THE PROPOSITION.

NORA'S POINT OF VIEW.

No! No! No!

I could only scream inside my head as I stared at the phone for what felt like hours….he’d seen it already. Even if I delete it, there's nothing I can do….he knows I not only filmed myself, but I moaned his name while doing it. Before I could blink, the door handle rattled, and the sound caused me to jump. Before I could ask who it was, my phone dinged.

It was a text…from him.

“I know you’re in there, bunny….open the door.” The nickname he’d given me since I was twelve stung, but at the same time, it soothed, because it was the first time in forever that he’d called me that. I would have given a retort, but I remembered….he held all the cards. He always did.

Before I could rise, the door clicked and opened. “How did you?”

“The heir to the fortune always has the keys to every room in the mansion, bunny. Even you should know this.” He flashed me a panty-dropping smirk and advanced towards me. The sight of it stung, not because he was in the room. But because it served as yet another reminder that nothing, not even this small space, belonged to me.

He owned everything. “If this is your way of flirting with me, it’s quite bold, especially for a little bunny like you.”

 He stopped in front of me, his six-foot frame stretching over my much smaller one as I glared at him. Before I knew it, I said through gritted teeth. “Delete it.” 

“Ouch…feisty.” He chuckled. “You know, bunnies are supposed to be meek, gentle, calm….you’re showing your claws more like a kitten.” He suddenly pulled me by the arm, and kept me prisoner against the wall; his lean muscled body leaning over mine so I could catch a whiff of his manly scent with every inhale.  “Are you going to bite, kitten?” he whispered, his fingers working their way up my thigh in a slow motion. The words, ‘you’re my stepbrother,’ bubbled in the back of my throat.

But I wasn’t able to get them out….I hated that I loved his hold on me…it was addictive. 

“Let me go.” I whimpered, wanting pooling in my lower belly as I avoided his heated gaze.

“No….what are you going to do about it, kitten?” He whispered, his tongue darting out to lick a trail up the skin beneath my earlobe. The action sent my knees trembling as I almost fell to the floor, but for his strong arms holding me up. 

I gulped, choosing to beg instead, because if he kept me in this position for a moment longer, I would turn to putty in his hands. “Please, delete the video.”

“No,” he didn’t hesitate. He stepped away from me, waving his phone in my face. I aimed for it, jumping at my fullest height to grab it, but the bastard was too tall for me, so I couldn’t even grab the damn thing by the tip of my fingers. “You sent this to me,” he said softly, his voice low, smooth with a deadly edge. “Tell me… was that supposed to be for me, or am I just lucky?”

“It was a mistake.” I gritted out. “Just delete the damn thing. I'm sure you get enough sex tapes daily from the girls at school.” I hissed.

“Yes…but this one….it feels.” He paused to think for a second. “Priceless.” I rolled my eyes and chose to succumb to the one thing that came to mind the second he walked in.

See, Asher Collins is one thing: a player, an arrogant bastard, and someone with a motive… he wanted something from me, or else he wouldn’t delete shit. “What the hell do you want from me?”

“Bingo!” he smirked, turning around towards me with a dramatic effect. “You’re going to listen very carefully, Nora,” he murmured, leaning close, so close that his breath brushed my ear again. “You’re going to do exactly as I say from now on, or I let everyone know about… everything.”

Everything.

My chest tightened in tension as my eyes widened at the implication of that.

His lips curled into a cruel, vicious smirk. “Consider this… a lesson in pleasure, and pain.”

And then he stepped back, letting me breathe… barely.

I knew, in that moment, that nothing in my life would ever be the same again.

And I was right.

-----------

My head was spinning, not just from the adrenaline, but from the terrifying implication of "everything." It wasn’t just the humiliating video. It was the fact that he was my stepbrother, the heir to so much power, that it made my skin crawl, and the knowledge that I had broken every rule laid out by his mother, well, two of the sacred rules. If his father ever found out the housekeeper’s daughter had touched the only son of the sacred Collins bloodline, both my mother and I would be ruined, homeless, and exiled.

