Velvet Passions: 21. The Breaking and Marcus's Return

It started subtly.

When she mentioned maybe taking an extra shift to make up for lost wages, his eyes had hardened. “You don’t need to work more. I’ll cover it.”

When she tried to slip out early to buy her own groceries, she found one of his men waiting downstairs, pretending to check his phone.

When she suggested dinner with her friend Clara, he tilted her chin and said, “Why waste your time with people who don’t understand you?”

At first she brushed it off. He was protective. Jealous. Maybe even overbearing. But wasn’t that what made him different from everyone else? Didn’t his obsession prove she mattered in a way she’d never been before?

Yet the walls were closing in.

The breaking point came one evening when she stood at the window, staring out at the blur of city lights. She hadn’t been outside in three days.

Adrian came up behind her, arms snaking around her waist, chin settling on her shoulder. “What are you thinking about?”

Her