LOGINLia’s POV
“I’ll do it,” I whispered.
The words leaving my mouth before I could even think them through. My heart was pounding in my chest as I stepped forward, holding out my trembling hands like I was offering them to the devil himself.
Kade’s eyes dropped to my hands, slowly rising to meet mine. A sly smirk tugged at his lips again, this time colder, confident, and calculating.
“Are you sure?” he asked, his voice a low murmur that somehow filled the entire room. “I’ll do anything to save my brother,” I breathed. “Just…please spare his life.”
He gripped my arm, engulfing my fingers like steel. And it dawned on me in that moment that I had just sealed something far darker than a deal. I have sold myself to him, my body, mind, and soul.
Kade didn’t let go. Instead, he pulled me closer even more, his eyes raking over me with an intensity that made my skin crawl. “Good girl,” he whispered, brushing a thumb over the back of my hand before finally releasing me.
“You’re mine now, little princess.”
I stepped back, swallowing the lump that formed in my throat. “Pl….Please let me go to my brother.” But he only laughed, the sound sending a chill down my spine.
“Not so fast.”
He turned on his heel and walked towards a door. I stood frozen, uncertain about what was happening, until he looked back at me. “Well? Follow me.”
I hesitated, every instinct in my body telling me not to dare do it, but I followed. We walked past a hallway, past two huge guards who didn’t even blink as we passed. The door he led me to looked like any other, but the moment he opened it, I realized this wasn’t just a room.
It was a damn cage. Small, clean, and empty except for a single bed, a full-length mirror at the edge of the bed. No windows. “Where’s my brother?” I asked, and walked in as I turned to face him.
Kade didn’t answer. Instead, he kicked the door shut behind him, and in an instant he was closing the distance between us. “Wh…what are you doing sir?” I staggered back until my legs hit the bedframe.
But he didn’t utter a word. The next thing I felt was his hands on my waist as he grabbed me—rough, unforgiving. One moment I stood by the bed, breath caught in my throat.
The next thing I knew, I was against the wall, his body pressed into mine, closing every bit of space I had left to breathe. His mouth crashed onto mine…not a kiss but rather a warning, making sure that I knew I now belonged to him.
I stood still, a gasp caught somewhere between my throat and his lips. The taste of him flooded every part of my senses…dark, possessive, and with how much I hated to admit it. Addictive.
My hands flew to his chest, my trembling fingers pushing hard against the solid wall of muscle on his body. But it was like I was trying to move a stone. “Mr Kade…please…” I choked out, my voice breaking.
Yet he didn’t stop.
“Has anyone ever fucked you so bad you didn’t want them to stop?” Whispering into my ears as his hands slid to my thighs, pulling me tighter into him, his thigh pushing between mine, lifting slightly off the foot like I weighed nothing.
He unbuttoned my shirt with a sound that made my heart stop, the fabric falling open in shreds as the cold air licked across my exposed skin. I gasped for air again, the sound unintentional as the heat of his lips trailed lower..hovering by my jaw, down to the curve of my throat.
His breath was warm against mine, his teeth not biting, just threatening, making me shiver even as every nerve under my skin came alive in his hands.
“You don’t get to plead, little princess,” growling into my ear while his mouth devoured every part of my neck. “You signed yourself over to me. You’re mine now.”
I flinched, both from fear and something else I couldn’t make of yet..something dangerous. His hand curled into my hair, drawing my head back it exposing my neck like prey. My knees tried to fight him off, but his arm was already there, owning me.
I hated how my body responded to him. How every part of me didn’t want him to stop. And maybe… maybe he saw it. Because suddenly he pulled back, and just like that his body left mine in a rush of cold air.
I stumbled forward, my chest rising and falling in heavy gasps, my fingers clutching at the torn remains of my shirt as I stared at him, fear evident across my face.
“Relax,’ little princess,” he chuckled, licking his lower lip like he could still taste me. “I’m not fucking you tonight.” His eyes dropped down to my body, lingering where the fabric clung desperately to what was left of my modesty.
