"It's been three weeks."
It had been twenty-one days since Dominik had last come home, to be exact.
Initially, Aurora wasn't too concerned. Dominik had been away before as well, and he would return after a couple of days. During this time, she would also feel the shackles wrapped around her loosen, freeing her and relaxing her taut nerves.
But the longer he didn't return, the faster her panic increased.
Has he found out about me?
Is this his way of telling me that I have done something bad?
Was he punishing me?
These thoughts formed like maggots in her head. Dominik's twisted nature was no longer a surprise. So, if he comes back drunk, angry, and tired, Aurora would be the perfect stress ball in his hands.
However, there were changes that Aurora couldn't ignore.
The housekeepers, who used to work stay-in, packed their luggage. They only came two to three times a week to clean. The guards guarding the gate dwindled. Then, last week, they never showed up again. The entire house turned desolate and even lonelier. The refrigerator was almost empty.
At some point, people whom she had never seen before came.
Not the kind of people she expected to come, though.
They came knocking at the gate that she barely got to open before they stormed in. One of them spoke to her and informed her that they were going to take the entire house. They told her they came under the orders of the court. Aurora didn't understand anything they said. She could barely hear what they were saying as she blankly stared at them, fleeting across every corner of the house.
It took them several hours before they finally left.
Now, the entire house bore the mark of overdue notices.
Dominik still hasn't contacted her or returned.
It wasn't unusual for Dominik to be absent for extended periods to handle some business outside the country. But this prolonged silence was all too much for her to take. A month was too long.
Has something happened to him?
It was laughable to think about the man who tormented her for the past three years, but it wouldn't change the fact that she and her family relied on him. Without Dominik, her father's life would be in danger, her mother and siblings would starve, and she would have been unable to discover the beauty of painting.
Aurora sat on a rocking chair on the terrace. She was wrapped in a thick blanket as she watched the world bathe in white, the snow falling from the sky like ash. They melted as they fell on her palms, lingering on her eyelashes and chilling her skin.
Being alone was terrifying.
There was a moment when she wanted to return to her parents' home. At least there, she wouldn't be alone. But Aurora held back in the last second.
Her hand gently rubbed her still flat stomach. A smile appeared on her lips as she glanced down.
"Hey, little one. Mommy is cold. Are you?"
"Just stay there for mommy, okay?"
She couldn't return to the people who personally pushed her into this life. Who knew what they would do to exploit her and her child?
Alfred would gloat and complain, telling her to return to stay with her husband. It might have been better if he told her to stay with him until death. If he finds out she's pregnant... he'd be the first to jump in glee. He'd think that her child's father was Dominik, inheriting her husband's wealth.
But Aurora knew he wasn't. Alfred would be mad if he knew.
In fact, he still sends messages to her. It was the same message he sent to her for the past three years—asking her to send more money. When he didn't receive a reply or get anything from Dominik like he usually did, he called her and sent messages full of curses and how ungrateful she was to her parents.
Bang, crash.
The gate shook as if it had been forcefully opened.
"Who…?"
Startled, Aurora stepped down from the chair and placed her hand on the railing.
In a world filled with white, three dark smudges ruined the painting. Three men walked in.
Aurora couldn't tell who they were. The fog blurred their figures, and snow clung to her eyelashes, making it impossible for her to confirm their identity.
Despite her apprehension, Aurora hurried back into the room and stood before the door. If Dominik returned, her problem of having no food left would be solved. The last bit of food in the refrigerator has already gone bad after no one replaced it. It actually had been a day since she last ate.
Soon, she hesitated.
What would she say to Dominik? There would be no way she could ask where he had been without being reprimanded. She also wanted to ask him who those people were who came to the house and told her that anything inside it can no longer be used.
The hand she placed around the doorknob fell away. She backed up and let her eyes wander over the red tags scattered throughout the room with an unfamiliar look.
Everything there belonged to Dominik. With the tags scattered, would he blame her for allowing anyone else step into the house and dirtying it?
At the thought of this, Aurora trembled.
She still didn't know what she should do.
If Dominik returned now, it was certain that he would definitely punish her.
Time slowly ticked away. Aurora felt her heart pound against her chest, as if it threatened to come out of her mouth any second. She hated the feeling of fearing the man she lived with for three years as husband and wife.
—bang!
A deafening crash echoed as the door harshly swung open, hitting the wall behind it with a loud crash.
"She's here, sir."
The voice came after the commotion.
Then came the sound of leather shoes stepping across the room.
A tall, powerful build and broad shoulders. High, sculpted cheekbones, a straight nose, and thin lips pressed into a cold line.
The man stepped into the room with calm and suffocating dominance, as if the place he entered was his own room.
His light blond hair was smooth and neatly styled, slightly brushed back to expose his sharp forehead, where a one-inch scar ran horizontally above his left eyebrow.
A pair of silver eyes locked onto her, like a wolf sighting its prey in the forest.
It wasn't Dominik.
Relief and slight disappointment appeared in her eyes. Fear and the need to rely on someone were pure instincts she developed over the past three years living with him.
But what she felt didn't last even for a second as recognition went past her eyes.
The sight of the man reminded her of the not-so-distant past. A clear night sky where she braved the cold night and ventured out to release everything for once.
A cruel night that shouldn't have transpired.
Aurora wondered if what she was seeing was real.
Am I hallucinating right now?
Whenever she felt an overpowering emotion, an intense urge suddenly formed.
Just like now.
Her pupils were blown wide, and the urge to stretch her hand to reach him to confirm he was real came quickly.
"Seize her."
The cold voice directed at the man who reported and kicked the door open ripped through the scene, waking her from that endless dream to face the harsh reality.
Before she realized it, Aurora's knees were pressed on the cold, hard floor.