Crimson Fetters.

The sprawling corridors of the Yang estate lay cloaked in Gothic shadow, their grandeur hollowed out by a silence so absolute it raised the hair on one's neck. Yang Bei stood at the centre of the hall, the chandelier overhead casting its cold brilliance down upon snow-white hair, sharpening those slate-grey eyes into something darker, more impenetrable, more dangerous than before.

He regarded the slight figure in her white bridal gown with open contempt. That dress which ought to have looked pure, untouchable only served to throw every dangerous curve of her body into sharper relief, and the sight of it irritated him in a way he could not name.

"This is the Yang household." His voice was low, controlled, and absolute, filling every corner of the hall without effort.

He advanced on Qingli with slow, deliberate menace, his broad silhouette swallowing the light until her slender frame was nearly lost in his shadow. Then it reached him faint, clean, treacherously sweet the scent of her skin. Something pure threaded through with ruin. His concentration fractured for a single, dangerous instant.

He clenched his jaw until the muscle leapt beneath his skin, then delivered his verdict in a voice like gravel dragged over ice.

"This is not a playground for you to drag your gutter habits into. There are rules here, and you will not test me. First you do not leave this estate without permission. Second you do not go near my business. And third..."

He let the silence stretch, his gaze trailing down the line of her throat, tracing the architecture of her body with the cold precision of a man cataloguing property.

"Conduct yourself as befitting the wife of Yang Bei. Do not drag my name through the filth and low breeding you crawled out of."

Qingli did not flinch from the gaze bearing down on her. She simply tilted her head a fraction, those grey eyes still as the surface of a lightless well. "Why can't I go out? How am I supposed to work?"

"Work?" He laughed a single, dismissive sound, sharp as a blade. "You think someone like you still has that right?"

He reached out and seized her jaw, fingers closing hard enough to press white into her skin, red blooming in the wake of his grip. "Your only function is to serve me and to stay in the cage I've built for you. Your room is across from mine."

He released her with a flick of his wrist. "Go."

#darkromance #novel #slowburn #crimsonfetters #mafiaromance