There was nothing gentle about the way he looked at me…only hunger, he was just holding back with a terrifying kind of discipline. “I like to see fear in people,” he murmured, stepping closer to me again but not touching this time.
Just letting me feel the weight of his presence. “But I like anticipation more.” Of course, I couldn’t say a word, my heart was still in my throat while my skin still burned from his touch…still tingling…still aching.
He stretched out his hands, and for a moment I staggered back in fear, thinking he would grab me again. But instead, his fingers only brushed a strand of hair from my face, tucking it behind my ear like a good lover would.
He stepped back, walked to the door, and pulled it open. “You’ll stay here for tonight. Locked and watched.” I blinked, still too shaken to say a word.
“Try to escape…and your brother dies.” Pausing to speak in the doorway. Then the door shut behind him, the lock clicked and I was all alone.
I dropped to the bed, my heart still pounding in my chest from the memory of everything that just happened.
His touch, his scent, his mouth on my skin. “God, what had I just gotten myself into?” I murmured, wrapping my arms around myself to keep my body from shaking.
But that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was the way my body had reacted to his touch, the way my skin burned from where his hands had been. That fucking look of weakness in my face when he looked at me like I was something worth destroying.
Tears blurred my vision. And then I noticed it, but I stepped closer to the mirror slowly, my reflection looked….new. Was this what selling your soul to the devil looked like?
I turned away to climb on the bed, and that’s when I saw it. A camera. A small, red light was blinking from the ceiling. I was being watched by him every second. Every single breath or movement I made.
And I knew
Kade Valen wasn’t done with me.
Not even close.
But worst of all?
I couldn’t stop remembering the way his mouth felt on mine…
And the shameful part of me that had wanted more.
Selene’s POVThe words hung in the air like a loaded gun. I watched Kade’s face closely, savoring the way his composure finally cracked—just a fraction, but it was enough. Shock flickered in those cold eyes, followed quickly by something darker.I let out a weak, pained laugh, pressing my hand tighter against my bleeding shoulder. The wound burned like fire, but the rush of power was stronger. Slowly, painfully, I reached under the sofa cushion with my good hand and pulled out the slim, leather-bound book I’d kept hidden there for months. I held it up, my fingers smearing blood across the embossed cover. “Noah gave this to me,” I taunted, my voice hoarse but triumphant. “He handed it over without a fight when I had him kidnapped and begged me to spare his life. Said he’d do anything. Pathetic, really. All that loyalty to you, and in the end, he chose to save his own skin.”Kade’s jaw clenched so hard I thought it might shatter. His gun hand wavered for the briefest second, his gaze
Selene’s POVThe city lights sprawled endlessly beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows of my penthouse, glittering like scattered diamonds against the dark water below. From up here, everything looked small—the people, the cars, the endless noise, all the petty problems that consumed everyone else.For the first time in years, a deep sense of calm settled over me. The engagement was over. Lia was gone. Kade’s perfectly controlled world was finally cracking apart at the seams. Finally, I thought, a quiet laugh bubbling up inside me. After all these years, it’s happening.For the first time in what felt like forever, a deep sense of calm settled over me. Kade didn’t die as I wanted but his poor little Lia was fighting for her life in the hospital. And Kade’s perfectly controlled world? It was finally cracking apart at the seams, piece by piece, just as I’d planned.I took a slow sip, letting the rich flavor linger on my tongue.If things keep going my way—and they will—he’ll finally see i
Lia’s POVThe apartment fell strangely quiet after Julian left alone, the echo of his footsteps long since faded down the hallway, leaving only the broken front door hanging crooked on its frame and cool air drifting in through the splintered wood scattered across the floor.Just seconds earlier the room had pulsed with armed men and suffocating tension. Still, now silence pressed in, broken only by the heavy hammer of my own heartbeat as I stood there, fingers still clutching the back of Kade’s jacket like it was the only solid thing left in the world. Slowly I let go, and the moment my hand dropped a strange distance seemed to open up between us. For the first time since the engagement, for the first time since I had thrown myself in front of a bullet meant for him, we stood face-to-face. Kade’s gaze moved over me carefully, lingering on the fresh bruises circling my wrist until his jaw tightened, the muscle flexing once, then twice before his eyes returned to my face.“You okay?”
