Chapter 4 A Cruel Mistake

The order to remove her clothes left Kiara feeling trapped and helpless. The moment he said it, a bitter memory surfaced in her mind. She thought of Cloe, her twin sister. Rage burned quietly inside her chest because she had spent her entire life suffering the consequences of Cloe's mistakes.

"I don't want anything to do with your world," she murmured under her breath.

"If you refuse to follow my orders, your family will lose everything. You have no idea how far I'm willing to go just to see you kneel and beg."

"My family..." Kiara whispered. Her eyes filled with tears. Among all the members of the Watson family, only one person truly cared about her. Her younger sister, Lia.

"I can strip your family of every last cent," Archie continued with cruel indifference. "They'll be left with nothing. They'll starve in the streets. Is that what you want?"

Tears slid silently down Kiara's flushed cheeks. "Do as I say. And none of that will happen."

"Sir... please..." Kiara's voice broke as she spoke. "Please don't hurt my family. Especially my little sister. She's different from the rest of them. Lia... she's innocent. She doesn't deserve any of this. I'll do whatever you ask."

For a moment, Archie stepped back. It wasn't eagerness that made him move away. Something about the situation unsettled him. The same woman who had mocked him with such arrogance before now stood in front of him, crying and pleading for her family's safety.

"Sir..." Kiara's voice trembled again. Slowly, she removed her oversized shirt. "Please... just show me mercy." The shirt slipped from her hands and fell to the floor as she forced herself to continue.

Villarreal no longer paid attention to the questions directed at him. His focus drifted completely to the outline of the young woman before him. Hunger stirred inside him, and his body responded without the slightest touch. Desire rushed through him with frightening force, wild and impatient, as though it demanded to be satisfied.

"I'm ready..." she said in a faint whisper. Yet she knew the words weren't true. She had never given herself to anyone before.

Clear judgment abandoned him. A darker look settled in his eyes while the warmth spreading through his body pushed him forward. Step by step, he closed the distance between them. He caught her hands and guided them over her head, trapping her there so she couldn't move away. Her uneven breathing filled the air, and quiet sobs slipped from her lips.

"You belong to me until I grow bored of you," he said coldly. One of his hands kept her wrists firmly under control while the other moved upward and slowly brushed across Kiara's chest.

Kiara shut her eyes as tightly as she could. Her brows knotted together while she wished she could vanish from the feelings rushing through her body. Panic stiffened her muscles when his touch began sliding lower across her stomach. When his hand reached the inside of her thigh, shock ran through her because no one had ever dared touch her in that hidden place before.

"Oh..." The quiet sound escaped her before she could stop it. His fingers shifted her underwear aside, and his touch grew more deliberate.

Archie understood he should have stopped, yet the urge inside him pushed him to keep going. A faint tremor ran through her body beneath his touch, and the quiet sobs she had been letting out slowly faded.

"Say you're sorry," he insisted. His hand moved over her while she tried to pull away, but he wouldn't let her. "Ask me to forgive you." He released her wrists and lifted her face toward him, though his other hand still lingered where it shouldn't.

Kiara couldn't understand why he wanted an apology from her, nor could she figure out what her sister had supposedly done to provoke him. "I..." She tried to answer. The strange sensations moving through her body overwhelmed her. Because she had never experienced anything like it before, the words she wanted to say never made it out.

"Do it now!" Cloe had wounded the pride of someone from the Villarreal family, and Archie had decided she would pay for it. He intended to push her further and further until she lost control of herself. In his mind, she would eventually beg him to claim her.

His hand moved again with that thought in mind. However, the moment he tried to go further and felt how painfully tight she was, everything changed. When she cried out from the sudden pain, he pulled back right away. Confusion crossed his face.

Kiara bent forward slowly as she struggled to steady her breathing. The pain he caused her hadn't faded yet. "Were you untouched before this?"

"Y-yes... sir," she murmured. Her strength seemed to give out as she sank down onto the floor. Slowly, she folded her knees beneath her and crouched there. A shaky breath slipped past her lips while she wrapped both arms tightly around her legs. Her fingers gripped her knees as though they were the only thing keeping her steady. Quiet tremors moved through her body. She lowered her forehead against her knees and curled inward, retreating into herself as confusion and fear swirled through her mind. In that small, protective posture, she tried to make sense of what had just happened.

A tight frown crossed Archie's face. None of it made sense. The woman he brought home wasn't supposed to be untouched. She had been with other men before. He still remembered the moment she laughed at him and walked away, leaving him frustrated and humiliated. That memory fed his anger and his need for revenge.

The realization deepened his sense of betrayal. Without warning, he slammed his fist against the wall. The impact echoed through the room. Kiara stayed frozen and didn't dare raise her head.

Moments later, Archie turned and walked out, leaving her alone and confused. Fear crept into her chest as she wondered what she had done to anger him.

"Jackson!" His voice rang through the house as he moved toward the stairs. "Jackson, damn it!"

"Right away, Mr. Villarreal!" Jackson hurried over at once.

"Explain something to me," Archie snapped. "Who exactly did you bring here tonight?" Anger was written all over his face.

"I brought Miss Cleo Watson, sir!" Jackson answered quickly, unease in his voice. He had only worked for Archie a few months, and the thought of losing this job terrified him. The salary was far better than anything else he could find.

At the Watson Mansion.

"How is that even possible!?" Maxwell shouted, outrage in his voice. The plan had been simple. He had ordered Archie's men to bring his daughter, Cloe, to him whether she agreed or not. It was meant to secure the deal and keep his company from bankruptcy.

"Lower your voice!" Samantha snapped at him. "Cloe and Kiara are identical twins. No one will ever notice the switch. They'll never know we deceived them."

"Enough, Samantha!" Maxwell scoffed, stabbing a finger in her direction. "You should've never encouraged Cloe with that ridiculous scheme. What gave you the right to go against me?" His voice rose with fury, and the sound of it made Cloe flinch. She had never seen her father lose control like this before. "If Mr. Villarreal learns what we did, he'll ruin us. We'll be thrown out with nothing!"

"Relax, darling... you're overreacting," Cloe replied with a pout. "No one even knows Kiara exists. My life won't change because of this." She crossed her arms stubbornly. "There's no way you were going to force me to marry some old man."

"You have no idea what you're talking about, you foolish girl!" Maxwell's face flushed with rage, and sweat gathered along his forehead.

Samantha gave him a cold look. "I don't see why you're making such a spectacle of yourself, Maxwell," she said with clear disdain. "Your behavior is embarrassing."

"Damn it!" Maxwell shouted. "To the outside world, Kiara might as well not exist. Even we treated her that way. But Mr. Nguyen, my father's lawyer, knows the truth."

"What are you talking about?" Samantha asked, completely confused.

"Kiara is the only heir my father ever recognized," he admitted. "I falsified the records and hid the truth so everything would stay under my control. If that secret came out, we'd lose everything and end up on the streets. Now she's married to Mr. Villarreal. If Mr. Nguyen discovers this arrangement, we're finished. My father made it clear that Kiara had to marry a powerful man before she could inherit anything."

"No... Dad, that can't be true," Cloe said in a shaken voice. The thought of losing her comfortable life filled her with dread. Yet the idea of marrying someone she considered an old man frightened her just as much.