I closed my eyes tight, trying to shut him out, trying to disappear inside my own head. It only made him angrier.
Charlie's hand snapped around my throat, fingers pressing just hard enough that I felt every frantic beat of my pulse against his palm. "Open your eyes," he hissed, voice raw and trembling with fury. "Look at me and beg, Sok-joo. Beg properly."
Tears shimmered in his dark eyes, real and furious. They made my stomach twist because I knew they weren't fake. "How could you do this to me?" he choked out. "I gave you everything. My whole fucking world. And you still chose him? What the hell does Junhoo have that I don't? Tell me!"
The name hit like a knife. I broke. The scream tore out of me, ugly and desperate. "Nothing! I don't love him—I don't love anyone! I never loved anyone! Please, Charlie, just bring Anna back to me. I swear I'll never run again. I'll stay. Our family can be whole again, just like seven years ago. I'll be good. I'll be yours. Please—"
"You'd say all that just to keep him safe?" His voice dropped to something cold and terrifying.
"What are you saying? Junhoo is your brother, he's—"
His mouth slammed into mine before I could finish. Brutal. Hungry. One hand gripped my waist hard enough to bruise, the other forced my chin up so I couldn't turn away. I shoved at his chest, tried to twist free, but he only kissed me deeper, tongue pushing past my lips, stealing every breath until my lungs burned and black spots exploded behind my eyes. I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Just panic and the wet heat of his mouth claiming me.
I kicked out wildly. My foot caught his thigh and he staggered back enough for me to gasp in one desperate, ragged breath.
The door cracked open.
"Sorry to interrupt, sir," the assistant stammered, eyes fixed on the floor. "The matriarch has called an emergency leaders' meeting. She demands your presence."
Charlie didn't even glance at him. "Get the fuck out," he snarled. "Tell them to wait. If they can't wait, I don't give a single fuck."
"Y-yes, sir." Footsteps scrambled away. The door clicked shut.
Charlie's eyes came back to me, dark and stormy. "Incompetent idiots," he muttered, almost to himself. Then his hand clamped around mine and he hauled me up like I weighed nothing. I fought the whole way—kicking, shoving, nails digging into his arms—but his grip never loosened. He carried me down the long hallway to our bedroom and kicked the door open with a bang that echoed like a gunshot.
He threw me onto the massive bed. Before I could scramble away he was on top of me, pinning my wrists above my head with one hand, his heavy body pressing me deep into the mattress.
"Charlie—please, don't," I begged, voice cracking. "Not like this. Anna needs me. Please stop—"
"Don't you love me anymore?" Tears still clung to his lashes as he stared down at me, beautiful and broken. "Why don't you ever choose me, Sok-joo? You never chose me. All I want is for you to be mine. Is that so fucking hard?" His free hand shoved under my shirt, rough and impatient, yanking fabric aside. "I love you with everything I have . Love me back. Be mine. Always mine."
I felt his hands everywhere—tearing at buttons, shoving clothes aside, skin on skin. He forced my legs apart with his knee and settled between them. I kept struggling, twisting, sobbing out pleas, but he was stronger. Always stronger. When he pushed inside me in one hard thrust, the stretch burned. I cried out, back arching off the bed, but he only groaned against my neck and started moving—deep, relentless strokes that shook the entire bed.
Hours blurred. Daylight faded into the golden haze of evening, then full darkness. He fucked me like a man trying to crawl inside my soul and stay there. Sweat slicked our bodies. His tears kept falling, mixing with mine on my skin. Every time I begged him to stop—"It hurts, Charlie, please"—he only gripped me tighter, hips snapping harder, teeth grazing my collarbone, my shoulder, my throat.
He flipped me onto my stomach at one point, pulling my hips up and taking me from behind even deeper. I clawed at the sheets, voice hoarse from pleading, body trembling with exhaustion and pain and the unwanted heat building despite everything. He reached around, stroking me in time with his thrusts, forcing pleasure through the hurt until I didn't know where one ended and the other began.
By the time night had fully claimed the room, I was shaking uncontrollably, wrecked and raw. "Please… stop," I whispered brokenly. "It hurts too much…"
He didn't stop. Instead he leaned down, chest pressed to my back, and sank his teeth hard into the side of my neck. The sharp bite tore a strangled cry from me as fresh pain flared. His rhythm grew erratic, desperate, until he finally came with a guttural groan, hips jerking against me as he spilled deep inside.
For a long moment he stayed there, buried in me, breathing hard against my bitten neck. His arms wrapped around my waist like iron bands, holding me close even as I shook with silent sobs.
"I love you," he whispered against my skin, voice wrecked. "Why can't that be enough?"
I stared blankly at the dark wall, body aching, mind numb, feeling the slow trickle of him leaking out of me. The trap had never felt tighter. Anna was still locked away somewhere in this house, and the man who swore he loved me more than anything had just reminded me exactly how much power he held.
I didn't answer. I just closed my eyes again and waited for whatever came next.