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CHAPTER 83: WHAT NEXT?
publish date:
2026-07-15 21:55:09
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OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 100: THE TRUTH
MATHEW The misgivings inside me didn’t just cool when I walked away from Alexander’s broken body; it hardened into a single, unyielding spike.Leaving my older brother bleeding out on the terrazzo floor under the watchful eyes of Mary wasn't the end of the night. It was just the prologue. Alexander was a symptom; the disease was sitting upstairs in the master study of the estate. The architects of every lie I had lived for fifteen years. The creators of the ghost I had spent half my youth mourning.My parents."Mathew," Carlista said, her voice cutting through the ringing in my ears as we moved down the long, vaulted corridor toward the western wing. My sister was walking perfectly in stride with me, her tactical boots clicking a rhythmic, lethal cadence against the marble floor. Her gear was clean, unlike my blood-soaked combat shirt, but the look in her eyes was identical to mine. We had been raised by the same monsters, but we were going to end them together. "You're bleeding thro
OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 99: JUDAS
CIARAThe glass of the conservatory didn’t shatter when Mathew hit it; it exploded.He didn't use a tactical breach. He didn't wait for Louis to cycle the electronic locks or for Mary to throw a flashbang. He simply threw the entire kinetic force of his six-foot-four frame through the arched pane, converting two hundred and thirty pounds of muscle and raw momentum into a battering ram. I was through the breach half a second later, my sidearm raised, clearing the left flank by pure instinct. Behind me, I could hear Carlista and Mary moving into defensive positions outside the perimeter, but my world had narrowed down to the radius of this single, brightly lit room.The air inside smelled of expensive Earl Grey tea, rain, and the distinct, coppery tang of fresh blood.Maggie didn't even flinch. She sat in her high-backed velvet chair, a stray splinter of glass glittering like a diamond in her perfectly coifed blonde hair. The venomous smile I’d seen through the window remained fixed on
OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 98: DELIBERATE TRAP
CIARA"Louis," I said, my own voice cutting through the stagnation like a razor through silk. "Take everything. Every scrap of paper, every hard drive, every single cigarette butt if there's DNA on it. Mary, help him. Carlista, stop looking at the wall and start bagging the clothes."The room broke its stasis. The professional machinery of our lives, the cold efficiency we used to keep the world from swallowing us whole, clicked back into gear because I demanded it because if we didn’t move, the sheer impossibility of what lay on that desk would rot us from the inside out.Maggie.The name alone tasted like copper and old ash. The woman who had systematically tried to dismantle our family, the psychopath we thought we had safely locked away behind reinforced glass and heavy sedation, was not just free—she was here. In Venice. On a boat. Laughing and she was doing it with Alexander, the ghost we had crossed an ocean to exhume.I didn't look at the photographs again. The image of her f
OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 97: CLUE 2
CIARAVenice was beautiful.Unfortunately, I was too annoyed to appreciate it."Explain to me again," I said, adjusting my sunglasses as our group crossed another narrow stone bridge. "Why exactly are we chasing a boat registration that doesn't exist?""Because it exists enough to be suspicious," Louis replied."That's not an answer.""It's the only answer."Louis looked completely unbothered.Years around me had apparently destroyed his survival instincts.Beside me, Mathew hadn't spoken in almost twenty minutes.That worried me.Angry Mathew punched things.Silent Mathew thought things.Silent Mathew was infinitely more dangerous.The discovery at the dock had shaken him.I understood why.For fifteen years he'd believed his brother was dead.Now every new clue dragged him further into uncertainty.I slipped my hand into his.His fingers immediately tightened around mine.He didn't look at me but he squeezed once."According to the remaining dock records," Louis continued, consultin
OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 96: FIRST CLUE
MATTHEWThe moment we landed in Venice, I knew I was going to hate this city.The canals glittered beneath the afternoon sun.Ancient buildings stood proudly against the water.Tourists filled every street.People laughed.Couples took photographs.Children chased pigeons.The entire city looked like a postcard and somewhere inside it was a ghost I'd been chasing for fifteen years."You're glaring at the architecture," Ciara informed me.I looked away from a centuries-old church."I'm not.""You absolutely are.""Can we focus?""We are focused.""No, you're making fun of me.""Those things are not mutually exclusive."Louis laughed.I ignored him.Our convoy moved through the narrow streets toward the café from the surveillance photograph.The same café where my brother had supposedly been seen less than twenty-four hours earlier.My chest felt tight.Every minute brought us closer.Every step made my pulse pound harder and I hated it."You're doing that thing again," Ciara said."Wha
OWNED IN THE DARK CHAPTER 95: QUIETING LOUD VOICES
CIARAThe weight of the cabin had become entirely suffocating, a thick layer of static electricity that settled right beneath my skin. Everyone else was locked in their own worlds now—Carlista was finally quiet, buried under a mountain of snacks and looking out the window; Mary was back to her muted, frantic texting with her dictator husband; and Louis looked like he was trying to solve the global economy through sheer willpower alone.But Mathew? Mathew was sitting right next to me, and he was completely somewhere else.His shoulder against mine felt tense, as rigid as granite. I could hear the shallow, rhythmic hitch of his breathing over the low, constant drone of the private jet’s engines. Fifteen years of a ghost suddenly taking shape on a grainy security feed in Venice. I knew exactly what that kind of shock did to a person—it paralyzed you while making your heart beat so fast you felt like you were sprinting into a brick wall.I looked down at our joined hands. My fingers were
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 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 2: ABORTION?
CIARA"You are pregnant.""I beg your pardon?""You're pregnant, Miss.""How could I possibly be pregnant? I'm on the pill, and I take the morning-after pill every time despite my IUD. There is no way those test results are accurate."The doctor stares at me for a while "Do you have your pills with
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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