Chapter 107

When it was over, Garcia left the room without a word, as always. I lay there, staring at the ceiling, my body sore in places I no longer felt the need to name. His scent lingered on my skin, in the sheets, and in the air. It wrapped around me like a ghost I couldn't shake. But it wasn't the pain in my muscles that hurt the most. It was the silence. His silence. I had come tonight carrying the weight of my family, of Anna's pain, of my own unraveling. I had hoped for something different. Just a few comforting words, a trace of warmth, the smallest sign that I meant more than the body he touched and used. But nothing had come. Just coldness, commands and detachment. I was a toy, a routine he didn't bother breaking. The truth pressed against my chest like a slab of stone. I'd told myself I stayed because I cared. Because I thought, maybe, he'd change, that one day I'd matter. But tonight, everything shattered. Garcia would never see me as anything more than his submissive, his pet. And I