The Devil's obsession with the Heiress

[Music recommendation: Eternal Eclipse - Dawn of Faith]

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Alarm bells blared in her head the moment she connected that missing piece of the puzzle, and her expression instantly turned guarded.

Her light grey eyes remained fixed on the man, who continued to smile with a disturbing calmness, as though she were not bound by chains and sitting on the damp floor of some dingy, cramped room.

Forcing her features to give nothing away, acting as though none of this terrified her in the slightest, she replied softly, "Jacob, I thought you had come with a rescue team."

Jacob took a slow step closer to her.

The movement instantly made her want to recoil, but she forced herself to remain still, watching him like a hawk.

He stopped three steps away, his hands tucked into his pockets as he looked down at her.

"I thought..." he began softly, "my presence would make you happy."

Then, almost immediately, a hint of hurt flashed through his eyes as he asked, "Do you... not want me here?"

At his response, Aliana found herself completely tongue-tied.

Firstly, was that even a normal thing to ask in this situation when he had literally just locked the door behind him, as though he had no intention of ever letting her walk out of it again?

Secondly, why on earth would she be happy to see him when his stillness resembled that of a psychopath? Especially considering the lunatic woman responsible for her current state was his friend.

He looked completely unbothered... as calm as a still lake, like he hadn’t just found her chained up and held captive. That alone sent a chill racing down her spine.

There was something deeply unsettling about how abnormal his reaction was.

Her heart plummeted directly into her stomach as the slow, horrifying realisation finally sank in.

He was never there to save her.

He was there to ensure she remained exactly like this, a helpless captive at his mercy.

Swallowing hard against the lump of terror in her throat, Aliana forced her voice to remain steady.

"Of course I am glad to see you, Jacob. You have always been good to me." She paused, carefully measuring her next words before adding, "W-won’t you... free me?"

She offered him a small, fragile smile. "These binds are not easy on my skin, you see."

The silence that followed was utterly unnerving.

"Free you," he whispered back.

Then he fell silent once more, his dull yellow eyes fixed on her. Slowly, his gaze drifted from her eyes and traced the contours of her face before moving lower, down her neck and to her chest, where a hint of cleavage peeked out from the sweetheart neckline of her engagement dress.

Aliana caught the unmistakable hunger in his eyes, and her stomach twisted violently.

She noticed the way his gaze roamed over her like that of a starving man and how his breathing grew increasingly ragged with each agonizing second that passed.

Without warning, bile rose in her throat as his intentions became crystal clear, even though he hadn’t spoken a single word.

The urge to throw up right on his face or punch his sickening face was overwhelming. Every single instinct in her body screamed at her to flee, to run away immediately from this monster whom she could no longer recognise.

With immense effort, she suppressed those urges and whispered, "Yes... isn’t that why you came?"

Swallowing against another wave of nausea, she continued, her eyes watering slightly. "I... trust you can take me back, Jacob. Everyone must be searching for me..." Her voice faltered. "Don’t we... have more work to do... together?"

She forced every word out of her mouth, desperately hoping he would listen and let her go before he... before he did something he would regret for the rest of his life.

At her words, his darkened gaze lifted to meet hers once again.

A twisted smile slowly curled across his lips, and a low chuckle escaped him.

Then, before she knew it, the chuckle grew into full-blown laughter that echoed through the room’s oppressive silence, making Aliana flinch.

She bit the inside of her cheek, using the physical pain to stop herself from screaming out loud. Her body trembled as an immense, paralysing terror sank its claws deeper into her heart.

Once his laughter subsided, he finally pushed forward until he was towering directly over her.

His low voice, thick with a filthy, suffocating lust, rang out through the small space.

"Oh... Aliana." Her name left his lips like a low, pained moan that made her instinctively try to shift backwards against the cold stone.

"Why would I free you... when I finally have you here, within my grasp?" His tone softened into something almost pleading. "Don’t you know... just how long I’ve waited for this day to come?"

"J-Jacob." Aliana’s lips trembled, but she forced herself to remain still as he slowly shook his head.

"Don’t you know how much I wanted you... how much I yearned for you?"

His voice grew rougher. "It was pure torture to remain so close to you every single day while you... you never noticed just how much I loved you."

Her eyes went wide with a mixture of profound shock and paralysing fear.

"I’ve been so good to you... and to your parents." His eyes never left hers. "I’ve been patient. So unbelievably patient."

He exhaled a shaky breath. "I waited for the day you would finally look at me. The day you would choose me. The day you would open your arms and accept the love I have carried for you all these years."

His expression twisted. "I was so fucking patient with you."

The sudden sharpness in his voice made Aliana flinch as he leaned even closer.

"You have no idea how much I wanted you. How much I needed you with me. Even all those other women I took to bed... they were always chosen because they had your exact golden hair, just so I could pretend, at least for a moment, that I had you in my arms while I fucked them. But they... they were never you, my love. They were never able to fill this gaping hole in my heart the way you can."

He squeezed his eyes shut for a fraction of a second, his fists clenching at his sides.

"For five years, I waited for you to accept me. For five years, I suffered while helping you get your footing in the business world. I poured all my dedication into supporting you in every possible way... yet you..."

When his eyelids snapped back open, his eyes were filled with the terrifying craze of a madman. Pure, unadulterated rage seeped from his gaze as he roared, "You had to go whoring around with someone else while I was the one waiting for you patiently!"