet stumbling against the floor. She could barely keep up. The air was thick with fury, and her heart pounded with terror, but her face, her expression, remained cold. Emotionless.
He flung her into the backseat of his car like she weighed nothing.
"I swear to God, Ana, I'll kill you!" he growled again as he slammed the door and drove off, rage in every turn of the wheel, every breath he took.
Victor drove like a man possessed, rage burning through his veins. His grip on the steering wheel was tight enough to snap it in two. Ana sat silently in the backseat, heart thudding like a war drum. She had never seen him like this before, never seen this version of him. He was unrecognizable, feral. Like a beast barely holding onto his humanity.
When he reached his house, he slammed the car to a halt, jumped out, and yanked open the back door with one violent swing.
"Get out," he growled.
Before she could move, he pulled her out, swept her into his arms, and stormed into the house like a storm on two legs. His footsteps thundered across the marble floor as he carried her up the stairs and into a pristine, unused bedroom. Without a word, he threw her onto the bed, not roughly, but not gently either, and slammed the door shut.
The click of the lock echoed like a gunshot.
"You'll stay in here until I decide what to do with you," he said coldly through the door. "But that guy? He'll hear from me. Personally."
Then he was gone.
Meanwhile, across the city, Damian sat stiffly in his office. The world around him was calm, but inside, something felt off, like ants crawling just beneath his skin. He wasn't usually like this. He wasn't some restless junkie. But today, he couldn't concentrate, couldn't breathe right. His skin itched with invisible fire, and frustration simmered just beneath his polished surface.
He tried to focus on his screen.
He couldn't.
Tried to bury himself in numbers and reports.
Failed.
He hissed through his teeth, an irritated sound of defeat, just as Eric stepped into the room.
"Weldon, sir," Eric said cautiously, sensing the tension. "I wanted to ask, are you sure Miss Eva didn't mention anything about being absent? Maybe something urgent came up? It's been three days now. The staffs are worried. Her lines are unreachable, and I thought perhaps, you might know where she is. Since_ well, she was last seen with you."
The moment Eric said her name, something clicked.
Damian's chest tightened.
So that's what this was.
The restlessness. The emptiness. The gnawing ache in his bones.
Eva.
Her absence was like a phantom wound he couldn't locate. And suddenly, it all came rushing back, the night he'd tried to forget, the lines they'd crossed, the way she trembled under him. His heart pounded.
Was she avoiding him? Had he hurt her? Or was it shame? Regret? Or worse... had she disappeared because of him?
Damian's voice came out colder than he intended. "And why should I know where she is?"
Eric blinked, surprised by his tone. "I just thought, maybe she mentioned something. Anything."
"She didn't." Damian muttered, turning back to his screen, as though Eva's name hadn't just shaken the ground beneath him.
Eric hesitated. "Sir, with all due respect, this is against protocol. If she remains absent without official communication, we may have to terminate her appointment."
Damian didn't respond.
His eyes stayed glued to the screen, but his thoughts were unraveling fast. Eric bowed and quietly left the office.
Only when the door clicked shut did Damian's hand begin to tremble.
"Should I go to her apartment?" the thought whispered.
He exhaled hard, rubbing his temples.
"Calm down, Damian. Don't do anything stupid. She'll come back, eventually. Let's give it till the weekend."
Three long days passed.
And then, at last, Victor returned home. He unlocked the bedroom door and stepped inside. The air was heavy, and the curtains cast dim shadows across the room.
There she was_Ana_slumped on the floor beside the bed, looking pale and disoriented. Her eyes fluttered open, weak, glassy. Her lips were dry. Her body frail.
Victor froze.
The fire in him had burned out, replaced by an unexpected wave of regret and confusion.
With a quiet sigh, he pulled up a chair and sat down across from her, watching her silently.
He didn't speak.
Not yet.
He just stared.
As though searching her face for something he'd lost long ago.
After a while, Victor's voice broke the silence, thick with fury and heartbreak.
"Look what you made me do, Ana," he said, his voice cracking slightly beneath the weight of restrained emotion. "Do you even know how I feel right now? After everything I've done for you, everything I feel for you_ you still betrayed me like that?"
He dragged a hand through his hair, his jaw clenched tight. "I can't even touch you, Ana. Not a single kiss. I've respected every boundary you put between us. But him? You gave everything to him."
His voice deepened with a chilling intensity. "I was so angry, so mad, Ana. If I didn't love you as much as I do, I swear, I could have_" He broke off, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he tried to restrain himself. "Do you have any idea how much I love you? How long I've waited_waited for you to accept me? I've done everything, changed my life, worked like a dog, built myself from the ground up, just to be the man you could be proud of."
He scoffed bitterly, his expression twisted in frustration. "But no matter what I do, you always make me feel like I'll never be enough. Not compared to him. That stupid rich bastard."
He stood up abruptly, fists clenched at his sides. "So I worked harder. I made more money. I bought a goddamn company, Ana! Just to show you I could be something! And what did you do in return? You ran straight into his bed. Right after humiliating me in public. You stood by and let him insult me like I was nothing."
His voice dropped to a venomous whisper. "And now he's gone too far. That arrogant bastard dared to launch an attack on my company, on me. He's trying to destroy everything I built! We lost millions in one day because of him. He's crossed the line."
Victor's lips curled into a dark smirk. "I didn't kill him the last time because you were there. But now? Now he's going to regret ever crossing paths with me. He messed with the wrong man. Me, Victor. Do you think I bear that name for nothing? I always win. I never lose. And this time, I will destroy him in a single move."
He leaned closer, voice low and terrifyingly calm. "In twenty-four hours, you'll hear of his downfall. And that's just the beginning. I will drag the name Lopez through the mud until nothing is left."
Ana_Eva_sat slumped on the floor, her body frail and trembling. Her eyes were lowered, but her lashes fluttered rapidly, the weight of his words crashing over her like waves.
Victor sighed and leaned back in his chair, his tone softening, almost tender. "But it doesn't have to be like this."
He looked at her with a strange kind of hope glinting in his eyes.
"Only you can stop all of this, Ana. We can both leave everything behind. Come with me to Singapore. Marry me. Let's start over. Forget all of this ever happened. The choice is yours."