Sterling, his face still streaked with diluted blood, lifted Celestia's limp body from the cold, wet tiles.
He carried her effortlessly into the bedroom. He threw her roughly onto the center of the massive mattress.
Celestia gasped for air. Her wet clothes clung to her skin like ice. She tried weakly to crawl backward toward the headboard, her limbs shaking.
Sterling climbed onto the bed. His wet dress shirt stuck to his muscular chest. His red-tinted eyes burned with a dark, uncontrollable fury.
He grabbed both of her wrists with one large hand. He pinned them securely above her head against the mattress, his grip bruising her skin.
He used his physical dominance to completely immobilize her. He ignored her exhausted, desperate thrashing beneath him.
Sterling leaned down. He whispered harsh, mocking words against her ear, degrading her pathetic attempts to escape his control.
He relentlessly tormented her. He used his body to punish her defiance, treating her as nothing more than a possession he had bought and paid for.
Celestia bit down hard on her own lower lip. She was determined not to give him the satisfaction of hearing her cry out in pain.
The sharp teeth broke her skin. The metallic, rusty taste of her own blood filled her mouth as she endured the physical and psychological assault.
The sheer physical exhaustion and the profound emotional trauma began to overwhelm her frayed nervous system.
Her vision blurred at the edges. The bright chandelier light above them fractured into painful, sharp splinters of white.
Celestia's struggles grew weaker. Her breathing turned shallow and erratic. Finally, she lost consciousness entirely under his punishing grip.
Sterling felt her body go entirely slack beneath him. Her head rolled limply to the side, her eyes closed.
He stopped his movements. His brow furrowed. A strange, unfamiliar pang of frustration hit his chest.
He looked down at her pale, lifeless face. He saw the dark bruises forming on her wrists. He realized he had pushed her past her physical limit.
Sterling exhaled sharply. He pulled away from her. He grabbed a thick duvet and threw it over her shivering, unconscious form.
He walked away from the bed. He grabbed a white towel from the bathroom and pressed it against his still-bleeding temple.
He walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows. He looked out into the pitch-black night.
Outside, the wind began to howl ferociously. It rattled the thick, storm-proof glass of the balcony doors.
A massive tropical rainstorm unleashed its fury. Sheets of water battered the island estate relentlessly.
A jagged flash of lightning illuminated the sky. It cast Sterling's dark, brooding reflection in the glass.
He pulled his encrypted satellite phone from his ruined suit pocket. He intended to call his assistant, Jean-Luc, to arrange a medical check.
He dialed the number. The speaker only emitted a harsh, crackling static noise.
Sterling checked the screen. He saw the signal bars drop to zero. This was impossible. The satellite network was military-grade, designed to withstand Category 5 hurricanes. A simple tropical storm couldn't cause this.
He walked to the nightstand and tried the estate's internal landline. He found the line completely dead. He pressed the emergency intercom button connecting directly to the security bunker. Nothing but dead air.
Sterling's jaw clenched. A storm couldn't take out the triple-redundant communication arrays. The lightning strike must have hit the primary antenna tower, and the automated fail-safe switch to the underground backup system had been deliberately tampered with. Someone had intentionally jammed the frequencies to ensure the backup servers would require a manual, hours-long reboot sequence.
Sterling realized that until his security team could physically bypass the sabotage, the island was completely isolated from the outside world.
He looked back at the unconscious woman on the bed. He realized he was now trapped here with her.
A low rumble of thunder shook the floorboards. It mirrored the turbulent, unresolved anger in his chest.
Sterling sat down in the velvet armchair in the dark. He watched Celestia breathe, unable to understand why a woman paid millions would fight so hard.
