MasukChapter 10 I did not wait for morning.After Kael and Draven left my room I sat on the edge of the bed and listened to the house settle. The ache between my legs was deep and familiar now, but the smile I had given the camera stayed with me longer than the physical marks. Varek had seen it. I was certain of that. The performance he had ordered was over. The next move belonged to me.I showered, dressed in dark clothes that would not restrict movement, and checked the files on my phone one final time. The videos of him walking. The audio of the phone call with Selene. The warehouse recording. Everything was there, backed up, and ready. I slipped the phone into my pocket and left the bedroom without turning on the lights.The study door was closed but unlocked. I opened it quietly and stepped inside. Varek sat at the desk in the wheelchair, the laptop open in front of him. The screen’s glow lit his face from below. He was watching something. I did not need to guess what.I closed the
Chapter 9 The message from Varek sat between the three of us like a live wire. Selene wanted the plan finished. Varek was ready to push. Kael locked his phone and looked at me for a long moment.“He will expect us tonight or tomorrow,” he said. “If we refuse, he will know something has shifted.”Draven pushed off the wall. “Then we give him what he wants. One last night. We control what happens inside it.”I nodded. The decision felt heavy but clear. We needed him to believe the original plan was still intact. We needed the time that belief would buy us.They left shortly after. I stayed in my room and tried to prepare myself for what was coming. The knowledge that every camera in the house would be watching made my skin feel too tight. I had smiled for no one in years. Tonight I would have to smile for the lenses that were meant to destroy me.Late the next evening Varek called Kael and Draven to the study while I was clearing the dinner plates. I heard the low murmur of their voic
Chapter 8 I did not sleep after leaving the study. The knowledge of how many cameras filled the house sat in my chest like a stone. Every room I had believed private had been watched. Every soft sound I had made, every moment I thought belonged only to me, existed somewhere on Varek’s drives. I sat on the edge of my bed until the sky began to lighten and then made a decision.I needed the copies out of the house.Mid-morning I told Varek I had an appointment for new therapy supplies. He accepted the explanation with the same gentle nod he always gave. I drove straight to Mara’s apartment with my phone and an external drive I had bought months ago and never used. She opened the door before I finished knocking. One look at my face and she pulled me inside.“I have more,” I said.We sat at her small kitchen table. I transferred everything—the videos of Varek walking, the phone call audio, the warehouse recording with Selene, and the new list of camera locations I had noted from his arc
Chapter 7 Roric Blackwood’s voice carried clearly from the entryway. Kael moved first. He handed me my nightdress and pulled his own clothes on with quick, silent efficiency. Draven did the same. I yanked the thin fabric down over my body and ran both hands through my hair, trying to erase the obvious signs of what we had just done. My thighs were still slick. My lips felt swollen. There was no time to fix any of it.Kael stepped close and spoke against my ear. “Go to the kitchen. Act normal. We will handle the rest.”I nodded and walked out of the living room on unsteady legs. The front hall light was on. Roric stood near the bottom of the stairs, tall and broad-shouldered, the same dark eyes as Varek but harder. He wore a dark coat and carried the quiet authority of a man who expected doors to open for him. When he saw me he gave a short nod.“Lyra. You look flushed. Everything all right?”“I was just getting water,” I said. My voice came out steadier than I expected. “I did not k
Chapter 6 I stayed in my room after Talil’s call ended. The new recordings of Varek and Selene sat on my phone like a loaded gun. Every time I unlocked the screen I saw their kiss, heard his voice promising her my life, and felt the same cold drop in my stomach. Talil had orders to watch me now. The walls of the house felt closer than they had that morning.Night came slowly. I made a simple dinner and left a plate for Varek in the usual place. He thanked me in the soft voice I used to believe. I nodded and went back upstairs. I told myself I would stay alone. I needed to think. I needed a plan that did not involve Kael or Draven. My body disagreed. The memory of their hands and mouths sat under my skin and refused to quiet.Around eleven I went downstairs for water. The kitchen was dark except for the small light over the stove. I filled a glass and drank it standing at the sink, staring at my own reflection in the window. Behind me the floor creaked.Kael’s voice came low. “You ha
I did not sleep after watching Varek drag those files into the Final Release folder. The image of my own face frozen in orgasm on his screen stayed behind my eyes long after I returned to my room. Every time I closed them I saw the calm satisfaction on his face. He had ordered the nights that made me feel alive again. He had filmed them. He was preparing to use them to erase me.The next afternoon he announced he needed to check family storage at an old warehouse near the river. He asked me to help him into the car the way I always did. I folded the wheelchair. I buckled the seatbelt. I kept my expression empty while hate and fear twisted together under my ribs.I followed him.I waited until his driver turned the first corner, then took my own car and stayed far enough back to remain unseen. The warehouse sat alone at the edge of the industrial lots, surrounded by chain-link fencing and empty loading bays. I parked two streets away and walked the rest of the distance with my phone al







