12. A Contract and A Condition

최신 챕터

• His Hired Lover   73. Burning Jealousy

  SOFIA’s POVThe moment I stepped out of the car, the heat of the lights and the energy of the crowd drilled into my flesh as the flash of cameras caught every step I took toward the red carpet.It had been exactly six months since my career started being noticed in the film industry, and tonight, this was the first time I had been nominated for a major film award. I adjusted my dress. It was a deep emerald green that trailed behind me and kept my face soft and camera-ready. Rios had hired the best stylist, and I felt confident enough. But deep inside, I was vibrating. Beside me, my leading man and partner on-screen, Nico Moretti, looked cool as ever in a jet-black embroidered suit. We were the breakout duo from “Tagos”, the action film that turned a tiny indie project into a nationwide phenomenon."Are you okay?" he asked, just loud enough for me to hear over the chaos."Oh, just trying not to pass out in heels.""Relax. You're the reason we’re here tonight."We walked together, posin

• His Hired Lover   72. Welcome Banquet

  SOFIA’s POVThe darkness swallowed everything, even the sound of my scream. Was this how it ended? I couldn’t tell how far the bottom was, or if there ever was a bottom. Maybe this was it. Maybe I’d just keep dropping and let my limbs scatter on the ground below. I felt my lungs burning as my brain fired off a million thoughts at once. I thought about the kids. I failed them. I was not a good person, but they did not deserve the ugliness in this world. All I felt now was gravity pulling me down and down as I imagined grabbing onto something to avoid dying. Was this a death? I didn’t know, but I just kept falling.A gasp escaped my lips as I felt my back hit the ground.But it wasn’t the concrete I expected. I was on something soft and springy. My heart was still in freefall, but my body had stopped. Suddenly, the lights blinded my vision. I squinted, and the world sharpened into a sterile, circular glass room suspended in a massive chamber.Then I saw them watching. A slow clap echoed

• His Hired Lover   71. The Chase

  SOFIA’s POVI couldn’t tell if this man was still human at all. He moved quickly, like an animal who’d finally scented something warm after years of being shoved in the cold. My instinct told me to run, almost forgetting that I had a weapon. I clearly had an advantage, but seeing those bloodshot eyes and horrific black nails made me shiver.I sprinted between the crumbling houses, ducking low and twisting through narrow passageways. My lungs burned, but fear pushed oxygen through every vein in my body. Meanwhile, behind me, more footsteps followed.“Shit!” I cursed. “Now, there are more of you!”They came out of the shadows. Their gaunt, broken figures gleaming in the moonlight as some of them started crawling like dogs. I realized now that their speed didn’t match their deformity. They were hungry, and that hunger had given them strength. Now, I understood what the riddle meant."Food…" one hissed."Food," another echoed, until the number of creatures chasing me doubled.I turned a c

• His Hired Lover   70. Skeletons in Their Closet

  SOFIA’s POVI staggered out of the ruined church, leaving behind the dead bodies and the iron cross that saved me from those motherfuckers. I decided to bring the machete. God forbid I would use them to cut another human being again, but I had to survive. Though its weight in my shaky hand reminded me that I was still alive. And that’s a relief for now.Every step felt like I was pulling my body from underwater. My limbs felt too heavy, and the air outside seemed too thin. Plus, the ache in my chest was unbearable. The more I stayed here, the eerier it felt as silence wrapped around the area. All I heard now was my sneakers crunching the gravel. My grip tightened around the bloodied machete, and I cursed long and hard as I didn’t want to remember the faces who attacked me at the church.Suddenly, I heard a high-pitched sound that came from the speakers hidden somewhere. "You have survived the first hour of your initiation," it said. It sounded like a flight attendant on a plane headin

• His Hired Lover   69. Footwork

  SOFIA’s POVThey called it footwork with smiles on their faces.“It’s just a little tradition,” said Don Felix. It is a game we Alcarazs play when someone joins our blood.”“It’s like a game of tag,” Sasha said calmly. “A deadly tag.”Deadly? I should have asked more questions. I should have looked at Rios and demanded answers. But he only kissed my temple and whispered, “Trust the process, babe.”The moment I got into the van, my heart hammered loudly in my chest. Something about this initiation felt wrong. But what? Did I just walk on my own deathbed?“Babe,” Rios interrupted my overlapping thoughts. “I know you can survive this. Please, survive this.”I wanted to scream in his face, but words seemed to leave my subconscious. I only stared at him with confusion and anger, and Rios could only look away.We drove for over an hour, through the outskirts of the city, into a place that seemed not to exist on maps. It was already midnight when we set foot into a crumbling district.“This

• His Hired Lover   68. Family Dinner  

  SOFIA’s POV I felt numb. That was the only thing I could feel as I looked at the Alcaraz family, one by one.Don Felix, with his silver hair combed back, and the calmness in his demeanor that felt alluring and unnerving at the same time. Demitre, his cold eyes locked on the empty plate, refused to look at me without scorn. His wife, Rita, was drinking and smiling at me with quivering lips. Then there was Sasha, with her kind eyes and full attention to her husband, Ben. Her fingers brushed crumbs from her husband’s cuff. Seated between them was their child, who had held my hand earlier upon my arrival. And beside me, Rios. He was saying nothing, but had been stroking my nape as if to make me feel relaxed amidst the tension.The chandelier overhead scattered gold across the long table. Everything here screamed of wealth. I had been told that we would be having roasted duck, drizzled in fig sauce, and melted into sweetness against the bitterness of arugula. They would also be