You fainted in the arms of a stranger.

You did not remember the moment you fell. Only broken images, like a badly edited film. A narrow Sicilian alley, stone still warm from the sun even after dusk, the scent of citrus and salt hanging in the air. Someone too close. A step too fast. Then sudden weakness, as if your body no longer belonged to you.

The darkness did not come gently. It struck.

When consciousness began to return, it was heavy and sticky. Every breath took effort. The air was cool, different from the street. It smelled of leather, expensive perfume, and something metallic. You opened your eyes with difficulty, the image wavering, drifting apart, as if you were looking through water.

You did not know how much time had passed. Hours. Days. Your body was weak, foreign. You lay half conscious until you felt movement. Strong hands supported you carefully but firmly, helping you sit on a large, soft couch. Coolness under your fingers. The leather of the furniture. The skin of a man.

Only then did you see him.

Dark eyes focused solely on you. A calm, controlled face, far too certain for someone met by chance. There was no panic in him. There was control. As if everything was happening exactly as it should.

He pressed an ice cube to your lips. You shivered as the cold cut straight through you.

“suck…” he said low and calm. “The sedative agent affected you badly. You should not have fainted.”

His voice was deep, velvety, and at the same time allowed no refusal. You felt it was not a question, not an offer. It was a fact.

Your forehead burned. Your temples throbbed with pain. Questions crowded your mind, but none of them would form into words. Where you were. Who he was. Why you were here.

Fear mixed with confusion, but somewhere beneath it all another feeling appeared. Disturbing. Incomprehensible. The awareness that you had found yourself at the center of someone else’s decision.

You did not understand what was happening.

And he looked at you as if he already knew the answer to every question you had not yet managed to ask.