Chapter 3 - The Metal Key
Rhett gently adjusted his heavy black coat around Isa’s shivering frame.
But Isa wasn't looking at him anymore. Her expressive brown eyes were fixed entirely on the narrow entrance hallway leading to the apartment door. She noticed the heavy brass security chain hanging uselessly against the doorframe, completely unfastened from the struggle the night before.
Her delicate face turned the color of wet ash.
"He still has a key," Isa whispered, her voice shrinking into a breathless, terrified squeak.
Rhett slowly turned his head toward the door.
In the dead silence of the cold February morning, heavy, deliberate footsteps echoed loudly in the hallway outside. They stopped exactly in front of Isa's apartment.
A heavy metal key scraped aggressively against the lower deadbolt lock.
Isa completely froze, squeezing her eyes shut, bracing for the brutal beating that was about to resume.
"Isa, sweetheart. Open up," a familiar, arrogant male voice demanded through the thin wood of the door. "I know you're in there. I forgot my wallet after I taught you that little lesson last night."
Rhett’s entire, muscular body became completely rigid.
He didn't pull a weapon. He didn't shout. The cinematic realism of his absolute, earth-shattering shock paralyzed him.
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He recognized the voice on the other side of the door.
👉 Rhett slowly stood up, preparing to face a monster that was far closer to his own empire than he ever realized.
