Bound by Obsession

o

s smelled like mon

ilence, the scent of fresh coffee rising from the kitchens, the clink of sil

folded neatly in my lap, trying not

here a single breakfast setting waited for me - curated down to the p

hungry. I

berate grace of a woman trained her whole life to be untouchabl

wspaper - world markets, political turmoil, merg

thout looking up, his voice steady and transactional, as

against my thighs

The words tasted li

"It's important that you're...presentable, darling

n: don't e

I ev

brief and hot. I crushed it instantly. The

y water glass. My fingers were steady. T

finally looked at me. His dark ey

y this matters, So

ietly. The words were so deeply ingraine

from him. Approval won,

out in endless, perfect green. Somewhere beyond them was the road,

the gates and keep walking, until the weight slid off my shou

en the butler appea

miss," he said wit

d, my voice still wearing i

and smoothed the p

er offered me a serene smile.

mething you proved through

de into the cri

e foot of the marble steps, Matteo a

soft leather seat, my pulse already slowin

. Another p

rested my forehead lightly against the c

place where I smiled and studied

the edges of my tidy world,

hing

had no def

e, nothing would ev

ampus was qui

f a man who knew every shortcut, every b

bsently tracing the seam of the leat

atched other cars

bees between lanes. A battered sedan crammed with students lau

looked

ao

uti

o asked suddenly, glancing a

. Matteo rarely spo

automatic smile. "J

returned his e

between his brows, a flicker

that

of me - this quie

were already swarming across the courtyard, phones

ighter, louder, freer than any

the invisible leash wrapp

ade of a towering oak tree. He got out to o

ickup, same spot

ning sun, the cool air wra

, Matteo," I sa

der, lifting my chin against

ed - polished, pr

I was tra

insi

ross the courtyard cracked t

the Arts Building, wea

lusters of girls in

enches, tossing footballs a

f that world. I

the relentless promise of a future ca

ouble doors of the buildi

curled through me - the

until the city s

strap of my bag instead a

together - economics, global

ed not by me, but by a team of advis

d ached from th

ntain, picking at a granola bar, watch

ssed by, their laug

conversation: "Daddy's mo

even have

over me like

had n

ew what it cost

g to a kingdom made o

o the sun and closed

ture was already being sig

s of sunlight on my skin, the faint ro

sn't

t was

r