LOGINShare
C2
publish date:
2026-05-12 05:56:44"Why am I the one paying for his sins? Why don't you direct this vengeance toward my father instead? He is the one who ran the Syndicate!"
"You think I haven't asked that same question every night for a decade? Why me? Why my family?"
"I don't know... I didn't choose to be born an Ashford!"
"Look at me, Obi! My parents are rotting in the ground because of Gideon. My younger siblings were executed while I was forced to serve as a foot soldier for the Black Eagle, treated like a dog in the Ashfang Dominion. Your father told me that power is the only truth—that the strong do as they wish and the weak suffer what they must. Now, I have the power. Take off that silk. Get on the bed."
"Please... don't do this. I’ve never... nobody has ever touched me. Please, Cassius!"
"You're begging? I spent ten years begging! Every time Gideon or Draven used me as a punching bag, I begged. And you know what they said? They said a slave has no right to words. You aren't a Duke's son anymore. You’re my property. My personal toy."
"Stop! It hurts! You're breaking my skin!"
"Crying won't help you here. This is the first payment on a debt that can never be settled. From the moment your father’s heart stopped, you became my asset. My slave. My ghost. I am your Master now, and you will learn to obey."
"What are you doing? Why did you stop? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Turn around. Move your hands. I said turn around now!"
"I... I can't understand you when you're behind me! Cassius, please, I can't hear you!"
"I asked you a question! What the hell is that on your back? Who did this to you?"
"What? What did you say? I need to see your face!"
"I am asking you who marked you like this! These aren't fresh—these are years of abuse. You were the Duke’s son, the prince of the Ashfang Dominion. Why is your skin covered in cigarette burns and whip scars? Who dared to touch an Ashford heir this way?"
"I... I missed what you said. Please, don't be angry. I'm trying to follow your lips."
"Look at you. You’re skin and bone. You look like you haven't had a real meal since the war started. How does the son of the wealthiest Don in the country end up looking like a starved street rat with a back full of trauma? Answer me, Obi! Who did this?"
"I... I don't know what you want from me. Are you going to hit me again?"
"Dammit, look at your chin! I barely gripped you and you're bleeding. Why isn't the bleeding stopping? Even a weakling should have clotted by now. What is wrong with you?"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry for being useless! Just tell me what to do so you'll stop yelling!"
"Get out. Just... get out of my sight. Now!"
"Where? Where do I go? You tore my clothes... I have nothing to cover myself with."
"Take the shirt on the floor. Just put it on and leave before I change my mind. Malakai! Get this boy to the Silver Chamber and lock the door. I need to find out exactly what kind of hell Gideon Ashford was running in that mansion of his."
Latest chapter
Claiming the RUNT 51
Obi Ashford POV"How are you holding up?"The raspy, soothing voice broke through the haze of my heavy eyelids. I blinked slowly, taking in the dim chamber, my mind still tangled in the aftermath of the torture Cassius had put me through."E-Elder Vale...?" I rasped, my vocal cords stripped raw."Amira went down to the Syndicate kitchen to fetch warm water," Elder Nnamdi Vale said softly. The elderly physician placed his hand against my forehead, letting out a short, relieved sigh. "The chemical fever from the withdrawal has broken.""How long... have I been out?" I dragged my eyes toward the window. Bright sunlight cut through the glass, blinding me after the dark storm of the past couple of days."It's past noon. Cassius summoned me late last night," Vale said, pulling a leather bag from his hip to check my pulse. "Your body went through extreme shock. Are you in severe pain?"The moment the old medic mentioned the fever, the brutal memory of the desk, the torn fabric, and Cassius’s
Claiming the RUNT 50
Obi Ashford POV"Cassius, please..."My throat felt like I had swallowed broken glass. The words tore out of me, raw and scraped bloody, as I clutched at the heavy silk lapels of his discarded jacket.My skin was on fire. Total, agonizing fire. Every nerve under my flesh burned like a lit fuse, a sickening, unnatural fever consuming my veins from the inside out. I couldn't move. I couldn't think. Sweat drenched my forehead, sticking dark curls of hair to my temples as I lay collapsed on the cold marble floor beside the balcony doors.I had dragged myself across the room hoping the midnight air from the estate grounds would cool the blaze in my blood. It hadn't done a damn thing. If anything, the cold wind made the internal heat rage harder. My legs were useless, trembling so violently I could barely keep my chest off the ground."Pain... Cassius, it hurts... please," I choked out, dragging my chin up to look at him.Cassius Okoye stood over me in the shadows of the Duke’s Suite. He lo
Claiming the RUNT 49
