The impact knocked the air from my lungs. My hands clawed at his chest, pushing, fighting, but it was like shoving a wall of stone.“Let me go!”“You made me chase you.” His voice was low. Deadly calm. “You fucking jumped. You think you can escape me, Sofia? You think I won’t burn down the world to find you?”His hand gripped my chin, forcing my head up. My lip was bleeding. His gaze dropped to it. He swiped his thumb roughly over the blood—then shoved it between his lips.He tasted me.I whimpered, shaking violently. “You’re a monster.”“I told you that already,” he said, eyes dark as midnight. “But you didn’t listen.”His other hand wrapped around my throat—not choking, but a brutal reminder of how easily he could.“You jumped,” he growled again, pushing his forehead against mine. His breath was ragged, wild, his whole body vibrating with anger. “What if you broke your neck, huh? What if you fucking died?”“Wouldn’t that be better than this?”His jaw clenched. His eyes flashed with
PRESENT TIME "Deal with that ache, Princess, It only gets worse from here." then he walked away, leaving me standing- breathless.(Go back to the prologue before you proceed with this chapter, if you don't understand)*****My body was still frozen with shock as I laid on the bed, my breath came in shaky gasps, and my fingers trembled as I pressed them to my throat. His touch still burned there—like an invisible brand.He had no reason to lie, right? I asked myself.I didn't want to believe that my brother was dead.Tears blurred my vision, spilling silently down my cheeks. Please let it be a lie, I whispered into the emptiness.I wanted to scream. I wanted to rip the walls down. I wanted to hear his voice again, even just once. Just to know I wasn’t alone in this nightmare.I miss my mom.I want her hug—the way she would kiss my forehead and whisper, everything's okay, baby. I want her laughter. I want to smell her perfume on my clothes, and hear her call my name. I want to be held.
Blood dripped steadily from his hand, forming a crimson pool beneath the chair. His breath came in shallow, rattling wheezes now, a mix of pain and exhaustion pulling him in and out of consciousness.I wasn’t done.I wiped the sweat from my brow and set the pliers down, replacing them with the blowtorch. The hiss of ignition filled the basement like a warning from hell itself. I didn’t even have to use it yet, just the sound made him sob harder, his broken voice cracking through the walls.“You’ve told me nothing useful,” I said, "Only cries and excuses. And I’m done listening.”He shook his head rapidly, blood flying from his mouth. “Wait… wait… I’ll talk. Please… don’t....don’t kill me-”I stepped in closer, the blue flame licking the air inches from his thigh. “You’re already dead. You just haven’t stopped breathing yet...brother.”“Please!” he whimpered. “I didn’t want to betray you, they....they threatened her. Malia. They said they’d kill her if I didn’t—”“Then you should’ve co
Damian's Pov I slammed the door shut behind me, the sound echoing in the empty hallway, a dull thud against the chaos in my chest.Her eyes.I couldn’t stop seeing them—those wide, defiant eyes that dared to meet mine. Most people cower. They look down. But not her.I gripped the banister, my knuckles turning white. My body was still thrumming with the tension from what just happened. The way her body trembled beneath mine, the frantic beat of her pulse against my fingers as I held her down, the sick thrill of seeing her struggle.But more than that.More than the way she’d fought me, the way her fear and fury collided, was the fact that she had made me feel something. For the first time in a long time, something not born of rage, something not tied to revenge.Desire.Fuck.I had no business wanting her. No right. She was the daughter of the man who had ruined my life. The one who’d destroyed everything I held dear. The one who had caused my family’s downfall.I had promised myself
Sofia's povMy head pounded as I opened my eyes, trying to clear out my blurry vision.And when I did, the first thing I noticed was a tall man standing by the bed, arms crossed, shoulders tense. He looked like he was carved from stone-sharp jaw, stormy eyes, and a darkness clinging to him like a second skin. Cold. Dangerous.Then it all came back.The fire. Last night. Mom, Tyler.Panic set in, and immediately I shoved the blanket off my body and bolted up, my legs moving before my brain could catch up."I need to go. I need to find them!" My voice cracked as I stumbled out of bed.“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”Came a low growl from the man that had been watching me but I ignored him as my feet hit the ground.I didn’t make it two steps before a large hand clamped down on my shoulder, shoving me back with brute force.I yelped as I crashed onto the bed again, my breath catching.“Let me go!” I screamed, trying to scramble back up.This time, his hand hit harder, his palm
