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CHAPTER 132: PROPOSAL
publish date:
2026-08-03 18:12:40
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OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 150: STAY IN CONTRACT
MATHEW The gym smelled like iron, sweat, and old concrete.It wasn't one of those luxury fitness clubs with mirrored walls and spa music playing through hidden speakers. This place sat near the docks, tucked away where nobody asked questions. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, casting everything in a pale glow that made the steel plates look colder than they really were.I lay flat on the bench, my hands wrapped around the bar.Three hundred and fifteen pounds.Normally it felt manageable.Today it felt personal.I unracked the weight and lowered it slowly to my chest.Then pushed.The bar rose smoothly."You're rushing the lockout."James's voice echoed through the room.I ignored him.The weight came down again.Up.Two.James stood behind the bench with his arms folded across his chest. He looked completely out of place down here.His workout clothes were spotless.His sneakers looked brand new.Even his hair somehow looked professionally styled.James Vance belonged in confe
OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 149: GIRLS TALK
CIARA I sat on the edge of the sofa in the private sitting room attached to the master suite, an ice pack wrapped in a dish towel pressed against my swollen right hand.My knuckles throbbed.The skin had split across two fingers, and bruises were already spreading beneath the surface in ugly shades of purple and blue.It hurt.More than I wanted to admit."Keep it elevated."Carlista didn't even look up as she spoke.She was standing at the bar cart pouring gin into a crystal glass.Comfortable gray cashmere pants hung loosely from her hips, and her sweater looked like something she'd stolen from a luxury catalog.For once, she looked completely relaxed."If you keep letting it hang down like that, you'll wake up tomorrow looking like you punched through a brick wall.""I practically did."She snorted."Fair point."A familiar voice drifted from the doorway."Oh, it looks much worse than a brick wall."I glanced up.Mary stepped inside carrying a bottle of antiseptic and a roll of me
OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 148: COLLINS' WARNING
MATHEW The heavy oak doors of the study were thrown wide open before the electronic chime could even sound across the foyer.I didn't move from behind the mahogany desk. I sat perfectly still, my bare right hand wrapped around a glass of neat bourbon, the ice long since melted into the amber liquor. On the secondary monitor to my left, the security feed for the front gate showed an unfamiliar, unmarked dark sedan idling under the halogen lamps, its headlights cutting twin beams through the coastal mist.Louis stepped into the room first, his face a hard, unreadable mask. He didn’t say a word; he just stepped to the side, making room for the man following him.Detective Collins walked into the light of the study, his wrinkled trench coat smelling faintly of exhaust fumes and the damp Manhattan rain. He wasn't cuffing anyone. He wasn't holding a notepad but his shoulders were rigid, and his hands were buried deep in his pockets, resting right against his beltline.Behind him came Ciara
OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 147: CRASH OUT
CIARA The moment the door closed, Manhattan stayed outside. The noise, the cameras, the endless demands of the city all disappeared behind tinted windows and soundproof glass.Tonight, though, the silence wasn't helping.I sat staring out the window, my phone still clutched tightly in my hand.The conversation with Mathew kept replaying in my head.The show was a success.The Germans just left the building.The words should have reassured me.Instead, they only reminded me how exhausting the day had been.The runway.Weber.The constant pressure.The feeling that someone was always watching.I rolled my shoulders, trying to shake off the tension.We were only a few blocks away from Bryant Park when the car suddenly stopped.I looked up.Traffic.A sea of red brake lights stretched endlessly ahead."What's going on?" I asked.John glanced at me through the rearview mirror."Looks like an accident or construction."His expression tightened."We're not moving anytime soon."I checked th
OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 146: INTERROGATING THE CLOWN
MATHEW Smack…”You will tell me what you know or you won't leave breathing. What do the Germans want?”"Please," the man croaked, his low, raspy New York accent sounding brittle, completely stripped of the bravado he’d used with my son. "Please, Diamond. I told you upstairs. I’m just a guy from Queens. I do gigs. Birthdays, bar mitzvahs, corporate parties. A broker called me. He gave me the address. He gave me the bag. That’s it, I swear to God, that’s all I know—"I didn't let him finish the sentence.Smack.The back of my right hand caught him square across the jaw, the heavy, unyielding force of my bare knuckles cracking against his bone with a sound like a splitting branch. The blow snapped his head sharply to the left, spraying a wet mixture of saliva and white greasepaint against the cold concrete floor. The steel chair skittered an inch against the anchor bolts, the metal groaning under the sudden shift of his weight.I leaned down, my face inches from his ear, my jaw clamped s
OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 145: RUN WAY
CIARAThe runway lights were brutal.They weren't designed to flatter anyone standing beneath them. They flooded the stage with a sharp white glare that erased everything beyond the catwalk. Once you stepped into them, the crowd disappeared. The cameras disappeared. The thousands of eyes watching disappeared.All that remained was the walk.Backstage was another world entirely.Stylists rushed between racks of clothing with armfuls of garments. The air smelled like expensive perfume, hairspray, and nervous energy. Someone shouted for a missing model. Another person cursed because a zipper had broken seconds before showtime.Everything was moving at a hundred miles an hour.I stood in the middle of it all, perfectly still.The deep bass of the music vibrated through the floor beneath my heels, pulsing up my legs and settling somewhere in the center of my chest.I inhaled slowly.The cool air inside the Bryant Park pavilion helped clear my head.Fashion shows weren't my natural battlefi
OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 5: THREAT
CIARAMaggie's eyes narrowed as she took in our dishevelled state-mud-caked shoes, rain-soaked clothes, and the undeniable scent of sex clinging to us like a second skin. I instinctively stepped back, crossing my arms over my chest as if that could hide the evidence of our encounter."Well, isn't t
OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 4: ARGUMENT
CIARAMaggie's eyes narrowed as she took in our dishevelled state-mud-caked shoes, rain-soaked clothes, and the undeniable scent of sex clinging to us like a second skin. I instinctively stepped back, crossing my arms over my chest as if that could hide the evidence of our encounter."Well, isn't t
OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 6: THE FIGHT
MATHEW I stood in the centre of the ring, my knuckles wrapped in tape, looking at the guy opposite me. Tony. The same guy who had been buying drinks for Ciara at the university bar for months. The same guy who looked at her with those smarmy, possessive eyes and the same idiot who came with her to
OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 1: ENGAGEMENT
CIARAIf I had walked away the first time, none of this would be happening.But I don't. And now I'm standing here, trapped in something I no longer want."You petty, pretentious bastard. You don't get to do this to me," I snarl. "I'm done. We're done. Marry her for all I care, but I'm moving on wi
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