Cold air rushed in immediately, brushing over my skin, carrying the outside world with it.
And him.
His presence filled the room before he even spoke.
Heavy footsteps crossed the threshold—slow, deliberate.
I stood in the center of the living room, my sightless eyes fixed on nothing, my breathing shallow, controlled only by force.
Every nerve in my body screamed, every sense stretched to its limit.
His cologne twisted my stomach.
My fingers curled slightly at my sides, ready, though I didn’t know what I could possibly do.
His steps slowed.
I could hear the shift in his stance, the subtle change in the air as he stood so close to me.
“You did not truly believe I would overlook the fact that you dared to slap me in front of the staff, did you?”
I didn’t answer.
Silence was safer.
Silence didn’t provoke.
But Bruno didn’t strike me as a man who needed provocation.
A soft chuckle left him, low and dangerous.
“Oh, don’t do that,” he said, almost conversationally. “Don’t go quiet on me now. You had no trouble speaking with your hands a few hours ago.”
Another step.
Too close.
My skin prickled violently as his presence invaded my space.
I could not help but wonder what Bruno would do to me here—alone in my apartment, helpless and trapped within my own walls.
Of course, I knew of Bruno’s recklessness.
Being the younger and only brother of the CEO of the company I worked for had granted him a dangerous kind of immunity—the freedom to bully, to assault, to hurt whoever he pleased without consequence.
Everyone said that despite the boss’s cold reputation, he had a soft spot for his brother; no matter what Bruno did, it was always buried, always erased.
Once, he had struck an elderly woman while drunk driving, and Rafael had made it disappear before it ever reached the police.
Another time, he was caught vandalizing a competitor’s property during a drunken outburst, it was quietly settled behind closed doors.
Yet I refused to be just another person he could harass and walk away from freely.
Still, I knew that daring to slap him after what he had done—after striking me without consent—would carry consequences.
I just hadn’t expected them to come this quickly.
Would Bruno beat me? Would he kill me?
