LOGINCLAIRE~Before I could blink, Anastasia was already pulling me out of the room.Her hand closed around my upper arm—not hard enough to bruise, but firm enough that I didn’t get a vote. I stumbled once in the torn dress, caught myself, and tried to look back over my shoulder. The door was already swinging shut behind us.“Waiy, why—” I started.“You don’t want to see what happens in there,” Anastasia said without looking at me. Her voice was still rough, still carrying whatever fight she’d been through to reach me. “It’s better that way.”“And who says I don’t want to see it?” I shot back.She didn’t answer. She just kept walking, half-guiding, half-towing me down the corridor like the decision was already decided. My bare feet made soft sounds against the polished floor. The air outside the room felt colder. Like the building itself was trying to pretend the last hour hadn’t happened.We turned a corner and the main entrance hall opened up in front of us.I stopped walking so hard An
CLAIRE~ Tyler’s face sank.The color left it so fast it was almost impressive. One second he was still mid-speech about dignity and going home. The next second the phone call landed, and whatever he’d been trying to hold together cracked clean open.He rushed me at once, I wasn't expecting it. But Anastasia moved faster.She stepped directly into his path, pulled a gun from under her jacket in one clean motion, and pointed it at the center of his chest.“One more step,” she said, voice flat, “and I’ll fucking pull the trigger, you idiot.”Tyler halted so hard his shoes scraped the floor. His chest was heaving. His eyes were wide and wild and fixed on me like I was the one who’d personally set his house on fire.“What did you fucking do?” he snarled. “What did you do? My pack house being fucking demolished? It's that slimeball boyfriend of yours right, Claire? Call him. Right now.”I blinked once. Confusion flickered through me—Woodhills pack house was being demolished? The realizatio
CLAIRE~It happened so fast I almost didn’t believe it was real.One second Morana was standing there with that cold little smile, still holding the threat of the video over all of us. The next second something in her face changed. She dropped whatever she’d been holding and It hit the floor with a dull sound. Then she was smoothing her dress, fixing the neckline, running a hand over her hair like she could erase the last ten minutes if she just looked put together enough.Anastasia watched her do it and smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile.“Pretending won’t help you,” Anastasia said. Her voice was still rough from whatever fight she’d already been through. “They’re going to find out everything the second this door opens. You can fix your dress all you want.”Morana turned to her. For the first time since I’d met her, she looked like someone calculating exit routes instead of having the upper hand.“How?” she asked. “How did they get here? And when?”Anastasia didn’t rush the answer. She l
CLAIRE~The voice over the speaker repeated again, rougher this time around, like whoever was talking had been running or fighting or both.“Stay where you are. The next person who touches that door gets dropped.”I froze with my hand still near the handle. My heart was hammering so hard I could feel it in my teeth. Then the lock clicked the other way and opened.Anastasia stood in the doorway.She looked wrecked. Her blazer was torn at the shoulder. There was a thin cut along her cheekbone and a darker bruise already forming near her temple. Her breathing was uneven, like she had just fought her way through more than one person to get here. But her eyes were steady when they found me. And honestly, to say I was relieved would be an understatement, I was happy, extremely happy to see her.“Claire,” she said. Just my name. No extra words.Morana didn’t even move. She looked Anastasia up and down the way someone looks at a mildly interesting inconvenience, then let out a soft, almost i
CLAIRE~I dropped my shoulder and lunged.My knees hit the floor hard as my torn dress dragged under me. I didn’t care. All I could see was the Taser lying against the far wall like it was the only honest thing left in the room.Tyler’s hand closed around my ankle.I kicked backward without looking. My heel connected with something solid on his body and a swear left his lips. I kept crawling.Morana’s voice cut across the room, sharp and furious.“Stop her.”Too late. My fingers closed around the Taser. The casing was cracked, but the weight of it still felt real in my hand. I rolled onto my side, pointed it at the first body that came into range, and squeezed.Nothing happened.Dead. Of course it was dead. He’d smashed it on purpose. Motherfucker.Tyler was already on me. He grabbed my wrist, twisted, and the useless piece of plastic went flying again to the floor. I used the momentum anyway. I slammed my other elbow up into his ribs and heard the air leave him.“Jesus, Claire—”“Do
Claire Morana stepped right in front of me like the room belonged to her and the rest of us were just borrowing the oxygen. One finger slid under my chin and tilted my face up until I had no choice but to meet her eyes. Her expression stayed calm in that particular way that always felt colder than yelling. The kind of calm that made my stomach tighten. “I wouldn’t like you to touch her just yet,” she said to Tyler, still holding my face. “At least not now. For some personal reasons.” She let go of my chin and looked down at the torn front of my dress. The fabric hung open, my bra on full display like some cheap afterthought. A small sound left her throat that almost sounded like pity. “You’re really impatient,” she told Tyler. “How could you ruin her dress this badly?” The mock concern in her voice made my skin crawl. I could feel the air on my chest, the sting on my cheek from earlier, the way the room suddenly felt too small. “You brought me here to humiliate me, didn’t you?” I
Claire's POV There was only one person I knew that bear that name.I should have turned around right then. Instead, I stepped closer and looked through the narrow opening like I wanted to destroy myself.And the image I saw burned into me instantly.Tyler bent over the edge of our bed, sheets tang
Claire's POVI watched Connor stride out of my office, his broad shoulders rigid beneath that crisp white coat he wore. He didn’t glance back as he left and the door clicked shut.I stared at the closed door longer than I meant to.Connor had always unsettled me in ways I didn’t like thinking too m
Claire's POV"I have a problem” Connor said “I have not been able to reach climax for five years," he dropped to me.I almost stabbed myself in the hand with my pen in shock. "I am sorry, what did you just say," I asked him.Connor sat across from my desk in the leather chair and he put one ankle o
Claire~I didn’t wait. I turned around and ran down the hallway. Tyler yelled my name behind me, but I didn’t stop or look back.Tears ran down my face as I pushed open the front doors and stepped outside into the cool night air. I had never felt so humiliated. My chest hurt from everything that ju