Lia’s POVThe lock clicked into place for what felt like the tenth time. I stood in the middle of my apartment, staring at the front door as if sheer willpower could make it stronger. The deadbolt was locked. Every window was closed, every curtain drawn. Still, it wasn’t enough.My hands wouldn’t stop shaking. I wrapped both arms around myself and forced a deep breath. The apartment was silent except for the ragged sound of my own breathing and the faint hum of the refrigerator in the kitchen.I grabbed my phone again and called Kade. It rang. And rang. Then voicemail. Again.A frustrated sound tore from my throat. “Pick up…”I hit the call once more, straight to voicemail. I pressed the phone against my forehead, eyes burning.The last few hours had been a nightmare that refused to end—the pregnancy, Julian finding out, me telling him the baby wasn’t his, and the pure rage on his face. A loud bang suddenly echoed through the apartment. I jumped so hard the phone nearly slipped from
Lia’s POVFor a moment, everything seemed to freeze. The steady beeping of the monitor faded into the background, the air growing heavy as Julian stared at me from across the room. His face remained unreadable, but something in his eyes shifted as he blinked once, like he was still trying to process what I’d just said.Then he looked at me again, as if he was trying to convince himself he hadn't heard what I had just said."What did you just say?" he asked quietly.My throat tightened painfully, but I forced myself to hold his gaze."I said the baby isn't yours,” The words felt like shards of glass scraping their way out of my chest. "It's Kade's."The confusion vanished from his face, replaced by something cold and unreadable. He stood completely still, staring at me as though he was seeing a stranger where I had been standing only moments ago.Then a short laugh escaped him.Humorless.Disbelieving."Kade," he repeated, rolling the name off his tongue like it left a bitter taste in
Lia’s POVThe house was in complete chaos.Suitcases lay open across the living room floor, half-packed with carefully folded clothes, while staff moved through the hallways carrying boxes and luggage downstairs. Voices echoed everywhere, blending into a constant background of motion, of departure, of things ending before I was ready for them to.I paced across the bedroom again and again, unable to stay still for more than a few seconds. Every time I reached the window, I turned back. Every time I got close to the door, I retreated. The wooden floor creaked beneath my steps, but even that sound felt distant compared to the noise in my head as the doctor’s words refused to leave me alone.You’re two weeks pregnant.It replayed until it stopped sounding like information and started sounding like a verdict.My hand moved to my stomach without permission, resting there for a second before I realized what I was doing.Nothing about me had changed on the outside.But everything inside me
Lia’s POVI didn’t knock at the door because I couldn’t care less. My fury carried me through the doors of Kade’s bedroom like a storm that couldn’t be stopped.He was there..of course, he was… leaning back in his leather chair like he owned not just the room, but the air I breathed. His shirt was
Lia’s POVI was still curled on the bed, my muscles heavy. The ache along my wrists from where his belt had bitten into my skin, the heat that had burned across my cheek when his temper had snapped….it was all still there, stitched into my body like fresh bruises.Sleep had eluded me, every time I
Lia’s POVHe stood at the door.Kade.His suit jacket was gone this time, his shirt wrinkled and half-unbuttoned, the white fabric stained beside the collar. His hair was messy, as if he had run his hands through it many times.But it was his eyes… that glued me to a place. Then the smell hit me ne
Lia’s POVMy mind kept replaying every one of his words, each one leaving a fresh wound. One week to find Noah, or he would find him and kill him. Oh God.I hadn’t eaten or slept. My brain was a storm, and I couldn’t find the root of it. I had no plan.. just the wicked nauseating knowledge that my







