All Chapters of Vows Of Deception : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

(Emma’s POV)I stared out the window of the car, watching the blurred scenery fly by. The words Luca had spoken to me—so cold, so sure of himself—echoed in my mind like a never-ending drumbeat. I hated him. I hated everything about the way he controlled me, the way he looked at me like I was nothing more than a possession.But deep down, there was something else, something I couldn’t shake. A pulse of heat, a spark of desire that flickered in the dark corners of my mind whenever he touched me, whenever his eyes held mine a little too long. I could feel it now, a familiar tension coiling in my chest.And I hated myself for it.We arrived back at his mansion—my prison, my gilded cage. The door opened, and I stepped out of the car, trying to ignore the steady thrum of my heartbeat, the constant weight of his presence beside me. I couldn’t let him win. I couldn’t let him break me.But somehow, I was already broken.The cold air hit me as I walked through the front door, and the silence in

(Emma’s POV)I could feel the pulse in my neck, the rapid beat that echoed in my ears, like a warning, or maybe it was my body betraying me. I was angry—furious, in fact—but I couldn't deny the way my body responded to him. The way he made me feel when he touched me, when he kissed me.I hated him. I hated everything he stood for. His arrogance, his dominance, the way he thought he could just claim me as his, like I was some object for his taking.But when his lips had pressed against mine just now, when he had pulled me into him with that forceful grip, I couldn't lie to myself. There was something else there, something I didn’t want to acknowledge.I felt it—every time he kissed me, every time his hands were on me. A fire. A dangerous, scorching fire that threatened to consume me.I stepped back, as if putting distance between us could stop the inferno inside me from spreading. I pressed my palm against my forehead, trying to collect my thoughts."You're insane," I whispered to myse

(Emma’s POV)I hated him. I hated him with every fiber of my being. Every time he touched me, it was like he had control over something deeper than just my body. It felt like he had control over my soul, and that terrified me.My mind screamed at me to stop him, to pull away, to fight back—but my body betrayed me every single time. His touch, his dominance, it stirred something deep inside me. I had never felt this out of control in my life, and it was maddening.I sat on the edge of the bed, my fingers trembling as I pulled my shirt back down, covering the skin he had exposed. My body burned from his touch, and I hated how much I wanted to hate him. But every time I thought about pushing him away, a part of me remembered the way his lips had claimed mine, the way his hands had touched me, the way I had surrendered.No, I wasn’t surrendering. I couldn’t be. This wasn’t me.“Emma…” His voice cut through the thick air, and I stiffened. He stood in front of me, his expression unreadable,

(Emma’s POV)I could feel the tension in the air before I even stepped into the room. The weight of Luca’s presence pressed down on me, suffocating, heavy, like a storm that had been brewing for days. It was hard to breathe, harder still to steady myself, but I had no choice. I had come here for answers.“Emma,” Luca’s voice broke through the thick silence. His tone was controlled, his eyes a piercing shade of blue, watching me like a predator waiting to pounce. I hated how his gaze seemed to strip away every last piece of my composure.I wasn’t going to back down. Not this time.“Luca,” I said, forcing my voice to remain steady, even as my hands clenched at my sides. “I need to know the truth.”His lips twisted into a smile that held no warmth, no kindness—just that cold, calculating look I had grown all too familiar with. “You want the truth, Emma?” He stepped closer, his presence looming over me. “You’ll get it, but not on your terms.”The words stung, the reminder that he controll

(Emma’s POV)I woke up the next morning to an unbearable silence. The kind that made the air feel heavy, thick with tension that had been building for weeks.I had been dreading this moment, and yet, here it was. My body ached in places I didn’t know it could—aching in ways that made me hate myself, hate him, yet crave him all the same. Luca. The man who had destroyed my life, taken my agency, and left me a shell of the woman I used to be.I could still feel the heat of his touch on my skin, the roughness of his kiss burning in my memory like a brand I couldn’t erase. The way he owned me in that moment was something I could never forget, no matter how much I tried to. He knew it too.I hated him for it.I hated how easily he took control of me, how effortlessly he made me feel things I knew I shouldn’t feel.It wasn’t just the physicality, though. It was everything. His power, his dominance, the way he manipulated every situation to his advantage. He didn’t care about me—he cared abou