“Dax and Emma, you’re all everyone is talking about. The sexiest couple in Hollywood. We were delighted to hear you’re getting married. So much to celebrate.” Leah Borrelli from Alda magazine smiles brightly on the other side of the screen. With each word, her sharp bob sways like a curtain that frames her freckled face. The magazine is very popular as it offers raw, unfiltered celebrity interviews.

They had asked for an in-person interview, but Dax had bullied me into telling her that I’m too busy planning the wedding to meet her in person.

If only she could read the lies from my lips. If only she could see that Dax is participating in the interview to keep me in check. I was the one the magazine had initially wanted to interview but Dax had wormed his way in. He wanted to watch my every word, my body language. He wanted to ensure I don’t reveal his secrets, that he treats me like a prisoner. That he is a monster.

“Emma, you must be excited about becoming Mrs. Pierce. You’re the envy of many women.”

I glance at Dax, who’s sitting next to me on the second leather desk chair in his bright, luxurious office.

His face breaks into a forced grin and he squeezes my hand hard under the table—too hard. I hold back a grimace. “That’s all she talks about,” he says. “Tell her, Emma. Tell her how excited you are.”

I try to pull my hand away but he tightens his grip. He had not hit me again, but with each word he instills fear in me. He has held me hostage in his new mansion for one week. To torture me, he doesn’t lock the front doors. He wants me to know my freedom is so close yet so far out of reach.

Before the interview he’d warned that if I say anything I shouldn’t, he’d kill me. After what I’d seen in his eyes the past few days, it’s hard not to believe him.

I wipe away the smile and look straight into the camera, fighting the urge to tell Leah what goes on behind our closed doors. I put on a bittersweet smile. “He’s not the man everyone thinks he is, you know.”

I regret my words immediately when something cool and sharp presses at my abdomen. I don’t look down. I know it’s the knife he’d pointed to my throat over breakfast this morning, when he threatened to kill me.

I stiffen a little as I feel the tip of the knife pressing lightly into my skin. “I-I mean—”

Leah laughs at the same time that Dax chuckles. “We love your sense of humor, Emma. We all know you’re just trying to scare away the women who are after him. You want him all to yourself, don’t you?”

Dax moves the knife from my belly and runs the tip downward to my vagina. What Leah doesn’t know is that while I’m dressed in a creamy satin blouse and my hair and makeup are spot on, I’m naked below the waist at Dax’s orders.

He wanted me to feel vulnerable. I’d fought back at first, as I had done the past week, but he brought Ruby, his poisonous snake, to my dressing room, warning me that he would release her and watch as her poison took my life. I’d thrown up with fear and had to change from the simple black dress I had planned on wearing into the blouse he picked out for me.

Without thinking, I murmur the jingle from the Obsession Inc. commercial while my heart stutters with fear.

“What was that?” Leah tilts her head to the side.

“Sorry. It’s nothing.” I force a smile. “Yes. Yes, of course. He’s—” I glance at Dax again, his grin sickening me, “—he’s mine.” The last word is barely audible.

“Don’t worry,” Leah says, glancing at her note cards. “We promise to stay away. We totally adore you as a couple.”

A sigh of relief spills from my lips as Dax moves his knife away from my body. I start to breathe again.

Leah leans a little closer to the camera, so close her freckles are visible under the flawless makeup. “So, when is the wedding?”

There’s no way I’m marrying the snake. I just need to find a way to escape this prison. The past few days, it had been just the two of us. But it’s only a matter of time before he has to go out or someone pays us a visit. Until a day ago, I’d been hoping it would be Curtis as he had insisted on meeting up with me for another lunch after Dax butted into the previous one. 

But Dax made me send him an email, telling him that I was too exhausted and needed to take a few days off to relax.

Dax had also drafted a letter he wanted me to send to the Dancing Lights producers to back out of the agreement. All I had to do was sign it and send it off, but I refused to let him take everything away from me. I’d thought he would kill me right then as he threw me to the floor and put a foot to my throat. Instead, he just enjoyed the look of fear on my face as my eyes filled with tears. It shocked me when he removed his foot and threw my laptop at the wall.

“We’d like to keep the date to ourselves for a while,” Dax says, putting an arm around my shoulders and pulling me close. He kisses the side of my neck. The touch of his lips on my skin turns my stomach.

Leah throws her well-manicured hands into the air. “It was worth a try.” Her nude lips pout for a moment before stretching into a smile. “Then let’s talk about your hot career, Emma. Congratulations on your first Opal.”

“Thank you.” I shift in my chair. Before winning an Opal, I had dreamed of interviews like this. But I’d also imagined myself happy and excited to talk about my future as a famous actress. I never thought the price of fame would be this high. I never thought I’d feel this low.

I part my lips to say more, to enrich the interview, but I decide not to. I want this to be the most boring interview she’s ever had. I want her to later wonder if something is wrong and announce her thoughts to the world.

She waits for me to say more. When I don’t, she clears her throat. “Dax, you must be so proud of her. After all, she said you believed in her first. You talked her into coming to Hollywood.”

“I had ulterior motives.” Dax laughs and my fingernails dig into my palm. “I wanted her to be here with me.”

“You are such a romantic man. Emma is one lucky woman.” Leah looks at her cards again. “Tell us about your next movie, Emma. We heard through the grapevine that you will be in the Dancing Lights movie. You must be excited to be playing the part of the girl with the magnolia tattoo. She was a big deal.”

As I scramble for what to say, I try not to look at Dax, who has now planted his hand firmly on my thigh. “Honored. I feel . . . it’s an honor.” Maybe this is it. This is my opportunity to get out of this house. At least he hasn’t mentioned the film again since the day he broke my laptop.

“And you’ll start shooting soon. Am I right?

“Yes,” I say softly. “In two days.”

“That’s exciting. We cannot wait to see you in theaters again. Viewers loved you in Midnight Scent.”

“Yeah,” Dax cuts in. “And as much as we would like to tell you more, I would like to take my fiancée out for lunch.”

Leah tries to ask a few more questions, but Dax puts on all his charm and smoothly brings the interview to an end.

What Leah doesn’t know is that after the interview, Dax throws me onto the bed and forces himself into me, while pressing a pillow to my face, punishing me for the things I said. He only lifts the pillow and withdraws when I give up fighting him.

“Don’t you ever make a fool of me again.” He lets out a harsh breath, his face close to mine, his hot breath on my face.

With sudden energy that takes me completely by surprise, I plant my hands on his chest, grit my teeth, and shove him away from me.

When he stumbles back, I jump from the bed. Before I can make it to the door, a blow at the back of my head sends me flying forward.

My head hits the floor and a tortured cry bursts from my lips seconds before I sink into darkness.