The Devil's obsession with the Heiress

[Music recommendation: Secession Studios - Fables]

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"You had to go whoring around with someone else while I was the one waiting for you patiently!"

Suddenly, Jacob reached out, grabbing her chin in a harsh, bruising grip and yanking her forward until his face hovered only inches away from hers.

"You had to betray me by sleeping around with another man," he snarled, his spit flying against her skin. "Shamefully moving into his house, letting him touch you, when I... I, baby, was always right here for you."

An uncontrollable shiver wracked Aliana’s entire body. Her stomach twisted into nauseating knots at the sound of that specific endearment that only Gavriel used... the only man who was ever allowed to call her that.

Outside, heavy storm clouds rapidly gathered in the once-clear sky. Thunder and lightning began their violent dance. The flashes of lightning pierced through the small window to illuminate the dark, dingy space, casting erratic light over Jacob’s manic features.

Her teeth clattered against each other from sheer horror. She forcefully clamped her jaw shut, desperate to ensure that even the smallest sound wouldn’t further rattle the completely deranged man staring down at her.

His breath was close enough to fan across her face as his voice dropped in a much softer, intimate tone. The hand holding her jaw moved, and his thumb began to slowly caress her cheek.

"I would have given you everything. I would have made you feel so good that you would have forgotten every other man in existence. I would have given you the world if you had only asked."

His hand began drifting lower, sliding from her cheek down to her neck, where his palm pressed against the skin, feeling just how erratically her pulse was hammering beneath his touch.

Unshed tears welled up in Aliana’s eyes, born not from empathy over his words, but from the sheer willpower required to contain the unbridled rage and terror warring inside her.

The audacity of him daring to touch her made her feel a sickening sensation like a thousand insects crawling all over her skin.

Slowly, he curled his cold fingers around her throat, squeezing just enough to restrict her breath as he delivered a chilling whisper. "Yet you... you went forward and got engaged to him. You let him claim you publicly. You made me stand there and watch. You made me pretend that my love for you meant nothing."

The hurt in his eyes twisted into something darker.

"How could you do that to me, Aliana?" he asked, his voice showing his depraved obsession.

"Please... stop," Aliana whispered as she trembled beneath the reality of the situation.

The realisation of just how dire her circumstances were hit her like a bullet.

She was trapped. Confined. With no way out and no one coming to save her from the man who was finally revealing his true, monstrous nature.

Meanwhile, Jacob savoured the feeling of finally having the magnificent goddess who had always been beyond his reach. For years, she had remained unattainable, but now she was completely at his mercy.

The thought filled him with a thrill so intense that he could hardly contain it. The mere idea of breaking her bit by bit, until she had no choice but to accept him, sent a rush of dark satisfaction through him.

Suddenly, he applied more pressure to her neck, his voice dropping into a harsh hiss.

"Shh... there’s no point in begging now, is there?"

He leaned even closer, forcing Aliana to fight the desperate urge to recoil. Her fingers curled tightly into her lap, her nails digging deep into her palms as every single instinct screamed at her to punch him, to claw at his face, to do anything to defend herself.

Yet, she froze when he spoke in an almost tender tone. "No one will be looking for you anymore."

Thousands of chaotic questions swirled in Aliana’s mind as she stared back at him while a deeply disturbing smile settled onto his features. She asked him warily, "What... what do you mean?"

His smile widened into a manic grin. "There is someone else who has already taken your place out there. In the eyes of the world, you never truly disappeared from the gala. So no one will ever come looking for you again."

"I... I don’t understand," she whispered, terror choking the very breath from her lungs.

Jacob only offered her a reassuring smile, though there was nothing reassuring about it.

"All you need to know is that there’s already an Aliana Vanderbilt out there," he said softly. "She’ll be the one taking your place. She’ll be the one marrying Gavriel while we are finally free to become one. Then I’ll take you far away from this place. We’ll move overseas and start a completely new life together."

His free hand lifted, his fingers trembling with anticipation as they brushed through her golden hair. He shuddered at the contact.

"I’ve already arranged everything, my love," he whispered. "The ship will be arriving soon, and then everything will be as it should be. We’ll get married."

Her head began to shake in horror, denial and disbelief while a low purr escaped him. "Oh, baby..." he murmured. "I’ll make you happier than you’ve ever been. We’ll build a family together. Just you and me."

Madness and frightening affection burned in his eyes as he gazed at her.

"And then," he whispered, his gaze dropping to her inviting lips, "I’ll forgive you for everything that happened before tonight."

The moment he moved to cross that line, heavy iron chains rattled violently against the strain.

A vicious punch landed across his jaw with such force that Jacob completely lost his balance and stumbled backwards to fall sideways onto the floor.

The blow was devastating, to say the least.

In absolute shock, his trembling hand reached up to the corner of his mouth, his fingers immediately touching the distinct, metallic taste of fresh blood.

But it wasn’t the blood that horrified him the most. It was the excruciating pain and the sickening feeling that the strike had almost dislocated his jaw. He tried to open his mouth to check if his jaw was still intact, a low groan escaping him, before finally turning his head slowly toward Aliana.

She was trembling.

Yet it was her eyes that made him freeze.

They were glaring at him with such raw fury, such unrestrained hatred, that for a moment he felt as though he were staring at an entirely different woman and not the one he had spent years obsessing over.

His gaze slowly drifted downward to her hands, which were still clenched into tight fists. Her reddened knuckles stood as undeniable evidence that she had been the one to deliver the blow that had knocked him off his feet.

The raw rejection in her eyes was so palpable that a fresh wave of betrayal settled into his chest. He managed to ask in a disbelieving, broken voice, "You... what did you do...?"

Thunder roared directly above the hideout, illuminating the dark space in a flash of lightning.

Aliana glared at him even harder, and her chilling voice finally broke the oppressive silence.

"How dare you even try to touch me?"