CASSIUS OKOYE POV“Why are you suddenly interested in the black market?” Draven asked, his brow furrowed as his dark eyes darted toward Obi.Obi was crouching near the edge of the shelter, wringing the rain out of his dark trousers. He didn't look at us. He was only standing here because I had dragged him out of the Silver Chamber.“Unless your boys can go through this winter without food, you can start giving me answers right now,” I replied smoothly, ignoring Obi’s quiet presence as I focused on the problem at hand.Draven shrugged, leaning his back against the wet concrete wall of the range. “I can survive just fine. And I’m certainly not in the habit of helping the man who stole my family’s territory.”He was pushing his luck. Because Draven hadn't taken the formal oath of allegiance to the Shadowfang Syndicate, I couldn't legally execute him without causing an uproar among the captured Black Eagle loyalists.“Fine,” I said flatly.Draven looked confused. He probably expected me t
Claiming the RUNT 48
OBI ASHFORD POV“How many days to cross from the Ashfang Dominion to the Rust District?” Cassius asked Malakai.We had just turned back the crooked broker who brought those seventeen trucks of rotten meat and cut-rate grain. Malakai had crushed the door of the lead vehicle with his boot, leaving the scammer to haul his toxic cargo away into the deluge. But breaking his truck didn't solve our problem. The syndicate’s food stores were running empty, and nobody in their right mind could feed whole families on rat-eaten garbage.“It takes a full week on the black roads,” Malakai grunted, leaning his shoulder against the damp stone wall of the tactical room.The rain beat a heavy rhythm against the overhead iron beams. Our tempers were sour after the broker's betrayal.“You aren't planning a run down to the subterranean market, are you?” Malakai slammed his hands on the table, trying to figure out what Cassius was plotting.Beside him, Tavian Blake looked equally grim. He dragged a finger
Claiming the RUNT 47
OBI ASHFORD POV“Good morning, Obi!”Malakai’s loud voice shattered my thoughts before I could even find my footing in the grand hallway. I flinched, my boots skidding on the cold marble floor. My dark suit coat felt suffocating around my chest, but I pulled the lapels tight, hiding the tremor in my fingers.I gave a stiff, tiny nod, keeping my jaw locked. "Good morning, Malakai."Silence stretched between us like a drawn wire. I couldn't look him in the eye. I didn't belong in the Ashfang Dominion, and I certainly didn't know how to speak to Cassius’s top enforcer. The silence turned heavy, suffocating.Malakai rubbed the back of his neck, forcing a tight grin. "It’s a good day today!"Right on cue, a brutal crack of thunder rattled the floorboards under our feet.I turned my head toward the tall arched windows on my left, my brows drawn low as water slammed against the thick glass. "It’s a downpour," I said, my voice deadpan and flat."Yeah... well, guess we got different ideas of w
Claiming the RUNT 46
Obi Ashford POV"This room is completely wrong," Tavian Blake muttered, his boot heels echoing against the bare concrete of the high-security sector. "Cassius told Kaz to lock you up in a place that fits the family, but this looks like a holding block."I stood in the center of the cold, windowless space. The floor was uncarpeted stone. The only furniture was a narrow iron bed and a rusted metal locker. Nothing about it suggested that the former underboss of the Black Eagle Syndicate had ever lived here."I am not complaining," I said, my voice quiet as I kept my eyes fixed on the blank wall. I hated looking directly at Tavian. Every time I did, I remembered the horrifying expression on his face when he caught me in the library with Cassius—the sight of the conqueror pinning me against the mahogany desk, claiming my life as his leverage."The Duke's Suite is right next door," Tavian said softly. He stepped closer, tapping my elbow to make sure I caught his expression. "Obi, look at me
Claiming the RUNT 45
The concrete blocks have been cleared from the transit line, Boss," Tavian Blake reported, stepping into the armored vehicle's briefing space as the dawn light finally broke through the heavy smog. "The entire convoy is conducting a final inventory of the remaining crates before we cover the final
Claiming the RUNT 24
"I don’t care what the law states, Cassius. You are playing a dangerous game with the King’s patience," Amira whispered, her hands trembling as she smoothed the fabric of the bedsheets in the newly assigned suite. "He is looking for any excuse to dismantle your claim on the Ashfang Dominion."I did
Claiming the RUNT C5
"I’m begging you, Cassius, show some mercy to Master Obi! He has endured enough at the hands of his own blood! Please, let me go to him! Let me be in the Hollow Pit with him so he isn't alone in the dark!""You want to rot in a cage for an Ashford? Get up, Amira. Your loyalty is misplaced. I don’t
Claiming the RUNT C4
Obi's looking like a corpse again, isn't he? He's barely breathing over there in the corner of the Hollow Pit.""I told you, the kid was born a runt. Gideon’s bad blood. He’s shivering like he’s in the arctic, but the cell is like a furnace tonight. I'll give him forty-eight hours, max.""Think the
You May Also Like
THE ALPHA'S POSSESSION
maria adelle37.4K viewsTaming The Beast: His Ruthless Desire
AlphaKelly25.0K viewsHis accidental husband
Swiwi18.3K viewsHis Straight Pet
Lydia28.2K viewsMated to the Four Hockey Billionaire Alphas
Clara Simon 538 viewsFierce Omega: Born To Bond The Alpha Captain's Heart
mditandaru582 viewsVengeful Obsession
K.Vale199 viewsHolding you close
Lina writes176 views
