Mirabella's povI was just a few feet from the entrance when the door burst open, and a woman stormed out, her face twisted with anger. I froze, taken aback—Eunice had told me Jayden never brought women here, so seeing her was a shock. Her tight dress clung to her figure, leaving little doubt that she had had sex with Jayden.So, not only had he broken his rule of keeping hookups away from home, but he had done it without a second thought about me—even if there was technically nothing serious between us.The woman scoffed when she noticed me, slowing her pace as she closed the distance between us, her gaze sharp and condescending."And who the hell are you?" She chortled.I furrowed my brows. "I should be the one asking you that. Who are you?"She chuckled. "So you are one of those he sleeps around with. Wonderful!"With that, she took her leave. Still curious, I called after her before she got too far. "Who are you?"She did not even look back, just tossed over her shoulder. "Why
Mirabella's povAt last, I had gotten a taste of freedom, and it was intoxicating. Even though it was just a glimpse, it felt like stolen chocolate melting on my tongue—a thrill I owed entirely to Caesar. Thanks to him, I could now sneak out at night, hit up hidden clubs, hang out with Lucy, and take back the pieces of my youth that Jayden had almost stolen from me. But it was not total freedom—not yet. I still had to be careful, always making sure I was back before Jayden noticed anything. Eunice had been a lifesaver, helping me cover my tracks and keep things under control.However, I could not let my guard down just yet.Also, Caesar’s help was my lifeline; his ability to manipulate the CCTV cameras in our house made my secret escapades possible. The CCTV cameras that were secretly planted in the mansion were all I needed to confirm that Jayden was obsessed over me because why would he need to track my every movement?I sat at the dining table in Caesar and Lucy's home, digging
Mirabella's povFreedom tastes intoxicating—like the first breath of air after being buried alive or the burn of liquor sliding down your throat when you’ve been denied it for too long. The problem? It’s easy to overindulge, to forget boundaries and consequences in the haze of liberation. That’s how I've ended up reeling in my newfound freedom, enjoying it recklessly, as though it could be snatched away at any moment.Last night was no different. Somewhere between the bottom of my glass and the dimly lit dance floor, I found myself entangled with a stranger. A hot, handsome stranger who now lay beside me, his toned chest rising and falling in the soft morning light. Yes, I slept with another man! Could that count as me cheating? I doubt it, since there was nothing serious between Jayden and me.The buzz of my phone shattered my sleep."Where are you?" Eunice’s hushed voice slipped through the line as I reluctantly pressed the phone to my ear. Her tone was urgent, slicing through my
Jayden's pov8:50 a.m., and Mirabella still had not shown her face in this house. I had asked Eunice to call her down to have breakfast with me, only for her to come back and tell me Mirabella was not in her room. "A hotel?” I muttered, my brows knitting in confusion as I checked the tracker and saw her location flashed on the screen. Then, I pulled up the CCTV footage and could not help but smirk at how she snuck out in the dead of night. “She's got some nerve,” I snickered to myself.However, one thing was certain—she would regret this defiance. I would make her pay for breaking my rules until she begged for mercy, and I would enjoy every second of it. Seconds stretched into minutes, and nearly an hour passed before I finally heard the door creak open.I didn’t need to look to know it was her. “Where the hell are you coming from, Mirabella?” I growled.She scoffed much to my surprise. "I went to have fun yesterday night."What?! My eyes widened in shock immediately. Did she ju
Mirabella's povThe way my confrontation with Jayden ended still felt unreal.The look of pure shock on his face when I threw those words at him still burnt into my memory, and I could not help but smile every time I thought about it. "Why didn’t I think of this sooner? Why did I put up with his crap for so long?" I muttered under my breath, flopping onto the bed."Freedom finally!" I exhaled in satisfaction.Now, there'll be no need to be sneaking out of the house just to have fun and whatnot.Still in excitement, I put a call to Lucy to tell her everything that had happened and Caesar. She expressed her excitement for me."You finally did it, babe! This is all you've been wishing for. Congratulations," she said, her voice light over the phone."What about Caeaar? Is he still at home?" I asked her, but she replied that he had left to work. "Well, I only wanted to tell him the same thing and to thank him because this wouldn't have happened without him," I said. "What?" She scoffed
Author's povRelief washed over Caesar after the call with Mirabella as he sat back in his leather chair, watching the city skyline through the floor-to-ceiling windows. A self-satisfied smirk played on his lips as he thought back to the conversation with her. Now, he had achieved what he wanted to with the advice and was just an inch closer to defeating Jayden. “What a fool she is,” he scoffed to himself, his voice dripping with disdain. Unbeknownst to her, he had set everything in motion to test Jayden’s feelings. If Jayden didn’t care for Mirabella, his wrath would have crushed her the moment she confronted him. But instead, the outcome hinted at something else entirely, something Caesar was determined to exploit.“The little pawn thinks I’m helping her,” he muttered, almost amused by the thought. "How pathetic and dumb. She doesn’t even realise she’s bait in all of this.” He let out a chuckle, leaning back in his chair with a sense of fulfillment. Everything was falling into
