Chapter 2 - The Binding Beam"My dress!" Vanessa screamed, clutching the wet, ruined silk. "Look at what she did! She did it on purpose!"
Within seconds, the entire room turned toward us.
Adrian was the first to cross the floor, his face flushed with sudden, hot anger. He didn't ask if I was alright. He didn't look at my trembling hands. He went straight to Vanessa, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.
"Are you okay?" he asked her, his voice soft with genuine concern before he whipped his head toward me. "What the hell is wrong with you, Elena?!"
"It was an accident, Adrian," I said, looking him straight in the eye. "She stepped on my hem, and I lost my balance."
"Liar!" Vanessa sobbed dramatically, hiding her face against Adrian's chest. "She looked right at me and threw it! She's jealous of me, Adrian! She's hated me all night!"
Margaret Cole stepped forward, her heels clicking sharply against the marble. She glared at me with pure disgust. "She came from nothing, Adrian. She should be grateful we even allowed her into this family, and now she acts like a wild animal at her own celebration."
Richard Cole scoffed from near the champagne tower, shaking his head. "Unbelievable. No class. No composure."
Adrian's eyes hardened into something cruel. For years, he had treated my quiet nature as weakness. He believed I had no backing, no leverage, and nowhere to go.
"You've embarrassed me for the last time," Adrian whispered, his voice dangerously low. He gestured to two of the estate's security guards standing near the doors. "Get the leather straps from the stables."
The ballroom went deathly quiet. A few guests shifted uncomfortably, but no one spoke. No one moved to stop him. In their eyes, the Coles owned this city, and whatever happened inside these walls was beyond the law.
The guards returned moments later with two thick leather riding straps.
Adrian grabbed my arm, his grip bruising through my sleeve. "You're going to learn how to behave in polite society, Elena. Starting tonight."
He dragged me toward the central wooden pillar supporting the decorative ceiling beam. I didn't scream. I didn't hit him. I knew if I gave him a reaction, it would only satisfy his sick desire for dominance.
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The guards forced my arms up, pulling my wrists over the beam. Adrian wrapped the heavy leather straps around my wrists, pulling them tight until the buckle clicked into place.
My arms hung suspended above my head. My feet barely touched the polished floor. Fifty guests watched in silence as the host of the party was bound like an animal in the middle of her own ballroom.
