Prologue

As I lie beneath him, my heart is heavy with a mix of numbness and longing.

Alan’s dark eyes bear into mine, burning with an intensity that terrifies me.

His hands, gentle yet firm, explore my curves with obsession. The way he moves is different now—no longer the frantic wildness as before, but a slow, deliberate rhythm that sends shivers through my body. Each thrust is careful, as if he fears breaking something fragile.

I’m already carrying his child.

The thought should bring comfort, but it doesn’t. Not when Alan continues to claim me as though I belong to him—and, in his mind, I do.

He trapped me in his grip, forced me to marry him, and took me every night until I carried his child.

He’s gentle with me now, his hands caressing, not forcing. But that’s the only difference—everything else is still the same.

He still won’t let me go.

Afterward, he pulls me close, wrapping his arms around me like a protective cocoon. “I can’t wait to meet our child.”

His words, which are meant to soothe, only stir something ugly inside me.

It is maddening. I don’t understand him—how he can go from aloof to gentle in the span of a heartbeat.

To the world, Alan Royce is a cold-hearted, ruthless CEO, a man who could destroy someone with just a glance. Yet with me, he is someone else entirely.

He never scolds me, not even a harsh word. His gaze always burns with an emotion I can’t decipher, and his words—when he speaks to me—are laced with an almost unbearable tenderness.

But he will never let me go.

My voice trembles as I break the silence, unable to hold back the storm any longer. “What do you want from me, Alan?”

His arms tighten around me, breath brushing against my ear, “Don’t you know, Christa?”

Each word he utters drips with possession.

“All I’ve ever wanted is you.”

Desperation claws at me.

How did it come to this?

I came to Royce Group just to find the truth about my father. When did everything start to blur into this nightmare?

It all started that day…

……