Mirabella's povIt was late at night, and I was lying on my bed, mindlessly swiping through Tinder, trying to find my next hookup for tomorrow, when a knock came at the door."I'm full, Eunice," I called out lazily, not bothering to look away from my phone. "I’m not having dinner."The knock came again, but the voice that followed was not Eunice’s.“It’s me, Bella. Open the door. We need to talk.”I hissed under my breath, my irritation spiking as soon as I heard Jayden’s voice. "Bella, open this door now!” He barked as the door handle rattled under his impatient grip.I scoffed, my eyes still glued to my phone. “Oh, I get it. You had your dinner, and now you are here for dessert, right?” My voice rose a little. “Well, newsflash, Jayden, that’s not happening anymore. Get over it.”The rattling stopped for a second, but then there was a loud, sudden crash as the door flew open, slamming against the wall. My heart jumped into my throat, panic gripping me for a split second, but I ma
Jayden's povI was supposed to feel satisfied after leaving Mirabella in misery, just as I had planned. Striding toward my study, I expected the usual rush of satisfaction, but instead, an unsettling emptiness crept over me, leaving me confused. “Why am I feeling like this?” I muttered under my breath, my brows furrowed.Normally, I enjoyed seeing her suffer—whether it was through hitting her or using her like she was nothing but a sex slave. But this time, it felt different. Was it guilt? Guilt for leaving her in that condition? The thought annoyed me, yet I could not shake it. My thoughts were interrupted by Eunice’s panicked voice echoing from upstairs. “Mirabella! Mirabella! Wake up!” she screamed. I scoffed, irritation bubbling up. "Why is she yelling like that slut’s fighting for her life?” Maybe this lingering dissatisfaction was just because I had not taken things far enough. Maybe that’s why I felt so off. “Sir, she’s fainted!” Eunice’s frantic shout came again, louder
Mirabella's pov“Why are you trying to drink yourself to death?” I asked Jayden, surprise and shock still etched on my face. He didn't say anything but only stared at the ceiling as though it held the answers to every question he was too tired to ask. The Jayden I knew was sharp, always in control. But version of him looked... shattered and exposed, a shift that had been obvious since he struck the boy. "Why are you doing this to yourself?" I asked gently, moving a little closer. He muttered something under his breath, too low to catch at first, but the words eventually registered.“What if the boy dies, uh?” His eyes darted to mine, wild and glassy, searching me for something I didn’t understand. "I can't just stop wondering about the possibility no matter how hard I try not to."It was hard to ignore the state he was in."You are drunk, Jayden," I said, closing the distance between us after realising there was no point in having this conversation with him again. "Come on, l
Mirabella's pov "Did we... Is he dead?" My eyes shot wide with shock, locking with Jayden's equally panicked gaze. Without a word, he unbuckled his seatbelt and jumped out of the car. I hurried after him, heart pounding as we approached the front. "Shit!" he muttered, his voice strained with panic. He crouched down immediately, pulling the boy toward him. Blood was seeping out fast, staining the floor. "Is he...?" "He's alive," he said suddenly, his face lighting up with relief as he felt for a pulse. "He's alive, Bella!" he repeated, a shaky laugh escaping him. Around us, a crowd had started to gather. Some were filming on their phones, others just standing there, watching like it was a movie. "Are you all seriously just standing there?" Jayden's voice boomed. "Put your damn phones down and help!" His shout echoed through the street, cutting through the murmurs. But no one did. "We should call an ambulance," I said quickly, turning back to the car to grab my p
Jayden's povIf there was one thing that still got under my skin, even after things had started to shift between Mirabella and me, it was how she still was not completely at ease around me. "What do you want to listen to?" I asked as I prepared to drive out of the mansion, my fingers drumming lightly on the steering wheel. She turned her head to me, eyes narrowed like I had asked a tricky question. I rolled my eyes and scoffed. "Come on, don't overthink it. What genre do you like, dummy?" A small laugh escaped her lips as realisation dawned on her, and for a second, I felt the warmth of it. "Anything works, I guess," she shrugged. Her answer rubbed me the wrong way, and I could not hide the flicker of disappointment on my face. I still could not wrap my head around why she was still walking on eggshells around me. "Come on," I said with a short laugh, masking how I really felt. "How can you say that? You can’t be serious. Just name something. Any artiste or genre. Just name it
