CHAPTER 91: CHAPTER 91; SHE ALWAYS DID

Her limbs were leaden, heavy with sedatives or worse. She tried to move her fingers, but they barely twitched against the cold silk sheets beneath her.

Where... where am I...?

Her vision blurred, the dim light above her pulsing in and out of focus. All she could see was an unfamiliar ceiling, pure white, with recessed lighting casting sterile shadows across the smooth surface.

The scent of antiseptic and lavender fabric softener mingled faintly in the cold air.

Her dry throat burned as she heavily swallowed, each rasping breath scraping painfully against her chest. Slowly, she turned her head to the side, her vision swimming with dizziness as the room sharpened into focus.

It wasn’t her bedroom.

There were no windows in this room apart from the ventilation.

Just pale cream walls, a polished wooden wardrobe bolted to the floor, a single velvet armchair in the far corner, and the king-sized bed she was lying on, draped in crisp ivory sheets and guarded on either side by tall brass security gates locked firmly into the marble floor.

A cage disguised as a room.

Her blurred gaze drifted to the far wall, where a small camera sat nestled high in the corner, its red recording light blinking steadily in the dimness.

The truth sliced through her fogged mind with cold, ruthless clarity.

She wasn’t free.

She wasn’t safe.

She was trapped.

Yueyao let out a small, broken whimper as tears pooled in her aching eyes.

Her body trembled violently against the restraints tucked beneath the sheets, thick padded straps wrapped around her wrists and ankles, locking her firmly against the mattress.

Her pulse thundered in her ears, panic surging through her veins like wildfire.

She tugged weakly at the straps, her dry lips parting in a ragged sob.

"No... no... please... no... don’t lock me up... don’t lock me away... please... please..."

"Shen Xiao! You animal... Let me out... Let me out..." She weakly screamed, but no one was gonna hear her apart from the guards stationed in the hallway.

She sobbed softly, her tears streaming sideways into the pillow as her vision blurred with dizzying despair.

"Please..." she whispered brokenly, her voice barely audible in the silent room. "Please... just let me go... please... someone... anyone... please..."

But no one answered. And no one was coming to her rescue.

Only the faint hum of the ceiling vents and the soft blink of the red camera light filled the silent, sterile air.

And as the sedative’s heavy fog wrapped around her consciousness once more, Yueyao’s last shattered thought echoed like a silent scream in the emptiness:

I’m never getting out of here. She was stuck in that hellhole.

She fell into unconsciousness again.

— — — — — — —

(Shen Xiao’s visit an hour later after she had woken)

The door clicked open with a quiet hiss as Shen Xiao stepped into the dimly lit bedroom.

His polished black shoes made no sound against the thick Persian carpet as he walked to the edge of the bed.

The scent of antiseptic and lavender fabric softener filled his nose, mingling faintly with the sterile chill of the temperature-controlled air.

He stood there for a long moment, his broad frame casting a shadow over her small, curled body.

Yueyao lay unmoving beneath the crisp ivory sheets, her wrists and ankles bound gently yet firmly with padded restraints tucked discreetly under the covers.

With that, she couldn’t leave, nor hurt herself.

Her hair spilled messily over the pillow, dark strands clinging to her damp, tear-streaked cheeks.

Her breathing was shallow, each rise and fall of her chest trembling slightly from the lingering sedative.

Shen Xiao’s obsidian eyes flickered over her face, lingering on the bruise blooming along her delicate jawline, the faint cut across her collarbone where the guards had torn the blade from her trembling grip.

His jaw tightened imperceptibly.

’Foolish woman.’

His gaze darkened as he studied her tear-stained lashes, her parted lips trembling with unconscious, broken murmurs.

How could she dare to think of leaving him?

How could she dare to threaten their son... to threaten herself... to threaten the quiet, beautiful life he had built for them? Can’t she be grateful? He had provided everything for her!

A quiet scoff left his lips as he slipped his hands into the pockets of his tailored black trousers, his broad shoulders rigid beneath his charcoal dress shirt.

She had always been fragile.

Always prone to wild emotions that flickered between silent obedience and desperate rebellion.

But today... Today had crossed every boundary. She seemed to have lost it completely.

His eyes flickered to the faint blinking red light of the ceiling camera before returning to her pale, trembling form.

She had lost control.

Just like her mother.

He felt a cold anger simmer beneath his calm expression, tightening his chest like a steel vice.

How dare she force his hand?

How dare she make him lock her up... sedate her... restrain her like a madwoman... when all he ever did was give her everything?

His gaze softened faintly as he watched her chest rise and fall in fragile, shallow breaths.

But it’s okay.

She will calm down.

She always did.

No matter how wild her little rebellions became, she always returned to him, broken, quiet, and clinging to the only stability she knew.

He leaned down slightly, his tall frame bending as he reached out with one long, calloused finger, brushing a stray tear from her cheek.

Her skin felt feverish beneath his touch, hot and damp with silent suffering.

His lips curved faintly, a cold, possessive smile flickering across his sharp features.

"You are mine, Yueyao," he whispered softly, his deep voice barely audible above the hum of the ceiling vents. "No matter how hard you fight... no matter how much you hate me... You will always be mine."

He sat on the edge of the bed beside her, the mattress dipping slightly under his weight and silently accompanying her.

The silence was thick, broken only by the occasional hum of the vents and the faint, uneven rhythm of her breathing.