LOGINAmber.My brain was still reeling.Trying to catch up to the chaos that had just exploded in the foyer.The hatred Julie carried for me wasn’t just deep. It was bottomless.She’d gone far enough to kidnap her own granddaughter, all to twist Zeden’s love into something that would finally break me.All to prove I didn’t belong here.My head throbbed like someone had taken a hammer to it.I clutched the front of my nightdress tighter.My knuckles white against the silk, as if holding the fabric together could keep me from falling apart.Zeden’s gentle shove still stung. Not because it hurt physically, but because it was deliberate.Careful, but distant.His footsteps had already faded up the staircase, followed by the loud slam of our bedroom door.By the time I reached the top, he was in the bathroom.The door was ajar, steam curling out, light spilling across the floor.I leaned against the frame.My forehead pressed to the cool wood, straining to hear anything. Water running, his b
Zeden.I didn’t wait for her to finish the performance.Mother’s voice cracked on cue.Shaky and theatrical.The same tone she’d used my whole life whenever she got caught. “Zeden… what are you saying? I have no idea what you’re talking about. How could I take my own grandchild? How could I do that to her… to you?”The words came out trembling, her eyes wide.Her hand pressed to her chest like she might faint from the accusation alone.Classic Julie.Always the victim when the spotlight turned too bright.I stepped closer.Slowly and deliberately.“You have no idea what I’m talking about?” My voice stayed quiet, almost conversational. “This game you’re playing is old. You fucking know how much I hate it when people lie to my face. You’ve known since I was a boy. I don’t care who you are. Mother. Wife. Stranger. I’ll do whatever it takes to make you regret ever opening your mouth to lie to me.”Her lips parted.No sound came out at first.“I’m not lying,” she whispered. “For crying
Zeden. (Less Than An Hour Ago.)It didn’t take thirty minutes to reach the playground.Rukov drove like the devil himself was riding shotgun, cutting through red lights and weaving past late-night traffic with a focus that bordered on reckless.I didn’t tell him to slow down.Nothing was going to stop me from getting to the truth tonight. Not the hour, not the bone-deep exhaustion clawing at my edges.My daughter was gone.That single fact burned hotter than anything else.We pulled up to the rear service entrance.The place was supposed to be closed, lights dimmed, gates locked.Supposed to be.Rukov killed the engine and we moved fast.No alarms tripped.No security lights flared.That alone made my blood run colder.We reached the main building’s loading dock.A lone security guard stepped out, flashlight beam sweeping the darkness.He saw us too late.Rukov spoke first, calm, almost polite. “We need to see the security footage. Afternoon through evening. Every camera.”The gua
Amber. The door opened without a knock.I jolted upright.Julie Vercetti stood in the doorway, her arms folded tight, lips pressed into a thin, furious line.“What are you doing in my room?” My voice came out colder than I felt. “You didn’t even knock. You just barged in like you have any right.”“Your room?” She stepped inside, closing the door behind her with deliberate softness. “Why would I knock in my own house? And stop acting so entitled. You call this place yours? Since when? This is Zeden’s room. Zeden’s house. Just because a nobody from the streets, a daughter of one of his errand boys, managed to trap my son with a ring and a sob story doesn’t mean you own a single inch of this place.”“He married me.” I stood slowly, my spine straightening. “I’m his wife. Everything he has belongs to me too. When I say everything…” I stepped closer, my voice dropping low, each word deliberate, “I mean everything. Including this house. Including the power you thought was yours forever. I
Amber.My legs snapped shut the moment Rukov stepped further into the room.Heat crawled up my neck.There was no hiding what we’d been doing. Zeden’s shirt lay discarded on the floor, my dress rucked high on my thighs, the air still thick with the scent of arousal and his mouth on my skin.Rukov’s eyes flicked to me for half a second, polite and quick, before locking back on his boss.Professional to a fault.But he knew.They all knew what Zeden did to me when the door closed.“What about Irina?” Zeden asked, his voice still rough from kissing me. “Have you locked her up? Where was she heading?”“She was trying to leave the country.” Rukov rubbed at the bandage wrapped around his wrist, hissing through his teeth. “A couple of the guys you had watching the airports tipped me off. I waited at departures. Took her there. She fought like hell. Even managed to slice my wrist open before I got cuffs on her.”Zeden’s laugh was short and sharp. “Don’t tell me I trained you for years just
Amber.The softness in Zeden’s touch should have felt like mercy.Instead, it shocked straight through my core, sending sharp, jagged jolts of fear into my bones.Every gentle stroke of his thumb over the tiny cut felt like the calm before a blade dropped.I couldn’t trust it.Not after everything.Not after the way he’d looked at me downstairs.Like I’d ripped his daughter out of his chest with my bare hands.My hands kept shaking even as he cradled my palm.The tremor ran from my fingertips up my arms, rattling my whole body.It felt like he’d already put a bullet through my skull, and this, this careful rubbing, was just the slow bleed-out.My breath hitched every time his thumb circled the wound, warm and steady, because softness from Zeden had always come with teeth.I waited for the bite.For the moment the tenderness turned into something crueler.He stood so close his heat swallowed me.Every exhale carried anger and frustration, brushing hot against my snotty, tear-streaked fa
As soon as he uncuffed my wrists, the ache in my arms released in a heavy wave, but I barely had time to breathe. He moved lower, untying my legs from the elastic rope—slow, focused, methodical. I thought that was it. That maybe he was done. That he'd step back, tell me to get dressed, tell m
Sleeping was impossible. I didn’t know what I should feel—if I was supposed to pity my father for being tortured by Zeden, or be glad that he finally got everything he deserved. After all the beatings. After all the pain. After dragging me into this twisted life… then selling me off like I was
~~Amber~~ His hand tangled in my hair, yanking my head back just enough to make my lips part in shock. “That’s it… open wider,” he snarled, dragging the thick head of his cock across my lips. “You feel that? You made it this hard, Amber. Now you fucking deal with it.” I whimpered, breath tr
~~Amber~~ I was furious. Shaking with rage and disbelief. The fact that I was living in a den ruled by a psychotic killer—Zeden—the same man who had used me, stripped me of everything, and now stood calmly over a mutilated corpse. The same man who had a daughter… a daughter who adored him.







