Chapter 34

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• Beyond The Debt; Bought: Bound: Owned!   Chapter 52

  Chapter 52VINCENZO POVThe ride back home was a graveyard of unsaid words and painful echoes. Not the comfortable kind of quiet that falls over two people when everything’s okay. No. This one sliced. It pulsed with tension and hurt, like the walls of the car were closing in with every second that ticked by.Kyomi was sitting next to me. But she may as well be a continent away.Her arms were wrapped around her middle, like she was trying to hold herself together. Her eyes were fixed on the window, unmoving, unblinking. I reached for her hand, slow, deliberate, like approaching a wild animal that might bolt, or a bomb on the edge of exploding. She flinched, her body coiling inwardly like a spring. a My hand froze in midair.That did something cruel to me. It tore me open, yanking my soul right from my body, I retracted, leaned back into the leather seat, and tried to steady my breathing. Everything in me wanted to scoop her into my lap and hold her until the world fixed itself, fix

• Beyond The Debt; Bought: Bound: Owned!   Chapter 51

  Chapter 51KYOMI POVI never thought I’d feel this kind of betrayal. Heck, I thought it hurt to be sold by my brother like a bloody calf with a red ribbon perched on my head. But this… This tore right through the ligaments of my heart. This gave me internal bleeding without any organ bleeding inside of me. This tore me open, chest and insides right out.But here I was. Standing in heels that suddenly felt far too high, surrounded by wolves in suits and slithering shadows that reek of danger—and the one man I trusted more than anyone in this godforsaken world… was the one who just handed me over.Like a fucking token.A gamble.A damn chip.My blood turned to ice. My fingers trembled at my sides. Every breath I drew into my lungs tasted like acid.He said nothing.He just dragged me across the casino floor and presented me to the table like some twisted prize.“You’re bluffing,” I whispered to him, but the look in his eyes was unreadable. Cold. Calculated. A stranger’s.Ilya leaned bac

• Beyond The Debt; Bought: Bound: Owned!   Chapter 50

  chapter 50 VINCENZO POV The Invitation. Wrapped in a sealed envelope and laying flat in my desk. There was no name in it. Not crest. No warning, no details. Just a single silver emblem on black paper I opened it to find a small black card matching the enevelope with its black hue. A location and time were written, plus two words carved in a neat handwriting. PLUS ONE. I tapped the edge of jt with my thumb as Terrell and Conan hovered bearby. Silent. Alert. The tension in the room was a fourth presence. With is dense and sharp, razor like teeth. Ivanov told me he was going to send an invitation. What he failed to mention was that he was inviting me to a place. And that I needed to bring a plus one. An extra. A liability “What do you think?” I asked plainly. My calm demeanor a stark contrast of the storm that was breaking things inside my head.“Feel like a trap.” Conan said without missing a beat. “If not a trap, then a test.” Terrell added ip in a quiet tone. Their words all

• Beyond The Debt; Bought: Bound: Owned!   Chapter 49

  Chapter 49KYOMI POV I was woken up by sunlight cutting through the curtains in sharp golden lines. As usual, I was alone, with the other side of the bed cold like it was dead. The duvet tucked around me, my hair all over ik my face. I closed my eyes for a second, memories of last night dancing in front of my mind. He had arrived torn… but in a dangerous way. In the way that screamed ‘I need to spill blood and u need it now’. I had held him… I had listened to him as he spoke to me, held him in my arms as we slept. And now he was gone. I fought an ache that was blossoming in my chest. An ache that throbbed low and du.I was not weak… but I was tired. Tired of not knowing, tired of being kept in the dark, and wondering whether he was going to make it out alive. I was tired of the suspense, of all the times I prayed for him to return safely to me. I heaved out a loud sigh before pulling myself out of bed. I walked to the bathroom and started the water, in desperate need of shaking

• Beyond The Debt; Bought: Bound: Owned!   Chapter 48

  Chapter 48 KARA POV I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t know why, but I couldn’t sleep. I remained awake the rest of the night, an unresolved ache bumping every wall and every corner of my heart. Maybe it was the echo of Alexei’s betrayal playing on a broken loop inside of my brain like a sick lullaby. Maybe my feelings for him ran so deep that the idea of having to live without him chased away the little peace I could ever find in solitude. Every little ounce of sleep I could get. I didn’t know what it was. But wheatever it was, this nasty feeling that ached with a weight in my chest, it was fucking crippling. Fucking bitter. I was lying on my back when I heard it. The soft click of a latch. It was quiet. Too quiet I thought I was hearing things. But no. I wasn’t. I’d grown up around danger enough to know that sound. Any sound. And my instincts… they were fucking screaming inside of me. The door handle clicked, and the door opened with a soft creak. I was out of my bed with my hand cur

• Beyond The Debt; Bought: Bound: Owned!   Chapter 47

  Chapter 47VINCENZO POV Kyomi met me by the door when I got back home. She stared at me with her beautiful back eyes, taking in the blood, the tightness in my shoulders. The ferocity in my eyes… she took it all with a soft gaze. Not judging… not hating. Just staring. She stepped closer and her soft hands reached up to my hands. “Tell me everything.” That was the first thing she said. Not ‘you are a monster’. Not ‘I hate you’. Just simple curiosity and something else. Something like trust, longing. And tenderness. I leaned to her touch, then leaned down to her height and pressed my forehead on hers. Her scent was an anchor. Strong but soft against my senses. My voice was a rough guttural sound when I spoke. “I didn’t kill him.” I waited for her to flinch. She didn’t. “But you wanted to.” “More than anything,” I confessed in a whisper, my eyes filtering close. “Then why didn’t you?” I heaved a loud sigh, relief and worry colliding inside of me. Relief at the mere idea that she