Mirabella's povIt turned out to be Jayden as he leaned casually against the doorframe."Relax, it's just me," he said, throwing his hands up in the air with that stupidly charming grin of his."I'm not here to steal anything from you or harm you."I rolled my eyes as a faint smile tugged at my lips."Oh really? Then why exactly are you sneaking into a girl's room uninvited? Pretty sure that's called trespassing, you know." I chuckled, my brows furrowing playfully.He shrugged, trailing his gaze down my body with a slow, deliberate stare that made my cheeks flush. "Well... just making sure things are in perfect ways."My breath caught in my throat as my mind raced to decipher what he meant by that. "Things like?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper, the smile still lingering on my lips despite the heat creeping up my neck.His smirk deepened, and he took a step closer, his presence filling the room with an almost tangible intensity. "Things like making sure your appearance is p
Mirabella's pov The fear and foreboding that had hung over my time with Jayden seemed to fade with each passing day. Our silent meals in the dining room, which I always expected to end in having sex with him, which didn't, began to include small conversations. They were not much, just fragments, but enough to make me realise he could be something other than the cold and ruthless man I first knew. Evening walks through the mansion followed, requested in a surprisingly humble tone instead of his usual commanding bark whenever he did want to make me do things, and even shopping trips, where he bought me anything I desired. If someone had told me this shift would happen between us, I would have laughed in disbelief. Yet, here I was, growing oddly comfortable around him. This made me recall Eunice and Lucy’s observations, trying to follow their suggestions in the hope of bridging whatever strange gap lay between him and me. Standing in front of the mirror in my room, a faint smile cur
Jayden's pov"I’m lost, Ariana," I admitted, my voice uncharacteristically low."I’ve never felt like this before. Never. For the first time in my life, I want someone—not for control, not to conquer—but because I need her. And it’s messing me up." I ran a hand through my hair, my frustration bubbling to the surface. "Do you have any idea how hard it is for someone like me to admit this? To feel like I’m begging for scraps of attention? She’s all I think about, but I feel like I’m hitting a wall every time I try to get through to her. And it’s driving me insane." She stayed silent, her expression unreadable as I continued. "I know I don’t deserve her," I said, my voice dropping even lower. "Not after everything I’ve done. I could force her, sure—I’ve forced people into things before; we both know that. But this… It’s about her being the one thing in my life that is real." "I... I just want her to choose me. I want it to be real, Ariana. I want her to want me on her own. Not becau
Jayden's povI could not keep humiliating myself by confessing my feelings to Mirabella over and over again. Her constant doubt about my intentions and the way she avoided me were getting under my skin. It frustrated me to no end, tempting me to do things I did not want to resort to. I was not used to being denied what I wanted—no matter how far or difficult it was to reach. Sure, I was in love with her. But if I wanted to, I could force her to fall for me because the calm I had been wearing to wait for her acceptance could slip at any moment. Yet, before taking that route, I figured I should talk it out with Ariana first after confessing my love to Mirabella for the second time, since she was always pushing me to become a better version of myself.When I arrived at Ariana’s door and knocked, I was not sure if I was more amused or shocked when a guy opened it. He stood there like he owned the place, wearing nothing but a pair of black underpants that hung low on his hips. My eyes
Mirabella pov"Good morning, Mirabella," Jayden said.I froze, my gaze locking with his as my breath caught in my throat. This was exactly what I was avoiding, yet here I was, caught in his intense gaze. "Shit," I cursed inwardly, unsure whether to retreat back to my room or proceed with my original plan. My hesitation must have been obvious, but he seemed unfazed as his lips quirked into a faint smile. He wiped his mouth with a napkin, never breaking eye contact. "I see you are feeling better for you to walk from your room all the way down here. That’s… good to know." His casual tone contrasted with the tension simmering in the air. My chest tightened, berating myself for coming downstairs at all. "What was I even thinking?"Finally, I decided to end this humiliating encounter and spun on my heel, aiming to retreat to the safety of my room. I moved so quickly that I tripped over my own feet. My heart lurched as I braced for an embarrassing fall. But it never came as a hand gr
Mirabella's povA knock rattled my door, breaking the fragile bubble of sleep I had barely managed to slip into. I groaned, pulling the pillow over my head. My eyes cracked open, still weighed down with sleep, as Jayden’s words from last night echoed faintly in my mind: "It’s because I love you.”It sounded even more absurd now in the daylight, like a dream that had overstayed its welcome.I still could not figure out if I should laugh or panic. Love? Him? The same man who had terrorised me like it was a hobby? I quickly rubbed the sleep from my eyes, my heart racing with panic just as the knock came again, more insistent this time. I froze, thinking it was Jayden, here to finally unleash his wrath on me."Mirabella?” Eunice’s voice echoed from behind the door."Come in,” I mumbled, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from my eyes as I stretched my arms above my head.The door creaked open, and she stepped in.As she walked towards me, her eyes scanned me from head to toe like I was a