Golden cage, open door: Not everything that happens in Lagos , stays in Lagos .... part 3

He was always over me, always touching, ensuring that every breath I took was filled with the scent of his <a class="tc-blue external-link external-link external-link" href="https://cologne.The" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">cologne.The </a> heavy silence of the empty lounge stretched between us, broken only by the sound of our breathing. I was trapped in his golden cage, and the terrifying truth was, I didn't know if I ever wanted to find the key. The drive back to my apartment was completely silent, but the air inside the G-Wagon was suffocatingly thick. Toby’s hand never left my body. His heavy palm remained locked onto the back of my neck, his thumb idly caressing my skin, a constant physical reminder of who owned the space I <a class="tc-blue external-link external-link external-link" href="https://occupied.When" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">occupied.</a> <a class="tc-blue external-link external-link external-link" href="https://occupied.When" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">When </a> the car pulled up to my building, the security guard the one Toby now paid hurriedly opened the heavy iron gates. Toby didn’t wait for the valet. He climbed out, rounded the car, and pulled me out by my waist, lifting me effortlessly onto the concrete. He didn't walk beside me; he walked behind me, his chest pressed against my back, his arm wrapped tightly around my shoulder as he guided me into the <a class="tc-blue external-link external-link external-link" href="https://elevator.The" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">elevator.</a> <a class="tc-blue external-link external-link external-link" href="https://elevator.The" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The </a> moment the elevator doors slid shut, separating us from his guards, the fragile calm broke.I turned around, planting my palms flat against his tailored suit jacket, trying to push his massive frame back. "Toby, stop. Just give me five minutes of space. !Let me breathe."He didn't move an inch. Instead, he smiled a slow, terrifyingly beautiful twist of his pink lips that didn't reach his cold hazel eyes. He stepped forward, completely ignoring my hands, crowding me until my back hit the mirrored wall of the elevator."Space?" he rumbled, his deep voice bouncing off the glass. He brought both of his large hands up, pinning my wrists flat against the wall above my head. His grip was tight, bordering on bruising, exactly the kind of unyielding, dominant control that made my pulse spike into overdrive. "I gave you months of space when you were playing lonely girl in Lagos. Look where that got you. You were starving. Now that I’m feeding your soul, you want to starve again?""This isn't healthy, Toby! You bought my building! You're tracking me!" I cried out,! my voice cracking under the weight of his suffocating proximity."I don't care about healthy," he whispered, leaning down until his lips were brushing the sensitive skin right beneath my ear. He inhaled sharply, tasting my skin, before his teeth lightly nipped my earlobe, making me gasp. "I care about what's mine! I told you before you don't get a vanilla life anymore! You wanted a demon, and you got one." The elevator chimed, the doors sliding open to my floor. Toby didn't let go of my wrists. He used his physical strength to turn me around, pushing me out of the elevator and down the short hallway to my apartment door. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his own master key to my unit, and unlocked <a class="tc-blue external-link external-link external-link" href="https://it.He" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">it.</a> <a class="tc-blue external-link external-link external-link" href="https://it.He" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">He </a> shoved the door open and pulled me inside, slamming it shut and locking it behind us. The apartment was dark, lit only by the city lights streaming through the <a class="tc-blue external-link external-link external-link" href="https://windows.Toby" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">windows.</a> <a class="tc-blue external-link external-link external-link" href="https://windows.Toby" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Toby </a> dropped his keys on the counter and stripped off his suit jacket, tossing it carelessly onto a chair. He stood there in his white button-down shirt, the fabric straining against his muscular shoulders, his eyes locked onto me like a predator that had finally cornered its prey."Now," Toby said, his voice dropping into that dark, command register that stripped away all my arguments. "Tell me again how much you want your space."He took a slow step toward me, and the terrifying truth washed over me as my body completely melted under his gaze I didn't want space at all. I wanted to be consumed.<img alt="" src="/media/inline_insight_image/IMG_4650.jpeg"/> I stood frozen in the center of the dark living room, my breath coming in short, ragged gasps as Toby closed the distance between us. The city lights from the window cut across his face, highlighting the absolute, unyielding focus in his hazel eyes. He stopped just inches away, his towering frame completely eclipsing the room."I asked you a question," he murmured, his deep voice sending a violent shiver straight down my spine. "Do you really want space from me?""You're suffocating me, Toby," I whispered, trying to hold onto the last shred of my defiance, though my knees were already weak. "You can't just take over my life. You can't buy my building and act like you own the ground I walk on." Toby didn't argue. He didn't raise his voice. Instead, he reached out, his large, warm hand wrapping firmly around the front of my neck. He didn't choke me, but the heavy pressure of his palm was an absolute command, tilting my head back until I had no choice but to look directly into his consuming gaze."I don't just own the ground you walk on," he growled low in his throat, stepping even closer until there wasn't a single millimeter of air between our bodies. "I own the air in your lungs. I own every single thought in your head. I watched you cry yourself to sleep through a screen for months, wishing for someone to touch you like this. Don't lie to me now." His possessiveness was a physical weight, pressing down on me, stripping away every defense I had spent years building. He was always over me, always crowding me, reshaping my entire reality to revolve around <a class="tc-blue external-link external-link external-link" href="https://him.The" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">him.</a> <a class="tc-blue external-link external-link external-link" href="https://him.The" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The </a> silence that followed his words was heavy, filled only with the sound of the city outside and the realization of how much had changed. Toby didn't move, his presence remaining a constant, overwhelming force in the small apartment. The weight of the situation sat between us, a complex mixture of history and his sudden, unyielding return into my <a class="tc-blue external-link external-link external-link" href="https://life.The" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">life.</a> <a class="tc-blue external-link external-link external-link" href="https://life.The" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The </a> boundaries of the world I had tried to build for myself seemed to be shifting, being replaced by a reality defined by his influence and his resources. Every exit felt narrower, and every choice seemed to lead back to him.<img alt="" src="/media/inline_insight_image/IMG_4651.jpeg"/> I stood by the floor-to-ceiling glass window of my apartment, staring at the Lagos lagoon, but this time, the room was completely quiet. The security guards at the front desk no longer reported to him. The encryption on my phone was mine again. It had taken every ounce of my remaining sanity to pack my bags, reject his money, and walk out of his high-rise penthouse. I loved his dominance, and I craved his intensity, but his suffocating obsession was destroying who I was.<img alt="" src="/media/inline_insight_image/IMG_4652.jpeg"/>

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