Chapter 22: Bound Beyond Bars

After her chilling encounter with Captain Torres, Jaime returned to the confines of her shared jail cell, her mind a storm of dread and reluctant acceptance—a tempest churning against a shore she could no longer reach. Reggie was there, his towering frame leaning against the wall, orange uniform still on but loosened, a smirk playing on his lips—equal parts victorious and possessive, a hunter savoring his catch. She was pregnant with his child now, a fact that bound her to him in chains deeper than iron, an indelible mark of his claim.

“Come here, baby,” he said as she stepped inside, the heavy door clanging shut behind her—a tolling bell sealing her fate. His voice carried a casual authority, softened by a hint of anticipation, a predator beckoning its mate. They were set to leave together today—his release secured, and hers tethered to his through a twisted arrangement orchestrated by Reggie and Torres, a pact forged in shadows she’d never unweave.

Her heart thudded, a mix of fear and inevitability pulsing through her like a drumbeat of surrender. Jaime knew the life awaiting her beyond these walls was no less a prison—just one with wider boundaries, its bars invisible but no less unyielding. She approached him, movements slow, her body bearing the early weight of their unborn child—a subtle burden anchoring her to this new reality. As she stood before him, Reggie’s hand reached out, resting on the faint bump that had recently formed on her belly with a proprietary touch—a king claiming his dynasty.

His voice cut through the silence, sharp yet laced with dark tenderness—a blade wrapped in velvet. “What if your husband’s not even in prison—what if Torres handed him over to the Lopez Cartel, and he’s gone for good?” he mused, eyes glinting as he watched her flinch, a cruel spark igniting her doubt. Then he leaned closer, tone shifting to a coaxing murmur, “Let him go, baby. I’m here for you now, and I love you.” Jaime tried to shut out his words—the taunting question, the manipulative plea—focusing instead on the reality of their departure, the only certainty she could grasp amid the wreckage of her mind.

Their court dates had aligned, a cruel twist she now recognized as deliberate—not fate, but a plan, meticulously crafted by Reggie and Torres to keep her bound to him, a marionette in their sinister play. Today, they’d walk out together, her freedom a sham, her future dictated by the man beside her—a script she’d never rewrite.

As they gathered their few belongings—a tattered blanket, a worn photo of Steve she couldn’t bear to look at—Jaime’s emotions churned like a restless sea: fear of the unknown, guilt over the husband she’d lost, and a strange, conflicted attachment to Reggie, cemented by the life growing inside her. She rested a hand on her stomach, the hint of her pregnancy still faint but a stark reminder of how deeply he’d claimed her—her body no longer her own, her wedding band and engagement ring glinting on her finger as mute relics of a fidelity she’d been forced to abandon.

Reggie slung an arm around her shoulders, guiding her toward the cell door with a possessive ease—a shepherd herding his flock. The same guard who’d beaten Steve bloody that first night of their arrest turned a rusted key in the lock, swinging the heavy iron open with a grating screech—a sound that echoed the fracture of her past. The guard’s cold eyes met hers briefly, a silent echo of that brutal memory, before he stepped aside—an impassive sentinel to her fall.

There would be no escape from this. With each step toward the exit, Jaime felt her old life slipping further away, a tide receding beyond her grasp—her identity reshaping under Reggie’s shadow, a silhouette she couldn’t outrun. She was his now—partner, mother-to-be, a piece in his world, her wedding and engagement rings a hollow weight against her skin. As they crossed the threshold into the harsh daylight, the sun a blinding rebuke to her captivity, Jaime’s mind flickered with a desperate hope that this was still a nightmare she could wake from. But the subtle weight of her pregnancy, the warmth of Reggie’s arm, and the final groan of the gate behind them told her otherwise—a door slamming shut on her past.

This was her new reality.