Chapter 22 A Dangerous Plan

• (POV: Isabela)
• Sleep just wouldn't come. My mind kept buzzing. Mateo’s final words from dinner – "Learn your place, princesa" – kept echoing. It played over and over with memories of his possessive touch, the heavy choker I still didn’t dare take off, and the awful violence I’d seen. I lay ramrod straight in the dark, eyes tracing the stupid, ornate patterns on the ceiling, feeling the fancy walls of my bedroom start to press in, suffocating me. The air itself felt thick, heavy, like breathing through wet cloth.
• And a cold certainty began to crystallize deep inside: Obedience... no, that wasn't all he wanted. He wanted to erase me. To smooth away everything that made me me, until I was just a shiny, empty reflection of him. The way he ordered my food without asking wasn't just mean; it showed exactly how he planned to control my whole life. And his touch under the table, the scary threats whispered during the dance… they promised a future too awful to imagine.