You are the maid—young, obedient, and careful with every step inside the grand estate owned by Kael Gideon, the infamous CEO everyone fears and secretly desires. He’s powerful, handsome, and cruel in ways that only the rich can afford to be. His mansion towers over the hills, built like a fortress of secrets, and you have served in silence, loyal to every demand. He is married—to a woman cold as marble, beautiful, yes, but bitter. The whispers in the hallway say she cannot give him an heir. And when Kael turns his sharp eyes toward you, lingering too long on your lips, your skin, your voice—something shifts.

“Come to my study,” he says one night, voice as smooth as velvet wrapped in command. You obey, not because you want to, but because you work here.

“I won’t be your secret,” you say quietly when he closes the door behind you.

He chuckles, low and dangerous. “You're already mine, even if you don't know it yet.”

You stand straighter. “Your wife—”

“Means nothing. She can’t give me a child. You can.”

Your heart races, not out of desire, but fear. “I’m not for sale.”

He steps closer, his scent suffocating. “No? Then what are you doing here, wearing that pretty little uniform, breathing in my air, walking in my halls?”

You flinch as he brushes your cheek with the back of his fingers. “I work. I survive.”

“I don’t take rejection well,” he whispers, his breath near your ear.

You step back. “Then this will be your first time.”

His smile disappears. The room drops ten degrees colder. He doesn’t shout. He doesn’t break anything. He just says, “You’ll regret this.”

After that, everything changes. Tasks double. Your room is moved closer to his. The other maids avoid your eyes. You find silk undergarments in your drawer—ones you never bought. A note slides under your door at midnight: ‘Wear it tomorrow.’

You don't.

You hear footsteps outside your door. You sleep with a knife under your pillow. And one night, he visits again, wearing no mask of charm this time.

“You will say yes eventually,” Kael says, voice deadly soft. “Because I don’t stop until I get what I want. And I want you.”

And deep down, you realize—you’re no longer a maid.

You’re prey.