Chapter 3 When Love Turns Into Control

Lucien didn't change overnight.

That was the cruelest part.

At first, it seemed harmless. He said working would stress me out during pregnancy. "Focus on the baby," he told me one evening, his voice calm, steady. "I've got everything covered." His hand brushed mine lightly, a gesture that once felt reassuring, like protection. Back then, I almost believed it.

When makeup brands called, he answered the phone for me, politely and firmly declining. "She's busy," he said, as if I were incapable of making decisions for myself. When casting agents reached out, he smiled warmly and said, "Those people just want to use you. Don't worry about them."

When my mother asked why I wasn't working anymore, he looked at her as though she were a stranger and said, "She doesn't understand our level." My mother blinked at him, silent, confused. I felt a knot in my stomach, one that would grow heavier over the months.

At first, I didn't mind. I thought it was love. I thought it was care. He had promised me a life free of struggle, and who was I to question him? I believed that my role was to be grateful, to trust, to focus on creating a home and raising a child.

Slowly, though, the world grew smaller. My phone rang less. Invitations stopped coming. I stopped hearing from friends. Every suggestion I made was met with a polite but firm objection. I began to realize that the freedom I once had to make small choices-the freedom to take a call, to earn a little money, to be seen outside of the house-was quietly disappearing.

Noah's presence was the only thing that grounded me. I would watch him sleep, his tiny chest rising and falling, and remind myself that my silence and obedience were not for me. They were for him. My body ached from carrying him, my mind ached from the realization that I had little power in the house I once thought was mine.

By the time I recognized it, I was trapped. Trapped by a man who smiled and said, "Everyone else is fake, Aria. I'm the only one who truly cares about you." He had convinced me that the world outside was dangerous, that I could not manage it without him. That trust, that love I had given so freely, became the cage that held me silent.

And when I finally needed help, when the pregnancy became heavier and my world darker, I realized that help had been erased. I could call no one, rely on no one, because the man I had loved had quietly taken it all.

I was young. I was naive. And I was entirely alone.

Except for Noah, of course. My little boy, whose presence kept me tethered to hope even when the man who promised love had chosen control instead.

I closed my eyes and whispered, "I will protect you. I don't know how yet, but I will."

For the first time, I understood that love, when twisted into control, could be the cruelest force of all.