I Dominated After Prison

CHAPTER 1

The prison gate slammed shut behind Lucas Reed. After three years Rain poured hard, soaking his thin prison clothes almost immediately.

He stood there for a long second, breathing slowly.

 “So this is freedom,” Lucas whispered to himself as he stood outside the prison gate, letting the rain fall freely over his face.

“Maya,” he said in a whisper, his voice filled with hope as he lifted his face toward the rain. “I’m back. I am coming home my love.”

With that he quickly rushed to the closest jewelry store. The old man behind the counter barely looked up when Lucas stepped inside.

“What do you want?” the man asked in a flat tone.

Lucas moved closer to the counter, feeling nervous yet excited at the same time. “I want to buy an engagement ring,” he said carefully.

That made the man look at him properly. His eyes dropped to Lucas’s worn prison clothes before slowly lifting to study his thin face.

“How much money do you have?” the man asked.

Lucas reached into his pocket and placed everything he had on the counter. It was not much at all, just a few folded bills and some loose coins that he had saved carefully over time from washing the toilets in prison.

The man sighed softly. “Is that all you have?”

Lucas nodded without hesitation. “Yes, every cent I own.”

The man studied him in silence for a moment, then turned and opened a small drawer beneath the counter. He brought out a simple silver ring with a tiny stone set at the center.

“It’s not fancy,” the man said plainly as he placed it on the counter.

Lucas picked it up slowly, and his hands trembled as he looked at it. “She won’t care about that,” he said with confidence, knowing how much Maya loved him.

“You’re sure?” the man asked.

Lucas smiled, and for the first time in years, it was a real smile. “She waited for me for three years.”

The man said nothing more as Lucas paid and took the ring.

When Lucas stepped back outside, he closed his fist around the ring tightly, holding it as though it were the most valuable thing in the world.

As he walked on foot, it took him an hour and half to arrive at the tiny, old apartment he used to live with Maya before he was taken to prison.

The apartment building looked older than Lucas remembered.

He climbed the stairs two at a time, his heart beating faster with each step, the sound of it growing louder in his ears.

“I’m home,” he whispered to himself as he reached the door.

He knocked and waited, but no one answered.

Lucas used his old key to open the door, and the lock turned easily beneath his fingers.

“Maya?” he called softly as he stepped inside.

Laughter drifted from the bedroom, light and careless, followed by the unmistakable sound of a man’s voice.

Lucas’s chest tightened, and for a brief moment, it felt as though he had stopped breathing altogether.

He took a slow step forward, then another, but his legs felt heavy beneath him, as though they no longer belonged to him.

The bedroom door was open, and his ears were filled with moans of pleasure pouring out of the bedroom.

“Maya—” he froze, watching his girlfriend and his boss making love on the bed.

She screamed, scrambling to cover herself up quickly.

The sharp sound tore straight through him, leaving his ears ringing.

His boss, Jake Cole, slowly lifted his head, his expression calm and completely unbothered, as though Lucas’s presence was nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

“Well,” Jake said lazily, a faint smile forming on his lips, “look who survived prison.”

Lucas found that he could not speak. His eyes moved from Jake to Maya, who was pulling the sheet tightly against her chest, her hands trembling despite her attempt to stay composed.

“You said you would wait for me,” Lucas finally whispered, his voice barely holding together.

Maya swallowed hard before speaking. “Lucas… this isn’t what it looks like.”

Jake let out a short laugh. “It’s exactly what it looks like.”

Lucas stepped forward, his fists clenched at his sides. “Get away from her.”

Maya’s face hardened instantly. “Don’t talk like you still own me.”

The words struck Lucas harder than any punch ever could.

“I went to prison for you, Maya,” Lucas said, his voice breaking despite his effort to stay strong. “I protected you from him. Now what? Now you are sleeping with him?”

Three years ago, at a staff party hosted by his boss Jake Cole, Lucas’s girlfriend Maya told him Jake had tried to force himself on her in the bathroom. Lucas confronted Jake and punched him in anger.

Jake used his power to ruin Lucas’s life, firing him, arranging his arrest on false charges, and sending him to prison for three years.

At the time, Maya supported Lucas, promising to wait for him and marry him once he was released.

But now, Lucas had just caught her making love to the same man in their apartment.

Jake stood up slowly and wrapped an arm around Maya’s shoulders. “Don’t blame her, she fell in love with everything about me. My looks, my money, my fame, my influence...everything.”

Lucas’s hands curled into fists. “You ruined my life.”

Jake shrugged casually. “No, she didn’t. You ruined your own life, by trying to protect someone who was never forced to make love to me on the night of the party.”

“You tried to force yourself on her,” Lucas shouted, his voice filled with pain and anger.

Maya flinched and turned her face away. “Stop saying it like that.”

Lucas stared at her, disbelief written all over his face. “You’re defending him?”

She avoided his gaze. “No, I am not defending him. This is because he never forced himself on me, Jake and I had an affair even before that night. It was just a scheme to send you to prison.”

Lucas’s chest tightened painfully as he whispered, “What do you mean?”

Jake smiled slowly, a cruel curve forming on his lips. “How sweet,” he said mockingly. “The truth is, Maya had been having an affair with me since the day you introduced her to me as your girlfriend. She only did not know how to tell you she was sick of hanging around with a poor pig like you.”

“So we framed you, to be sent to prison. Jake has all the things every woman desires and I am sorry that I could not dwell in slums with a poverty stricken rat like you,” Maya said.

Lucas’ eyes blurred out in shock…