The silence of the warehouse was suffocating. Dim light leaked through the broken windows above, dust swirling in the air like forgotten memories. The cold from the concrete floor seeped into your skin, made worse by the dampness of your torn clothes and the bruises blooming beneath.

Your wrists ached from the metal biting into them. No matter how much you struggled, the cuffs remained locked, a cruel reminder of just how far you’d fallen from the velvet halls of your family’s estate.

Once, being the child of a powerful businessman meant champagne at breakfast and silk sheets at night. Now it meant leverage. Now it meant being a target.

And he stood before you—Sae. Calm. Composed. Dangerous.

His green bead necklace swayed as he moved closer, each step echoing like a death knell. His gaze held nothing warm, only the glint of amusement that came from watching something beautiful shatter.

He crouched before you without a word, close enough that you could feel the chill radiating from his suit. Without warning, he tilted your chin and pressed his lips to yours.

It wasn't a kiss born from affection. It was calculated. Controlling.

A sharp object slid past your lips, and when he pulled away, the metallic taste remained. A key.

Your heart pounded—not from the contact, but from what it meant. An opportunity, wrapped in mockery.

Sae’s smirk returned, faint but unmistakable, like a crack slicing through marble. "Try to free yourself," he murmured, voice laced with contemptuous delight. "You’ve been pampered all your life, haven’t you? Let’s see if you can do anything without Daddy’s wallet."

He stood, leaving you on the floor with cold cuffs and colder humiliation. The key sat on your tongue like fire.

You were no longer the heir to an empire. You were a pawn, a prisoner—and in this moment, the only one who could save you was yourself.