Chains Made of Gold

Lydia sat in the dark, her back pressed against the cold marble wall of the bathroom. Her chest rose and fell in silent sobs. Eric had locked the bedroom door from the outside. She wasn’t sure if it was to keep her in… or to keep the world out.

Either way, she was trapped.

Again.

The ring box still sat on the sink, its lid wide open — mocking her. A symbol of everything she wasn’t. Everything she would never be.

She had tasted Eric’s obsession. Felt his jealousy. Endured his possessive touch. But tonight, she had seen something worse in him.

Fear.

He was terrified of losing her. Not because he loved her — but because she had become his possession. A drug. An addiction he couldn’t quit.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket.

Ivan: “Plan failed. He knows. Be careful.”

Lydia’s fingers trembled as she typed back:

Lydia: “I’m locked in.”

No reply came.

She flushed the screen off and wiped her eyes. Her escape was crumbling, piece by piece. She had tried to play smart, to outwit a man who ruled the city’s underworld with blood and steel. But Eric had been one step ahead.

She looked up at her reflection. Her face was pale, eyes red-rimmed. She barely recognized herself anymore. She wasn’t the same Lydia who had walked into this world.

She wasn’t a girl.

She was a prisoner in chains made of gold.

A soft click echoed through the silence.

The door.

She rushed out of the bathroom to find Eric standing near the bed, holding her packed bag. His suit jacket was gone. His shirt sleeves rolled up. His expression unreadable.

He dropped the bag to the floor.

“Looking for this?”

She didn't answer. Her eyes were locked on his.

He walked over slowly, almost too calmly. “You were really going to disappear from my life like I’m nothing?”

“You have a fiancée.”

“She means nothing.”

“I mean nothing,” she snapped. “You can lie to yourself, but don’t lie to me.”

He reached her, stopping just inches away. “You were supposed to be different. Untouched by this world. But now you lie. You scheme.”

“Because I have to!” she cried. “To survive you.”

He stared at her for a long moment. Then, his voice dropped.

“You’re right.”

Lydia froze. “What?”

Eric turned away, moving to the window. “I never wanted to feel anything. Not for you. Not for anyone. But somewhere between dragging you into my world and keeping you in my bed… you became the only thing I cared about.”

She stayed silent.

“I’m not good for you,” he admitted. “But I won’t let you leave.”

Lydia’s heart pounded. “Then what do you want, Eric?”

He turned around slowly, eyes full of a twisted kind of softness.

“I want you here. With me. As mine. No secrets.”

“No chains?” she asked bitterly.

He smirked faintly. “Gold suits you.”

She stepped back. “I want more than that. I want to live, Eric. Not just exist as your little secret.”

His smile faded.

And for the first time, Eric Moretti said something she never thought she’d hear.

“I’ll end the engagement.”

Lydia blinked. “What?”