(Content Warning: This chapter contains intense emotional violence and mature themes. Reader discretion is advised.)
Thud!
My body was hurled onto the massive, black leather sofa in the center of the penthouse.
The impact drove the breath from my lungs.
The plushness of the exorbitant cushions did nothing to dull the lingering ache of being dragged here.
I scrambled, desperate to get back on my feet and run. Every primal instinct screamed at me to escape this place. My eyes, blurred with unshed tears, swept the room in panic.
The room was cavernous. So vast that it instilled a profound sense of dread. Floor-to-ceiling windows offered a sprawling, unobstructed view of the city's glittering nocturnal skyline. Yet, the lights felt hopelessly distant and cold.
Every piece of furniture was strictly confined to a palette of pitch black and oppressive charcoal, devoid of life or warmth. The air inside was frigid enough to bite into my skin, as if the owner had frozen every trace of emotion into absolute numbness.
This wasn't a home... it was the lair of a beast.
But before I could even find my footing, Ren's towering frame descended, caging me beneath him.
His imposing shadow eclipsed the glow of the chandelier above, like a suffocating nightmare blotting out the sun.
"Where exactly do you think you're going?"
His deep, resonant voice vibrated against my ear. His breath was scorching hot, yet laced with such killing intent that every hair on my body stood on end.
"R... Ren... please let me go... I'm begging you..."
I brought my trembling hands together in a desperate plea for mercy. Tears of terror spilled over my lashes.
"Begging?"
Ren scoffed. The sound that vibrated in his throat was hollow, barren, and utterly bitter.
"Back then... I begged just like this. Do you remember?"
Those words brought my frantic struggles to a grinding halt. I was paralyzed.
"I begged for anyone to help me. I begged for that sickening nightmare to end."
With effortless, terrifying strength, he pinned both of my wrists above my head with a single hand. His free hand began to trace the contour of my jawline—a touch that was agonizingly slow and abhorrent.
"But you... You just stood there and watched."
!!!
My entire universe collapsed. The horrific imagery of that rainy day a decade ago forcefully hijacked my vision, looping relentlessly like a broken tape.
The slightly ajar door of that storage ro
om... the agonizing, soul-tearing screams of my best friend... and me, the cowardly little boy standing frozen and trembling on the other side. My hands clamped tightly over my own mouth, too utterly terrified to make even a single sound.
"Sob..."
I shook my head, attempting to reject the brutal truth.
"No... it wasn't like that... I was scared... I was just so terrified..."
"Terrified?!" Ren roared with such ferocity that my entire body flinched.
"Do you think I wasn't terrified?!"
His eyes were a furious, bloodshot crimson. The veins in his neck bulged, harboring the festering rage of ten agonizing years.
"I was the victim! Yet my absolute best fri
end abandoned me to burn in that hell all alone! You let it happen! You watched them destroy my life!"
"I'm sorry... sob... Ren... I'm so sorry..."
My body convulsed with heavy, uncontrollable sobs. Broken apologies spilled from my lips, though I knew they were worthless to him now.
"Can your pathetic apologies scrub those disgusting, filthy touches off my skin?"
He demanded, his voice dropping into a sub-zero register. His gaze seared into me with hatred.
His hand seized the collar of my waiter's vest, ripping it open with enough force to send the buttons scattering across the floor.
The sickening sound of tearing fabric assaulted my ears. My bare, freezing skin was exposed to the biting chill of the air conditioning.
"If you can't..."
He leaned down, his lips ghosting close to mine.
"...then you will pay for it with your own body."
"Allow me to carve all of that sickening filth... directly into you."
The moment his ruthless verdict was delivered, his lips crashed down upon mine with crushing force. There was no shred of mercy... no lingering trace of love... only blinding wrath and a twisted desire.
"Mmph!!!"
The kiss was coarse, abrasive, and flooded with the metallic taste of blood. His sharp teeth bit into my lower lip, tearing the fragile skin.
Primal instinct commanded me to struggle, to fight back. But Ren granted me no quarter, refusing me even a gasp of air. His hands mapped my body with possessive cruelty, leaving vivid, aching marks in his wake—branding me as if I were nothing more than a piece of acquired property.
Crash!
A deafening crack of thunder shook the heavens outside. A jagged flash of lightning sliced through the darkened room. In that blinding illumination, I saw Ren's face with agonizing clarity.
A face so contorted in agony that it overlapped with the tear-streaked, shattered visage of his younger self.
My lungs suddenly refused to expand. My limbs trembled. A sickening wave of nausea clawed its way up my throat. Cold sweat drenched my spine despite my shivering. A high-pitched ringing pierced my ears as a paralyzing wave of PTSD crashed over me, pulling me under.
The festering guilt that had devoured my soul for a decade issued a final command, shutting down my mind.
This is your punishment... the voice in my head screamed. You deserve this, Yurin... This suffering is a debt you owe him.
The will to fight slowly bled out of me. The arms that had so desperately pushed against his chest fell limply to my sides. I closed my eyes, surrendering myself to my doomed fate.
"Do it..."
I whispered, my voice incredibly frail, my eyes overflowing with a steady stream of tears.
