ANMELDENDaelanThe rain battered against the glass walls of the penthouse like bullets from a fucking warzone, loud and violent, matching the storm clawing inside my chest.Callista’s face still lingered in my head.That stupid fucking look in her eyes earlier….mine.Every damn time I thought about another man touching her, kissing her, breathing near her, something ugly crawled under my skin. Something feral. I wanted to rip throats open with my bare hands and paint the streets red.So I called Elysia over because she always knew how to drown the noise.Usually the second she walked into a room, the air shifted. She’d smirk, strut over like she owned the fucking place, and climb onto my lap before I even said a word. She understood her role. She understood me.But tonight?The moment she appeared in front of me, I knew something was off.She looked irritated and tense. Not glowing with that hungry little energy she usually carried whenever I summoned her. Her blonde hair was damp from the ba
DaelanThat was the exact fucking moment I lost it. I could feel the pure rage boiling from within. The kind that crawled beneath the skin and made my heartbeat sound like gunshots inside my skull.I snatched the phone out of Elysia’s hand and hurled it straight into the bathtub.Splash.The sound echoed through the villa courtyard while thunder rumbled above us. Water exploded everywhere, and Elysia gasped so loudly you’d think I had drowned a damn child instead of her overpriced designer phone.“My fucking phone!” she shrieked.She rushed toward the pool edge in panic, nearly slipping on the wet marble as she bent down and grabbed the soaked device. She looked genuinely heartbroken, blowing into the speaker desperately.I didn’t care. I couldn’t fucking care because all I could see was him. That bastard’s mouth on Callista, his hand on her waist and in between her legs.The way she didn’t immediately shove him away. That image burned inside my skull so violently it made me sick.Who
Daelan I finally got what I’d always wanted.Six damn years.Six years of patience, fake smiles, calculated affection, swallowing disgust, bending my damn pride just to play the perfect husband. One year of cold, precise plotting layered on top of five years of pretending to love a woman I never truly respected.And now?Now she was nothing.Callista Madden finally reduced to dust in my story.A nobody.A memory I could crush under my heel.A low, ugly laugh slipped from my throat as I leaned deeper into the bathtub, warm water lapping against my chest while I swirled the wine in my glass. The scent of it felt like victory and power.“I did it…” I muttered under my breath, almost disbelieving it.I fucking did it.No more playing house. No more acting like some pathetic, obedient husband living under a woman’s shadow. No more watching every move, every word, every damn breath just to maintain the illusion.I was free.Free to do whatever the hell I wanted. Free to finally live like a
CallistaThe first time I called my accountant, he thought I was a damn scam.Not just suspicious, he actually laughed. A dry, careful laugh like he was humoring some desperate idiot on the other end of the line.“Nice try,” he said, voice clipped. “Mrs. Madden doesn’t sound like this.”The line went dead. For a second, I just stared at the phone in my hand like it had personally betrayed me. Then it slipped from my fingers and hit the floor with a dull crack.“What the fuck…?” I whispered.Then louder.“WHAT THE FUCK?!”My chest tightened so hard it felt like my ribs were closing in on my lungs. I dragged both hands through my hair, tugging at it like I could rip the frustration out of my skull. Strands fell loose around my face as I paced the room like a caged animal.That’s when it hit me.That bastard.That manipulative, controlling, psychotic bastard. “Luca…” I hissed, my voice trembling with rage. “You fucking planned this.”Why else would he take my phone? Why else would he isol
CallistaI kept my breathing steady.In… out… Every step I took felt like it echoed in my own head, even though my feet barely made a sound against the ground. My toes pressed carefully against the cold stone as I slipped past the doorway, my body angled like I could somehow make myself invisible if I moved carefully enough.The air outside hit me immediately, it's cool or at least… it should have felt that way.I didn’t stop nor did I look back. I just kept moving, slowly, carefully, until I was past the entrance and standing just outside the massive gate.Up close, it looked even bigger. Taller than anything I’d ever seen, black iron stretching high into the sky like it was built to keep people out or keep someone in.A quiet creak sounded behind me.I stiffened instantly.The old woman was locking it.I didn’t turn as I listened to the slow, dragging sound of metal sliding into place. It echoed in the stillness, sharp and final…locked.Something about that sound made my stomach t
CallistaI can’t let a fucking psychopath distract me.That thought kept looping in my head like a broken record as I stepped out of the room, my bare feet barely making a sound against the cold marble floor. My heart was already beating too fast, like it knew something I didn’t. Or maybe I did know and I was just too scared to say it out loud.This place wasn’t normal.The hallway stretched endlessly, lined with tall walls that swallowed light instead of reflecting it. The silence was thick, it wasn't a peaceful silence. This was the kind that made your ears ring. I felt watched even when I was completely alone.“Shit…” I whispered under my breath.There were no maids, no househelps, o footsteps, no distant voices. For a mansion this big, it felt… dead.Who the hell lives like this?I turned a corner, then another, and another and that’s when it hit me.I was lost.“Great. Fucking great, Callista,” I muttered, dragging a shaky hand through my hair. “Get kidnapped and then get lost in







