تسجيل الدخولSomething is different. I don’t know what at first. It slips in around the edges of the dark, soft and distant, like a sound underwater that doesn’t quite reach me. Then, a sharp crack. Not inside the room. Outside. Another one. Closer.
My body tries to react, but it’s slow. Everything is slow. My thoughts drag like they’re moving through something thick and heavy. Gunfire. Th
ElenaSomething is different. I don’t know what at first. It slips in around the edges of the dark, soft and distant, like a sound underwater that doesn’t quite reach me. Then, a sharp crack. Not inside the room. Outside. Another one. Closer.My body tries to react, but it’s slow. Everything is slow. My thoughts drag like they’re moving through something thick and heavy. Gunfire. The word comes late. Too late.My eyes don’t open. I don’t think they can. My lashes feel too heavy, my face too swollen, my head too full of fog. Another sound. Voices. Shouting. Not the same voices. Different. Rougher. Faster. Controlled chaos. Not them.My heart stutters. No. Don’t. Don’t do that. Don’t let hope in here. Hope hurts more than anything they’ve done. I let my head hang where it is, breath shallow, ribs aching with every inhale. The pain is still there, everywhere, bu
CillianThe docks are dead quiet. Too quiet. That kind of silence doesn’t exist naturally, not here, not in this city. It’s the kind that’s built. Forced. Maintained. Men are inside that building making sure nothing leaks out. Good. Makes it easier to know exactly where to aim.I step out of the SUV before the engine fully cuts. Cold air hits my face, sharp and damp, carrying the smell of salt and rust. The water is somewhere behind the buildings, invisible in the dark but present in the air.Ahead… The cannery. Exactly how Marco described it. Old. Worn down. Half-rotted from years of neglect. And there… The red door. Second building. My jaw tightens. She’s in there. Something inside my chest goes completely still. No anger. No panic. Just focus.“Positions,” Declan says quietly into comms behind me.Men move instantly. Shadows breaking into smaller s
CillianMarco is still alive. That is the only thing keeping me in this room. Barely alive, but alive. His head hangs forward, chin slick with blood, shoulders trembling with every breath his body fights to take. The chair beneath him creaks every time he twitches. His hands are tied behind his back, wrists raw, expensive shirt torn and soaked dark in places.He doesn’t look like a Bellini prince now. He looks like a man. Breakable. Bleeding. Useful. I stand in front of him, sleeves rolled up, my own hands stained red. Some of it is his. Some of it belongs to the men from the Brooklyn meeting spot. I don’t know anymore. I don’t care.All I know is Elena is still out there. Still in a room. Still being touched by men who should already be dead. My jaw locks so hard pain shoots up the side of my face. Good. Let it hurt.Pain keeps me focused.Declan stands near the monitors we dragged
Elena POVI wake up choking on pain. Not from sleep. I don’t think I was sleeping. I don’t think my body knows how to sleep in here. It just shuts down in small pieces, then drags me back up when the pain gets too loud.My arms are still chained above me. That’s the first thing I understand. Then the rest comes back. Cold wall against my back. Concrete under my knees. Metal biting into my wrists. Shoulders are burning like someone has poured fire into the joints and left it there. My head hangs forward, hair sticking to my damp face, my own breath scraping out of me too shallow, too fast.Every part of me hurts. My ribs pulse with each inhale, deep and sharp. My cheek feels swollen. My lip is split. My throat is dry from breathing through panic, and I keep refusing to call it panic. I try to shift my weight, just a little, and pain shoots down both arms so suddenly that a broken sound slips out of me before I can swallow it.The sound ec
CillianMarco is still breathing. Barely. That’s the only reason I haven’t walked out of this room yet.The air smells like iron and sweat, thick enough to taste. His head hangs forward, chin slick with blood, shoulders shaking with every shallow breath he manages to pull in. One eye swollen shut. The other is barely open. Not enough. Not even close.I stand in front of him, hands flexing slowly at my sides, feeling the restraint coil tighter and tighter inside my chest. Every second he stays quiet, she’s still there. Wherever the hell they took her. My jaw tightens. “Again.”One word. That’s all it takes. Liam moves immediately, stepping in behind the chair. No hesitation. No emotion. Just efficiency. Marco’s body tenses before Liam even touches him. Good.Fear is finally doing its job. “Wait…” Marco chokes, his voice breaking.Liam
ElenaThe van doesn’t stop for a long time. Or maybe it does. Maybe it slows. Turns. Pauses. Starts again. I can’t tell anymore. Time slips in the dark. There are no windows. No light. Just the constant vibration under my knees and the chains digging into my wrists every time the van shifts. My shoulders ache from the position. My neck feels stiff, my head still throbbing where he hit me.I count at first. Seconds. Minutes. I lose track somewhere along the way. So I switch. Breaths. In. Out. In. Out. Stay here. Stay present. Don’t drift. Don’t let the dark pull you under. The van jerks again, sharper this time, and then slows and stops.My body tenses immediately. This is it. The engine cuts. Silence drops heavy. Voices outside. Doors opening. Boots on gravel this time, not concrete. New place. New environment. My pulse spikes, but I force it down. In. Out.The back doors swing open
CillianI hear them before I see them. Heavy steps. Controlled. Familiar. Declan and Liam don’t enter a room quietly, not because they can’t, but because they don’t need to. Their presence speaks before they do. It always has. It always will.Ronan, on the other hand, is already grinning like a fuc
ElenaI don’t remember walking. I don’t remember leaving the dining room. All I remember is him. His hands. His mouth. The way everything inside me stopped making sense the second he pulled me against him like I belonged there.The world blurs around us as he carries me. My arms are still wrapped a
CillianI should stop. That thought is there. Clear. Sharp. Unavoidable. And I ignore it completely.My hand is still wrapped around her neck when she tries to pull away, her breath uneven, her lips still parted from the last kiss, her eyes flashing like she’s trying to gather herself back together
ElenaMy hands are shaking. I try to steady them before I pick up the phone, but it’s useless. The weight of it sits heavy in my palm, heavier than it should be, like it knows exactly what it means. This isn’t freedom. It’s not even close. It’s just another way he controls me, another thread tied a







