Chapter 84

Francis’s POV

I am still tied up by chains in a small room. My wrists burned where the cold metal bit into my skin, the chains rattling faintly as I shifted, trying to ease the ache in my shoulders. They had beaten me hard. My ribs throbbed with every heartbeat, and a sharp pain lanced through my side where a bruise was surely bleeding. Blood trickled from a cut above my eyebrow, painful as it mixed with sweat and dripped into my eye. I blinked it away, my vision blurry. I was losing strength, my body heavy, my thoughts sluggish. Death lurking just around me.

Suddenly, the door creaked open, expecting another blow. Instead, Zane sauntered in. His hair was slicked back, and his eyes looked cold, as it locked onto mine. He dragged a rickety wooden chair across the room, its legs scraping against the concrete ground, and sat down in front of me, elbows resting on his knees, hands clasped loosely. And then a faint smirk played on his lips, as if he were savoring the sight of me broken and