Chapter 70. Losing It

Chapter 70: Chapter 70. Losing It

Chapter 70. Losing It

"Mr. Don!"

Her voice rang all over the corridor. Don’s speed and footsteps faltered for a second. He swerved his head behind him to see Rosa rushing after him, her hot, dark brown eyes staring at him with deep worry.

Are you fucking kidding me? Is she seriously trying to catch up with me right now? he thought in disbelief.

Rosa kept rushing after him, her heart pounding. Where the hell is he going?

"Mr. Don!" she called once again, panic lacing her voice. "What’s wrong? Talk to me, what’s going on?"

He stopped all of a sudden, forcing her to check her speed. She was only a few meters from him when he spoke, a brutal, guttural tone tearing from his throat.

"Stay back!"

His voice boomed through the hall, powerful enough to send a literal shockwave that hit her square in the chest. Her footsteps faltered and she came to a sudden halt about nine feet away, staring at him in shock.

"Mr. Don?" she breathed, frowning.

He didn’t bother to turn around to look at her. She watched his shoulders rise and fall as he took in rapid, deep breaths. Thick veins bulged across his skin as his muscles contracted, looking as if he were fighting something dark and dangerous deep down within himself. His fists were clenched so tight his knuckles turned white.

Her eyelids fluttered in confusion. "Mr. Don..."

"I said, stay back." His voice was slow, but a dangerous warning was laced deep within it.

"Why?" she asked softly.

"Just stay back, will you?" he barked, his voice losing every trace of calm. There was a raw harshness in his tone that practically screamed: Leave, or you could get killed.

Her heart began to pound rapidly against her ribs. Why the hell was he pushing her away? She set her jaw, unable to clear the molten hot temper ravaging her nerves. She squeezed her eyes shut, fighting for composure before looking back up at him.

"You haven’t answered my questions," she said softly.

He didn’t reply. His shoulders were still heaving erratically. He took a heavy step forward, clearly trying to distance himself from her.

"Mr. Don!" she called out, her voice echoing down the hall.

He froze, his back still turned to her.

"I said, you haven’t answered my questions. Are you trying to avoid them?"

Silence stretched between them for a long moment. Then she saw him lift his head, tilting it backward toward the ceiling, as if praying to the heavens for patience or strength.

"Stay the fuck back, Rosa," he warned, his voice loud. Then, with a sudden shift, it sounded completely broken. His fists clenched even tighter, and his shoulders twisted in a bizarre shape, as though something inside him was violently struggling to break free. He groaned, staggering to the side, and slammed his palm against the wall to steady himself as if he were losing consciousness.

Rosa flinched, panic surging through her. "Mr. Don!"

She stumbled toward him.

"No!" he roared, the sheer force of his voice vibrating the walls.

She froze in her tracks, feeling the violent shockwave of his command. She blinked rapidly, her breath hitching in her throat.

"Please," he begged, his voice raw and fractured. "Just... stop following me."

"I don’t understand, but you don’t look good," she said, her chest heaving. "Why are you pushing me away? You clearly need help!"

"I said, stay the fuck away from me!"

Rosa remained frozen, staring at him in utter confusion. "Mr. Don—"

This time, he didn’t wait. He pushed himself off the wall and moved with a speed her eyes couldn’t even track. One minute she was staring right at him; she blinked, and he was gone.

All that remained down the hallway was a dark, heavy door at the far end of the corridor, slamming shut—a room in the mansion she had never been allowed to enter or clean.

The door slammed shut with a powerful force that sent a violent tremor through the mansion. Rosa trembled at the echoing boom, standing frozen at the edge of the hallway, her head tilted to the side in disbelief. She looked at the wall beside her, rubbing her palms together furiously as the cold sting of fear began to creep into her nerves.

Her heart pounded erratically. What the hell was that?

She was losing her mind. She didn’t know what propelled her—maybe it was the sheer, overwhelming pull of curiosity—but she slowly found herself stepping closer toward the door. She moved as gently as she could, trying her absolute best not to make a sound.

It didn’t take long to reach it. The door had always unnerved her. Right from her first day in the mansion, she had felt a strange, heavy energy radiating from this specific room. It wasn’t built like the standard doors in the estate; it was reinforced, heavy, and constructed like a cell meant for a dangerous prisoner.