Pity. Sadness. The primal needs to protect and claim.Fifteen years had passed since I last felt those emotions. Then, two months ago, I saw her. And suddenly, the walls I had spent years constructing—layer upon layer of cold, hardened indifference began to crack.I had trained myself to feel nothing except anger and the relentless hunger for revenge. It had earned me my title. A monster. A devil. A ruthless bastard. And I wore it like a second skin.I relished the fear in their eyes when they heard my name. I took pleasure in the way their bodies trembled at my presence, the way their screams echoed when I drove my knife into their hearts, serving my own brand of judgment before they met the real devil.I lived for their suffering. Their pleas for mercy were music to my ears. The only thing that kept my blood pumping.But her?I couldn't stand to see her hurt. And that terrified me.Why? Why the fuck was she different? Why did she haunt my thoughts, invading every dark corner of my m
AUTHOR'S POV THREE DAYS BEFORE THE WAREHOUSE ATTACK The masked man sat in the dimly lit room, the only illumination coming from the flickering lightbulb overhead. His gloved fingers traced the edges of the photograph spread on the desk before him. His gaze lingered on the image, a smirk playing beneath the mask. Zarek. Unpredictable. Calculating. Dangerous. For the first time, he had found a chink in Zarek's impenetrable armor. "How long has he been watching her?" he asked, not bothering to look up at the figure standing stiffly across from him. "A month," the man replied. The smirk widened. Zarek, the man who could sense betrayal from afar, the man whose instincts rivaled those of a predator, had been utterly blind to this. For an entire month, Zarek had been following the girl, yet he hadn't noticed the eyes that trailed his every move. "She's a distraction," the masked man murmured, more to himself than to his companion. His gloved hand tapped the edge of the desk rhythmic
Zarek Vaughn.I was never the type to trust a man beneath me easily. Yet, even when he pulled the trigger and the bullet tore into my arm, I still struggled to believe he'd betray me.Jules was like a brother to me. He was my best friend Mark's younger sibling. When Mark died, I took Jules and his sister Alena in, vowing to give them the life Mark would've wanted for them. Mark died serving me, protecting me during an enemy ambush. Which wasn't my fault, death wasn't a myth in our world. We all knew it could claim us at any moment. Only the lucky ones could delay its grasp.But Jules never saw it that way, It pained me that he was too foolish to let the people that killed his brother brainwash him into thinking I was the bad person. I always knew Jules wasn't the smartest for this kind of world, he acts with emotions not brain, which is why I tried to prohibit him from joining but when he insisted I didn't have a choice.His sister, Alena was taken far away from this. I made sure her
For a moment, I thought the map was taking me to the wrong place until it stopped at a building that looked like an old warehouse clearly worn down by time.I parked my bike a few feet away from the building and walked towards the front door.Two hefty men stood guard by the door, their sharp gazes locked on me as I walked towards them, their presence making my pulse quicken.“Excuse me, I have a delivery for this address.”One of the men stepped forward, his massive frame towering over me. “Who are you?” His voice was as harsh as his appearance.“I’m from Berrylink Mall,I was asked to deliver this.”I replied quickly, holding up the package as proof. The other man, who had piercing blue eyes, narrowed his gaze and leaned slightly toward me. “Where’s James?”“I… I don’t know. Maybe he had another delivery. Look, can you just take this and sign for it so I can leave?”The blue eyed exchanged a look with his partner, a sneer forming on his lips. “It’s not that simple. You could be a dro