005

Katherine's Point of View.

The tension in the room was suffocating, broken only by the barely audible hum of the surveillance cameras I’d noticed last night. Kai hadn't been coy about the object of his aim to control my every activity and it only increased the feeling of entrapment.

I lie at the foot of the bed, looking at the strong oak door which has bound me for days. My memory loss led my thought to be thrown out of its stability, working hard to reconstruct the broken pieces of my experience. How did I end up in that warehouse? Who left me there? And why was I still alive?

The sharp click of the lock turning jolted me. My heart skipped a beat at the sound of the door creaking open to reveal Kai.

Standing in the doorway, his being dominated the room. His dark eyes forced me to the spot and their intensity made my back ache. I forced myself not to shrink under his gaze.

“Katherine,” he said, his voice smooth and controlled. “Come with me.”

For a moment, I hesitated. I had a gut feeling that I should not believe him, but I had no choice. I made slowest progress forward, trailing behind him and walking behind him on tiptoes, out of the room. Two guards flanked us as we walked down dimly lit corridors, their footsteps echoing ominously.

Kai brought me into a really luxurious space and the grandeur of the space did not just make my (a room of its size) even smaller. Wall-to-wall clear-glazed units delivered diffusive light spill-out onto the highly reflective surface of timber. Leather and the slightest hint, but still very much there, subtle but definite odour of a fine aftershave permeated the ambience.

He gestured that I take a seat on a stylish, black sofa and I did— but my limbs were coiled in anxiety. Taking an alcoholic spirit, he downed a measure of whisky and the color of the amber, used to achieve the gray scale range of the visible spectrum, disappeared. He didn’t offer me any.

“I've made up my mind," he said, swirling the liquor in his glass.

I crossed my arms, my voice biting. “Let me guess—you’re finally going to let me go?”

His lips curved into a faint smirk. “Not quite.”

I leaned back, masking my apprehension with defiance. “Then get to the point.”

Kai bent his glass out and stepped into the room, leaning his elbow against the knee. “I want you to marry me.”

The words hung in the air, surreal and impossible.

“What?” I blinked, certain I had misheard.

“You heard me, he said, his tone devoid of humor. “I need a wife. You’re the perfect candidate.”

I stared into him, searching for any indication that it was actually malevolent magic. But Kai didn’t joke.

“What the heck would make you suppose I'd agree with that?”

“Because you don’t have a choice,” he replied coolly.

A bitter laugh escaped me. “So this is just another way to control me?”

His face expression did not change, but his voice did, constantly becoming softer and softer, almost imperceptibly. “This isn’t about control. It’s about survival—for both of us.”

“Survival?” I scoffed. “What are you talking about?”

Kai stood, pacing the room like a predator. “Anyone who threw you in that warehouse did it for a reason. They wanted you dead. If they find out you’re still alive, they’ll come for you. Being my wife will ensure your protection. No one would dare touch you under my name.”

“And what do you get out of this arrangement?” I asked, my voice sharp.

He withdrew, and pivoted to meet my eyes, a human mask upon his. “Leverage, an alliance and an image. It would be a husband in my position, with a wife at his side.”

I shook my head, incredulous. “You’re insane if you think I’m going along with this.”

He stepped closer, his dark eyes boring into mine. “I’m offering you a way to stay alive, Katherine. Refuse, and I can’t guarantee your safety. In fact, I won’t.”

The threat wasn’t veiled, and it hung heavily between us. My mind scrambled to weigh my options. It was a fact—no one who meant me to died back down. As much as I hated to admit it, marrying Kai might be my only chance to survive.

“Why me?” I asked, my voice quieter now.

“Because you’re already in my world,” he said simply. “And because you’re unpredictable. That makes you useful.”

This wasn’t a proposal. It was a transaction.

“Okay,” I blurted before I could stop myself.

His brow went up fractionally, and a slight surprise passed over his expressions. “Fine?”

“Yes,” I said, standing to meet his gaze. “I’ll marry you. But by no means imagine that it makes this yours.”

His lips twitched into a faint, almost amused smile. “You’ll find, Katherine, that I don’t play games. And when I do, I win.”

“We’ll see,” I shot back, refusing to back down.

For a while, we stood frozen, in a battle of minds pressed together. Then he extended his hand.

“Deal?”

I stared at his outstretched hand. Yet, every instinct urged me to flee, but fleeing was not a possibility. I approached it slowly and bumped it, and the weight of that decision settled like a carpet over me.

“Deal,” I said, my voice firm in spite of the chaos inside.

His grip was firm, his gaze unwavering. “Good. The arrangements will begin immediately. Welcome to your new life, Mrs. Rossi.”

I pulled my hand away, my jaw tightening. “Don’t call me that.”

His smirk deepened as he turned to leave. “You’ll get used to it.”

Once the door clicked shut, I let myself slide back into the embrace of the sofa, my thoughts all jumbled. I have recently been offered the chance to marry a person I have never conceived myself as being with, when I considered myself one of the "pieces" in his game of chess.

But if Kai could, hypothetically, take control of me, that was not going to be.