"..."
Ren froze the moment my struggles ceased, and the words slipped past my broken lips. He stared down at me, a complex storm of unreadable emotions flickering through the dark abyss of his eyes.
What was it? Pity? Sadistic satisfaction? Or... shared agony?
But within a fraction of a second, the blinding fury reclaimed him.
"Don't act like a damn martyr. It's pathetic," he spat out, twisting the knife of blame deeper.
"Just do it... if it will take your pain away..."
My shattered consent was the equivalent of pouring gasoline onto a raging inferno.
Ren yanked his designer tie loose, casting it to the floor. He unfastened his expensive leather belt, the sharp clink of the metal buckle echoing in the dead silence. The sound sliced deeply into my escalating terror.
He wasted no time dismantling the final barriers between us. The icy air bit into my exposed flesh, but mere seconds later, that cold was replaced by the searing heat of his large, dominant hands gripping me without an ounce of restraint.
"Ah..."
I gasped, my body jolting as the icy air bit into my exposed flesh. But mere seconds later, that cold was replaced by the searing heat of his large, dominant hands gripping me without an ounce of restraint.
"Remember this, Yurin..."
Ren's voice was a dark, dangerous whisper as he caged me completely beneath him, leaving no room for escape.
"This body... this agony... it all belongs to me."
With a low, guttural growl, he claimed me with a brutality that stripped away every defense I had left.
"Ah!!! It hurts... Ren... It hurts!"
A bloodcurdling scream tore from my throat. The sensation of being physically and emotionally cleaved in two radiated from my core, shooting agonizingly up my spine.
The sensation of being physically cleaved in two radiated from my core, shooting agonizingly up my spine. Heavy, scalding tears cascaded down my cheeks. I dug my finger into his broad shoulders with such desperate force that my fingertips went numb, trying to ground myself against the blinding pain.
But Ren refused to stop...
He didn't temper his intensity for even a second. Every movement, every punishing touch was a ruthless declaration, as if he intended to forcefully embed his very existence into my soul.
The sound of flesh colliding echoed throughout the room, mingling with our heavy breathing and my pained, broken moans.
"Sob... Please... Please stop..."
I thrashed my head against the tear-soaked cushions, my entire body jolted by the hurricane-like force of his wrath.
"Does it hurt?"
Ren descended, his hoarse, lust-drenched voice vibrating against the shell of my ear.
He bit down on my earlobe before dragging his hot, wet tongue down to the crook of my neck, sucking fiercely against my fragile skin until deep, bruised blossoms bloomed in his wake.
"Good... I want you to remember it."
Even as I felt shattered beyond repair, the searing agony slowly, horrifyingly began to mutate into a sickening wave of pleasure.
My mind went blank, the fabric of my sanity beginning to fray as my traitorous body surrendered to the sensation.
Though my lips continued to sob and beg for relief, deep down, my traitorous body was responding to his violent ownership in a way that disgusted me.
"Ah... Nngh... R... Ren."
The very pitch of my cries began to shift.
Ren registered the shift. A wicked, triumphant smirk cut through the shadows.
His large hand slid upward to lightly encircle my throat, forcing my head up to receive his possessive kiss.
His searing tongue plundered my mouth, sweeping and tangling with mine until I was starved of oxygen. Our erratic breaths synchronized, mirroring the relentless, punishing rhythm of his absolute control.
Absolute hatred...
Warped love... Consuming guilt...
Every volatile emotion was amalgamated into this singular act.
This was not making love. It was a vicious war in which he was declaring total dominion over both my flesh and my soul.
"Say my name..."
Ren commanded with dark authority, his grip tightening as the intensity of the storm pushed my head to spin.
"Say my damn name... Yurin!"
"R... Ren... Sob... Ren,"
I chanted his name like a delirious madman. My arms wrapped tightly around his neck, clinging to him as if he were my sole anchor in the middle of a catastrophic storm.
In that terrifying moment... I finally realized that escape was a sheer impossibility.
No matter how far I ran, this body had already permanently memorized his devastating touch.
"Nngh! Ahhh!"
Eventually, the violent tempest broke, leaving nothing but ruin in its wake.
Ren collapsed heavily atop my exhausted frame. Our ragged, synchronized panting echoed loudly, warring against the frantic, deafening drum of our heartbeats.
I lay paralyzed, allowing the tears to fall in silence. The agonizing throb radiating from my battered body served as a brutal reminder of the atrocity that had just transpired.
The invisible chains had permanently bound us together.
There was zero tenderness to be found in this night. Every single touch was an execution of my guilt. Every brutal claim was a pure distillation of his vengeance.
I could do nothing but clench my jaw, digging my hands into the expansive cushions to silently endure the lingering agony. My tears continued to stain the expensive leather.
It wasn't merely physical devastation. It was the complete annihilation of my soul.
It broke me... to watch the person I loved more than anything in this world morph into a terrifying monster, entirely because of my own sins.
If only I had been braver that day. If only I had thrown that door open and saved him... Ren would never have become this.
The horrifying thoughts looped endlessly in my mind, acting as the very shackles that chained me to him for eternity.