Alicia's POV
The sunlight poured through the wide glass windows like liquid gold, spilling across silk sheets and my bare skin.
For once, I didn't have to rush anywhere. No frantic shower, no suit pressed and waiting, no meeting schedule waiting for me on my phone. Just stillness. Just this penthouse that hummed with Liam's presence even when he wasn't here.
It was strange...freedom, yet not.
Because this day off wasn't mine. It was his.
"You're not going to the office today." His voice from last night or was it early this morning still echoed in my ears, firm and absolute, brooking no argument.
I had been too spent to argue anyway. After hours of his relentless possession, I couldn't have fought him if I wanted to. My body still carried the marks of his claim: bruises, love bites, tender aches that flared with every movement.
Even in absence, he was everywhere.
The penthouse smelled like him…..sharp cologne and something darker, a natural musk that clung to the sheets, the sofa, my skin. The breakfast tray he'd left carried his silent command: Eat. Rest. Even the steaming coffee beside me seemed to whisper obey.
I wrapped the sheets tighter around myself and padded barefoot to the window, staring at the city stretching endlessly below. Somewhere out there, people hurried through their ordinary lives. Somewhere out there, I still had a family, a world that didn't revolve around Liam Knight.
But here? I was suspended in a cage of glass and steel, owned by a man who could bend me with just a word.
The hours drifted. I tried to read, to nap, to pretend the silence was peace instead of his invisible leash keeping me tethered. My body gave in to exhaustion, curling into his bed again.
When evening came, I was still half-asleep when my phone buzzed on the nightstand.
I reached for it groggily, rubbing my eyes. The screen lit up with my brother's name.
A twist of unease curled in my stomach. I hadn't spoken to him in weeks. My heart thudded as I answered.
"Alicia?" His voice was strained, urgent. "Thank God you picked up."
I sat up straighter. "What's wrong?"
"It's Mom," he said, and my breath caught. The sleep in my eyes disappeared.
"She collapsed earlier. Doctors say she needs urgent treatment. If we don't act fast…" His words cracked. "I can't handle this alone. We need you here. Now."
Panic rushed through me, hot and sharp. "What? How bad is it?"
"Bad enough," he snapped, frustration bleeding into his tone. "I'm drowning here, Alicia. You're her child too. You can't just vanish into your new life and forget us."
His words cut deeper than he knew. Tears burned at the corners of my eyes. Guilt crashed into me...guilt for leaving them, for burying myself in work, for letting Liam consume every piece of me until there was nothing left for anyone else.
"I'll come," I whispered, voice trembling. "I'll find a way"
The words had barely left my lips when I froze. Because even as I promised, I felt the weight of Liam's presence pressing in, though he wasn't even here. Would he let me go? Would he care that my mother was sick? Or would he tighten his grip, reminding me I was his before I was anyone else's?
The thought made my chest tighten with fear.
"Please," my brother's voice broke again, desperate now. "Don't leave me to do this alone."
"I'll try," I said, and hung up, staring at my shaking hands.
And then the sound of the penthouse door opening hit me like a lightning strike.
Liam was home.
Liam's POV
The office had been a boring without her.
My employees worked harder, yes…because they'd seen me arrive sharper, colder, carrying the energy of a man who had consumed and conquered his woman until dawn. They whispered about her absence, their curiosity clawing at them. I fed it deliberately.
"She has the day off," I had told them, my voice a blade against the silence of the boardroom. "On my authority."
The way they glanced at one another afterward was delicious…..envy, shock, disbelief that the CEO's assistant secretary has been given that kind of indulgence. But I wanted them to know. I wanted the entire building to know.
Alicia Blake is mine.
And if I gave her the day off, it wasn't mercy. It was ownership.
When I returned to the penthouse that evening, I half-expected to find her waiting with that flushed, guilty look she always wore when I caught her obeying me without realizing it. Maybe she'd be in the shower, maybe curled in my sheets again, smelling like me.
But what I found instead was her voice…..raw, trembling…carried through the room.
"…I'll come. I'll find a way"
I stopped in the doorway and slightly open the door, my blood icing.
She was sitting on the bed, the sheets clutched around her, phone pressed to her ear. Her eyes were wet, her lips parted. I could hear the faint sound of a man's voice through the speaker.
Family.
Her brother.
I stayed perfectly still, listening.
Her mother was sick. She needed to leave. She was promising to find a way.
A muscle ticked in my jaw, fury curling inside me. The outside world clawing at her. Her family trying to drag her from me.
No.
She was mine.
Not theirs. Not anymore.
The sound of her soft "I'll try" sealed it. She hung up, her shoulders sagging, tears streaking her face.
That's when I moved. The deliberate creak of the floorboards made her head snap up. Our eyes locked.
She froze like a rabbit caught in the dark.
"Liam," she breathed, her voice breaking.
I took my time crossing the room, gaze never leaving hers, my presence filling the air until it pressed down on her like gravity.
"Family trouble?" I asked, my voice quiet, too quiet. Dangerous.
Her throat bobbed as she swallowed, clutching the sheet tighter.
"My mom….she's sick. She needs me. I have to....."
"You have to what?" I cut her off softly, tilting my head. "Run back to the world that couldn't keep you safe? Leave this bed, this home, me?"
Her lips trembled. "It's my mother we are talking about." " what do you mean the world that couldn't keep me safe?"
I leaned closer, the darkness in me stretching, claiming. My hand slid under her chin, lifting her face so she had no choice but to look at me.
"I am your master now," I whispered, every word a brand on her soul. "Don't ever forget that."
"What?" She asked with a confused face.
I replied her, "Alicia Blake i owned you, you are mine and mine only."