“What do you want?” I pushed the words out through gritted teeth, ignoring the tremble in my voice as I glared at him; his dark eyes flashed with something primal. I already knew the answer. He was Asher Collins. He wanted control, and he wanted amusement, especially when it was at my expense.

He surveyed my desperate state with a slow, vicious grin. “I’m bored, Nora. Terribly bored.” He whispered.

“Aww, too bad, I guess. Being stupidly wealthy must come with its downsides.” I said, sarcasm rolling off my tongue.

“Watch it, bunny.” He hissed. “I still have the video. You’re a secret, something that makes me curious, a maid’s daughter who moans the name of the master. But outside this little box, you’re just the invisible girl who scrubs the floors and hides in the corners. It’s pathetic.”

The insult sliced deeper than the threat of his releasing the tape. “I like being invisible,” I lied, crossing my arms over my chest, trying to shield the raw, exposed part of me he had stripped bare.

“Do you?” He tilted his head, his eyes narrowed, to a piercing gaze. “Then why do you waste your time standing three aisles away from that weird nerd James Porter in the library, pretending you’re just ‘studying’?”

My blood ran cold immediately…he knew….fuck, he knew. The panic that had been a dull ache suddenly became a sharp, paralyzing fear. 

James. 

He knew about James. He hadn't just watched the video; he had been watching me.

“Don’t pretend you don’t care, Nora. I saw the pathetic way you look at him. All wide eyes and longing. You want him to see you. You want someone to notice you. You’re tired of being the wallflower; I am to change that.” Asher advanced, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous murmur. “I’m offering you a trade.”

He’s the devil.

“You want to be visible to him? I will make you unforgettable. I will transform you into someone every straight boy at Riverbrooke High notices, including your precious, flawless nerd boy, James Porter.” He paused, letting the scope of the offer sink in to me, adding to my humiliation. 

I’d have to ask my enemy, my stepbrother, who I’d given my virginity to six months ago help me get the attention of the guy I’ve crushed on for a couple of weeks. 

Everyone knew Asher tried to rebel against his father’s wishes by designing clothes instead of focusing on the family business…now, the crazy guy is going to make me his mannequin. “In exchange, you will be my project. My puppet. You will do exactly as I say, when I say it. You will walk where I tell you to walk, wear what I tell you to wear, and speak only when I permit it.”

I shook my head, fighting back. “I don’t need your help, you arrogant bastard.”

“Oh, you do, little bunny.” His smirk vanished, replaced by a chilling intensity. “Refuse me, and tomorrow, my mother will receive an anonymous text message detailing exactly why her son was naked with the maid’s daughter six months ago, and why the housekeeper’s daughter is currently obsessed with him, video included. Do you know what happens to your mother when she’s found complicit in such a huge scandal?

She loses her job, her home, and the charity of the Collins name. You lose your tuition, and a shot at a better chance at a prestigious college, or job….see, it’s a lose-lose situation, bunny.”

The threat against my mother was the ultimate weapon, making me realize it wasn’t just about me anymore.

“You’re a monster,” I whispered, tears finally blurring my vision.

“I’m the monster who can give you everything you want, and the monster who can take everything you have.” He stepped closer, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Now, do we have a deal, Nora?”

I closed my eyes, the cold dread overwhelming the sudden, terrifying flare of hope. I was trading one kind of slavery for another, but at least this new leash had the promise of light at the end.

“I accept,” I choked out. “But you delete the video. Now.”

Asher smiled, his lips hinting at the obvious victory he had over me.. “I delete nothing, bunny. Your obedience is the only thing keeping it buried. Now, here is the first command:

Tomorrow, you are going to a party....well, a rave every single senior at school will be attending. There, you will no longer be the boring, plain Nora we all know....you willl be my muse, and you will not be puting on anything from that your horrendous excuse of a girl;s closet.. You will wear a dress of my choosing. and you will wait for me at seven-thirty sharp at the main mahogany front door. The world needs to see the change, Nora.”

I opened my mouth to tell the fucker off, but before i could, He was gone. The leash was set, and my life in the shadows was officially over.