Aurora
Hot tears streamed down my face as I sat naked on the hard floor. My knees crushed painfully into the dry rice grains beneath me. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to muffle the sound of my weeping.
If Knox heard me crying, it would only make him angrier. I had made a mistake of telling him earlier that I wasn’t hungry. I had missed a single meal, and his anger had exploded instantly because he believed I was trying to lose weight, a betrayal in his eyes—an attempt to ruin the masterpiece he claimed he had created. Me.
I was just a foolish, naive girl who had come to the city looking for a fresh start, only to land straight in the hands of Knox.
Knox was my savior. He showed me the way, yet he was my tormentor.
I tried to shift slightly to ease the stinging pain, but the dry rice grains only pierced deeper into my skin. Around my neck, the iron chain dangled, clinking against the floorboards. This was one of Knox’s punishments for whenever I disobeyed him or skipped a meal. He was obsessive. I was forced to eat five meals a day, no matter if I was full or sick.
To the world, I was a successful plus-size model, a career I had actually grown to love because I believed beauty could exist in any size or color. But to Knox, my body was just a canvas for his photography obsession.
The door creaked open, and Knox walked into the room holding a silver tray piled with food. The scent of greasy meat hit my nose, making me nauseous, and I instinctively recoiled, my body trembling as I tried to predict his mood. Knox was unpredictable.
He smiled, his gray eyes twinkling with a sickening display of sadism as he dragged a stool over. He sat down, dropping the tray onto the floor in front of me.
“Come here, my sweet belle,” he said, his voice dripping with a warmth so sweet that if I didn’t know Tknox, I would have believed him.
I swallowed and began to crawl across the dry rice scattered on the floor. The sharp grains ground my skin, but I bit my lower lip hard, forcing myself to swallow my screams. The iron chain rattled and scraped behind me. Just as I reached the edge of the tray, the chain ran out of slack. It yanked violently against my throat, cutting off my airway so fast my eyes nearly bulged from my head.
Knox smiled down at my choking form. “That’s it, precious, belle.”
He reached down, his fingers winding tightly into my hair to hoist my face up. Suddenly, his smile vanished, his brow furrowing as he raked his fingers through it. “What the hell am I looking at?” he whispered, his voice turning cold and detached. “What is this ominous black during in your hair?”
My heart stopped. I had missed my hair-dye appointment to keep my natural dark hair covered. Before I could even open my mouth to explain, his hand flew back and slapped me hard across the face.
The force of the blow shook my skull, sending a metallic taste onto my tongue. “I’m so sorry,” I sobbed, my voice cracking. “I’m so sorry, Knox.”
"Sorry," I sobbed, my voice cracking. “I’m so sorry, Knox.”
“My sweet belle,” Knox suddenly murmured, his anger vanishing as quickly as it had arrived. He dropped to his knees on the rice, cradling my bruised face softly in his palms. His blank eyes filled with a hollow sadness. “Why do you love to anger me like this? You know I don’t like it when you force my hand.”
I shook my head frantically, trying to appease him, but his expression hardened again. He delivered another slap to the same cheek, then reached up and violently yanked some of my black strands right from my scalp.
“You know I hate to see this!” he screamed, his voice echoing off the walls. “I hate black. Why do you keep doing this to me?”
I wept, shaking my head, feeling my scalp hurting. Knox gripped my chin, forcing my blurred vision to lock onto his face. “Answer me when I ask you a question!” he screamed, his breath hot against my face.
I cowered, shrinking into myself as much as the chain allowed. “I’m sorry... I’m so sorry...” I rambled repeatedly.
He shoved my head away from him, standing up and pacing around the room. “Stop fucking apologizing and tell me why you didn’t dye your hair!”
“I was going to—I’m so sor—” The words were cut short as his leg swung out, kicking me directly in the ribs.
Knox huffed, running his hands frantically through his hair as he circled me. “Fuck!” he cursed, tears suddenly welling in his own eyes. “I hate hurting you, Aurora. I hate it, but you...” He dropped back down in front of me, his expression twisting into a manic grin. “You just continue to push me. But I’m here to make you understand.”
He grabbed the back of my neck and violently slammed my face down toward the silver tray of food.
“Now eat,” he ordered.
My hands trembled so much that I couldn’t even grip the spoon. Knox hissed, seeing my struggle and slapping the utensil out of my hand before shoving my face directly into the food. “Eat everything!”
I choked down the food, forcing it past my throat until my stomach was full to the point of aching. I blinked up at him, silently begging for mercy, but he just stood over me, telling me to eat more. My body finally rejected it as I violently gagged, vomiting back onto the floor.
Knox’s face turned with rage as he slapped me across the room, the chain snapping my neck back as he forced me back down into the mess. “Eat it again!”
I stared up at him through my wettened lashes while Knox cursed loudly, punching his fist through the wall violently before kicking the tray across the room, which rattled and made me jolt.
“Why can’t you just listen to me?!” he yelled, his chest heaving. “Why?! Why do you keep making me mad, Belle? Why?!”
I flinched, my body shaking in a corner as he stalked back toward me. Every inch of my bones and body was throbbing in pain. He reached down and hoisted the stool high above his head as I instinctively wrapped my arms around my face, tucking my knees to my chest to protect myself from the hit.
.
I jolted awake with a violent, agonizing gasp.
My body was trembling, a cold sweat rolling from my skin as my breathing came in ragged hitches. I couldn’t breathe.
I clutched my neck, still feeling the weight of the chain while my lungs felt like they were being crushed as my throat’s inner wall merged and my eyes stung with tears. I gasped frantically and terrifyingly, trying to claw air into my chest but finding it hard.
Suddenly, the bedroom door was violently yanked open, which made me whip my head to it, and I saw Orion storm into the room, shirtless, his chest heaving as his eyes glowed in the dark. He scanned the room like he was searching for an intruder as his nostrils flared—the second his eyes locked onto my shaking body, he rushed to me and pulled me into a hug, my face buried into his warm chest.
I collapsed against him, my hands trembling tremendously against his bare skin. I could still feel the bite of the chain around my neck, my stomach turning with a wave of nausea as the taste of bile and copper filled my mouth.
I buried my face into his neck, sobbing uncontrollably as his arms wrapped securely around my waist. Slowly, the intoxicating scent of earth and sandwool whiffed in my nose, overriding the stench smell of that room, Orion’s scent, coaxing my lungs to get air in it.
“Shh... it’s okay, my dawn,” Orion murmured, his deep voice dropped; his voice was so soft that I didn’t know he could possess the tone. “I’ve got you. Breathe for me, dawn.”
I looked up at him under my lashes, tears rolling from my voice. “Please,” I cried out in a broken whisper as I clutched at his shoulders. “Please, Orion... I don’t want to go back to that room. Don’t let him take me back.”
Orion’s grip tightened around me, his large hand smoothing up my spine to gently pat my back, his thumb wiping the tears from my cheeks with absolute reverence.
“Look at me, Aurora,” he commanded softly, waiting until my dazed eyes met his glowing gold gaze. “You are never going back there. I am right here. No one will ever lay a finger on you again. I will protect you with my life.”
***
is a dark theme book. Not the romance between Orion and Aurora. But there would be some major disturbing contents in it, please be warn ahead of time.I’d try to tone it down also