She frowned, staring at the dark wood and wondering if she was about to make a massive mistake.

Wrong move, Rosa, her mind screamed. Pull away. Get the fuck out of here.

Ignoring her inner warnings, she slowly extended her hand toward the door, her trembling fingers hovering just inches from the doorknob.

Before she could touch it, a deep, inhuman groan echoed from within—a sound like a beast or some massive monster in agony. It was followed by a fierce growl and the sharp, subtle sound of claws scraping violently against stone. An intense struggle raged on the other side, sounding as if two massive forces were slamming into each other.

Suddenly, something crashed against the wall from inside. The force vibrated the entire hallway, rattling the door on its hinges.

Rosa jerked back, taking a couple of hasty steps backward.

Next came the sharp, violent rattle of heavy chains. A visible crack spider-webbed across a section of the plaster near the frame. Her eyes widened in horror.

Okay, what the fuck is going on in there?

Her breath hitched. She took another step back, and then another. The sound of metal intensified as the chains smashed relentlessly against each other. Soon, Rosa found her back pressed flat against the opposite wall of the hallway, staring at the terrifying door in disbelief.

Is he locked in there with a wild animal?

Panic flooded her veins. Why the hell did he go in there? Is he going to be okay? Is that thing tearing him apart?

Driven by sheer terror for his life, she rushed back to the door and slammed her hands continuously against the heavy wood.

"What’s that sound?!" she cried out, her voice shaky and breathless. "Mr. Don, are you okay?!"

"GO!"

His voice thundered from within in a guttural, terrifying roar.

Rosa flinched so hard the shock felt like a physical blow to her chest. She staggered backward, her knees giving out until she hit the floor. She scrambled back onto her feet with every ounce of strength she possessed, the air completely drained from her lungs.

Driven by pure instinct, she turned and sprinted back toward her quarters as fast as her legs could carry her. She burst into her room, slammed the door shut, and threw the lock into place.

Tears of absolute horror slipped down her cheeks as her chest heaved for air. She didn’t even bother trying to climb onto her bed; instead, she scrambled underneath it as fast as she could, pressing her body flat against the cold marble floor.

She clamped her hand over her mouth, her wide, terrified eyes darting left and right toward the bedroom door, half-expecting the heavy footsteps of a monster to come tearing through the frame.

What the fuck was that?

The terror was suffocating. She couldn’t feel her hands or feet—only the molten hot rush of adrenaline coursing through her body.

Suddenly, the ground beneath her began to rumble.

The entire building shuddered and vibrated. Windows rattled fiercely in their frames. A few meters away, a glass vase wobbled on a table before crashing onto the floor and shattering to pieces. Rosa flinched, turning her head toward the noise as the heavy wooden wardrobes creaked and groaned under the strain.

It felt like a massive earthquake was tearing the mansion apart. The bed above her was shaking violently against the floor. Unable to stay trapped beneath it any longer, she scrambled out, yanked her bedroom door open, and ran back into the corridor.

The whole structure was violently swaying, sending picture frames crashing down from the walls. Rosa sprinted down the grand staircase as fast as she could, driven by pure survival instinct.

She burst out of the heavy front doors into the open air just as a jagged bolt of lightning struck the sky, followed by a deafening roar of thunder. A torrential downpour slammed down, instantly pelting and soaking the grounds of the Don’s estate.

Rosa froze in the middle of the rain, blinking through the heavy curtain of water as the freezing cold brought her back to her senses. Drenched to the bone and shivering, she wrapped her arms around herself, staring back up at the imposing mansion.

What the fuck, Rosa? she scolded herself. Why did you run out here?

She turned to rush back toward the shelter of the building, but the vivid memory of the rumbling walls flashed in her mind, locking her feet in place. Yet as she watched it now, the massive estate stood completely firm and stable against the storm, as if the terrifying tremor had been nothing more than a trick of her mind.

"Oh my God, you’re losing it, Rosa," she whispered into the wind, blinking rapidly against the rain. "What the hell was that? I know I didn’t imagine it..."

Frowning, she took a slow step forward, reaching for the stone steps that led to the front entrance. But just as her foot touched the bottom stair, she felt a heavy, suffocating presence materialize directly behind her.

Before she could even turn her head, a massive, powerful palm clamped tightly around her mouth, shutting off her voice and cutting off her air completely.