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CHAPTER 65: EMERGENCY
publish date:
2026-06-24 19:13:17
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OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 70: ARGUMENT
MATHEW "I need to get back to work Mathew and you need to let Mary come see me at home. You can't hate her for a situation that was never her fault in the first place. It's been two Months...do you want me to go crazy couped in this place?""I'd see you later babe." I kissed her forehead ignoring everything she had said before.I pulled the door shut behind me, the soft, expensive click of the latch sounding entirely too final in the quiet corridor. I stood there for a second, my palm pressed flat against the wood, listening to the absolute silence coming from inside our bedroom.She was furious. I could feel the cold, sharp weight of her anger right through the door, but I didn't care. The image of her lying on that London pavement, her navy blouse soaked through with a terrifying shade of crimson, was a permanent file burned into the back of my eyelids. It had been two months since the shooting, two months of watching her surgical scar fade from a raw, angry red to a pale, silver l
OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 69: REACTION
MATHEW The smell of antiseptic still clung to the fabric of the sofa, or maybe it was just burned into my retinas. Two weeks. Two weeks since I watched the monitors flatline, since the doctors shoved me out of the ICU, since I thought I’d have to figure out how to breathe in a world that didn’t have Ciara in it.She was sitting on the edge of our bed now, looking entirely too fragile and entirely too stubborn. The bruises from the IV lines were fading into ugly yellow-green blotches on the backs of her hands. She was alive. She was home and I was so goddamn furious I could taste copper."Mathew," she murmured, her voice still a little raspy from the intubation tube. She reached out, her fingers brushing the hem of my shirt. "Stop pacing. You’re going to wear a hole in the floor."I stopped, but I didn't look at her right away. If I looked at her, she’d see the storm. She’d see that behind the dutiful boyfriend who had spent fourteen days bringing her ice chips and fluffing her pillow
OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 68: GUN SHOT
CIARAThe sound of a gunshot doesn't sound like it does in the movies. It isn't a clean, dramatic pop. It’s a sickening, deafening tear in the air that shatters your ears and leaves a metallic tang of burnt powder coating the back of your throat.Everything happened in a fraction of a second outside the London medical clinic. One moment, Mary was stepping out of the glass double doors, holding her purse with one hand and protectively resting her other hand over her stomach where her tiny, fragile secret was growing. The next, a heavy transit van slammed its brakes onto the curb, the side door sliding open with a violent screech.A masked man lunged out, his hands reaching viciously for Mary’s coat, trying to drag her toward the dark interior of the vehicle. Mary shrieked, a terrified, helpless sound that bypassed my brain and went straight to my blood.I didn't think, didn't calculate. I didn't care about the consequences.I threw my entire body forward, shoving Mary hard onto the con
OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 67: CLUB
CIARAIt was 11:30 PM on a Saturday, and my system was already rejecting the environment. The club was a subterranean labyrinth of polished concrete, flashing crimson strobe lights, and a bass line so violent it made the liquid inside my crystal glass vibrate in perfect, concentric circles.I didn't want to be here. I had spent the last seventy-two hours mapping a brutal liquidity shift in our offshore accounts, and the lingering fatigue from my recent, uncharacteristic lapse in sobriety was still hovering at the edge of my consciousness but Carlista had insisted that Mary’s official bachelorette exit from the corporate grid required a high-tier venue. Naturally, my bestie had abandoned me at the VIP booth ten minutes ago to negotiate a bulk liquor distribution contract with the venue’s managing partner.I sat back against the dark leather banquette, my navy silk blouse unbuttoned just enough to breathe, my reading glasses safely tucked into my handbag. I was trying to execute a stand
OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 66: WEDDING
MATHEWI had survived underground fight clubs, I had survived syndicates and had survived hostile takeovers, assassination attempts, and one particularly traumatic Christmas dinner with Carlista.Nothing had prepared me for Adam discovering he was part of a wedding."No."The word came from my son with the confidence of a tiny dictator.Louis looked away immediately silently laughing."Adam," I said patiently, crouching in front of him. "You're the little groom.""No.""Why not?"He crossed his tiny arms."I'm busy."I blinked."Busy doing what?"He pointed at the floor "My Dinosaurs."Unfortunately for him, Mary had specifically requested his participation.Apparently, she wanted the "cutest member of the family" involved in the ceremony.That had resulted in him pretending to be offended for nearly forty minutes."You called me cute once," he'd complained."It was a mistake," Ciara had replied."I'm not cute.""That's debatable."I stood and looked toward Ciara.She was sitting on t
OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 65: EMERGENCY
CIARAThe double-shot of espresso I had downed before leaving the Surrey estate was currently waging a violent, chemical war against the remnants of the Kremlin’s premium vodka.By the time the private executive elevator hissed open on the forty-fourth floor of the Horizon Holdings headquarters, my corporate ice was firmly locked back in place. I stepped out onto the polished marble, my heels clicking in a sharp, lethal rhythm, my navy blazer buttoned tight, and my reading glasses sitting perfectly on the bridge of my nose.I expected to see Russian intelligence operatives. I expected to see a phalanx of stone-faced legal counsel drafting a hostile infrastructure merger.Instead, the reception lobby was entirely empty, save for Louis, who was standing near the glass entrance doors with his encrypted terminal under his arm, looking remarkably unbothered for a man whose operational grid had supposedly reached critical pressure."Louis," I said, my voice dropping into that deep, flat pla
OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 35: THE RIDE
CIARAThe silence in the elevator is uncomfortable and bothersome. The transaction logs were clear: the syndicate was closing in on our son’s home location despite all we did to keep him safe.My son.... Our son.The world thought Mathew was just the stoic, brooding fighter and billionaire playboy
OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 34: SECRETARY FROM HELL
MATHEWI had broken men's jaws for less than what this woman was doing to me at this very moment."Move."The woman standing in front of the private elevator didn't even blink."No."I stared at her.She stared right back.For a brief moment, I wondered if Ciara had secretly started hiring retired
OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 33: INTERVIEW
CIARAThe following morning, I buried myself in work.It was either that or spend the entire day thinking about Mathew then overthinking things and I refused to do that."You're glaring at your laptop again."I looked up to find Carlista standing in my office doorway with a tablet tucked under her
OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 30: INVESTIGATION 2
CIARAThe silk of my emerald evening gown felt less like haute couture and more like a high-dollar straightjacket.I stood at the edge of the mezzanine inside the Dorchester ballroom, looking down at the five hundred high-net-worth investors drinking my champagne. The Mayfair charity gala was an an
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