Shopping

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Chapter 7

I yawned, covering my lips with my hand, when Damon stared daggers in my direction. I had learned the hard way that Damon’s words were absolute.

Why he had me awake by 6:30 was still a mystery to me as I stood there before a few maidservants, each having their head high, hands behind their back, and clothes neat.

“Meet Ari,” Damon’s voice rang with authority as he waved his hand toward me, his eyes narrowing slightly. “She’ll be joining us for breakfast. After that, I’ll be taking her shopping.”

Shopping? I blinked, almost certain I hadn’t heard him right. But before I could question it, Damon was already on the move, gesturing for me to follow him to the dining room.

Left with little to no choice, I did and soon found myself seated before the best delicious meal I had ever seen in my life. 

My stomach churned in response, clearly happy with the appetizers staring at me.

Breakfast was a quiet affair, mostly because Damon seemed entirely uninterested in making conversation, choosing instead to focus solely on his food. 

I poked at my eggs, trying to swallow the fact that I was now on whatever schedule he set. As if sensing my unease, he glanced up, a slight smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth.

But he didn’t say anything.

Once we were finished, he stood, extending his hand in a way that left little room for argument. “Come on. We don’t have all day.”

I followed him reluctantly, wondering what in the world he had in mind. To my surprise, he took me to the high-rise district, pulling up in front of a boutique with a stylish, glass facade and a name etched in gold cursive letters above the door: Versetti Couture. 

My jaw dropped. 

This was the boutique—the kind you only heard about in magazines, the kind reserved for the city’s elite.

Damon guided me inside with a hand at the small of my back, his touch light but commanding. Once we were in, his demeanour shifted, and he immediately took charge. 

Without waiting for a sales assistant, he began moving through the racks with an easy familiarity, picking out pieces that made my stomach knot with a mixture of dread and disbelief. 

Skimpy dresses in rich, luxurious fabrics; gowns that clung to curves I wasn’t even sure I had; delicate, lacy lingerie that looked more like something out of a movie—not just any movie—than anything I’d ever dreamed of wearing.

I couldn’t bite my tongue any longer. “Are you out of your mind?” I hissed, stepping close enough to keep my voice low but pointed. “I’m not wearing that.”

Damon paused, holding up a particularly daring red dress, his eyebrows raised as he looked at me with cool amusement. “Oh, you will.”

“Excuse me?” I shot back, crossing my arms over my chest. “Last I checked, I didn’t sign up for—”

His eyes darkened, and he took a deliberate step toward me, the dress still hanging from his hand like a taunt. “It looks like you’ve forgotten,” he said gently yet firmly, “that your choices aren’t yours to make anymore, Ari.”

I swallowed, trying not to let his words or the intensity of his gaze unnerve me. But he didn’t stop.

“You’ll wear these,” he continued, holding up a hanger with a lacy black number that barely covered anything, “for me.” His voice softened, but there was an edge to it, something darker lurking beneath. “And you’ll do exactly what I say.”

I smelt danger in the air, my senses sharpening on instincts. I looked at him once more. He was obviously the source but how?

Was it my fear of him or…?

My skin prickled with defiance, but I knew better than to push too far. “You can’t control everything about me,” I whispered back, my voice sharper than I’d intended.

He only smirked, amused by my resistance. “You’ll learn, Arianna,” he warned in a low tone. “I control exactly what I want to control. And right now, that includes you.”

I bit the inside of my cheek, my face flushing hot with both anger and something I refused to name. 

He was infuriating, so self-assured, so smug—and yet, standing here in this boutique, with him towering over me, I felt something else creep into my chest, something disturbingly magnetic.

Several eyes were on us in an instant I wished I could open the ground and bury myself in it.

“Fine,” I muttered, meeting his gaze with as much fire as I could muster. “But don’t expect me to play dress-up quietly.”

He gave a short, humourless laugh, stepping even closer until there was barely any space between us. “Oh, I don’t expect quiet,” he murmured in a way that made my pulse spike. “But you’d better get used to doing what I say, Arianna. Whether you want to or not.”

With that, he handed the dress to the sales assistant, turning to me with a look that made it clear this was only the beginning. I straightened my back, refusing to shrink under his gaze. 

Damon may think he could control me the way he want—but he’d soon learn I wasn’t going to make it easy.