The door clicked open.
I spun around, my heart hammering against my ribs.
Adrian stood in the doorway. He had removed his suit jacket, leaving him in a crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms. Without the sharp armor of his jacket, he should have looked less intimidating. He didn't.
His dark eyes swept across the room, taking in every detail—the untouched bed, the open closet door, and finally, me standing in the center of it like a trapped animal.
"You're not sitting," he noted, his voice smooth and unnervingly quiet as he stepped inside, closing the door behind him.
"Why am I here?" I demanded, trying to keep my voice from trembling. "Why give me a room like this? I'm your prisoner, aren't I? Or collateral? So why are you treating me like… like a guest?"
Adrian walked toward me, his movements slow and deliberate. Internally, a familiar tightness pulled in his chest. Seeing her standing in this room—the very room he had spent days having prepared specifically for her—looking so small and terrified tore at him. But he let none of it reach his face. His expression remained an impenetrable mask of ice.
"You are not a guest," Adrian said coldly, stopping just a few feet away. "And you are not here to be comfortable. You are here because you belong to me now."
"I don't belong to anyone!" I snapped, anger momentarily overriding my fear. "My father owed you money, not me! I will pay you back every single naira, even if it takes my entire life!"
A faint, dangerous humor flickered in his eyes, masking the impulse he felt to reach out and smooth the tension from her forehead.
"How do you think you can pay me?" he asked.
The question caught me completely off guard. The reality of the number hit me all over again.
"I… I will pay you," I stammered, backing up a step.
"By what?"
"I can clean and cook," I blurted out, grasping at anything. "I cook for my family."
He stopped moving, looking down at me with an unreadable gaze. "I have people for that."
My mind raced desperately. "I'll look for a job. I'll work day and night—"
Adrian's posture stiffened instantly. His eyes narrowed, a flash of genuine authority cutting through the air.
"You can't leave my roof."
It wasn't a suggestion. It was a absolute command.
I stared at him in disbelief. "But how am I supposed to pay you if I can't work?"
Adrian stepped closer, closing the remaining distance between us until I was completely swallowed by his shadow. The faint, intoxicating scent of his cologne wrapped around me.
"You'll pay me back with your complete obedience," he said softly, every word laced with quiet dominance. "Every single day."
"You're crazy," I whispered, tears finally welling up in my eyes. "Don't forget—you're here because your father failed to repay what he owed me."
"I know!" I cried out, my voice breaking as the tears spilled over my cheeks. "And I will pay you back with whatever I can earn! You don't need to keep reminding me!"
"You think you can just earn sixty million naira?"
"I don't know how yet!" I shouted, stepping back again until my legs hit the edge of the plush sofa. "But I'm not going to accept that my life is over!"
The room fell dead silent.
Adrian didn't flinch. Seeing her cry sent a sharp pang straight through his chest—a sudden, fierce urge to pull her close and tell her she was safe, that he would protect her from the world, from her father's mess, from everything. But he buried it instantly. He couldn't afford to be soft. Softness would make her question his control, and right now, control was the only thing keeping her under his roof.
He took another step forward.
"Your life isn't over," he said softly, his deep voice carrying a weight that made my skin prickle. "It just no longer belongs to you."
He reached out, his long fingers brushing gently against my jawline to tilt my face up toward his. I flinched at the touch, but the unexpected gentleness in his fingertips sent a strange shiver down my spine.
"Sixty million naira isn't a debt you work off with a monthly salary," he continued, his tone chillingly practical even as his thumb lingered near my cheek, catching a stray tear before he pulled his hand away. "It's a debt that binds you. You don't step outside these doors. You don't answer to anyone else. You listen, you obey, and you adapt."
"And if I refuse?" I choked out.
A cold, faint smile touched his lips—a shield to hide how deeply her distress was actually affecting him.
"Then I turn my attention back to your father," Adrian said quietly, leaning in until his lips were inches from my ear. "And trust me, he won't survive the collection process."
He pulled back just enough to lock eyes with me again, his gaze fierce and unyielding.
"So tell me, Amira... are you going to argue, or are you going to learn your new role?"