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14: Amaya’s POV

작가: Still Iv
last update 게시일: 2026-03-31 01:39:43

The sunlight streaming through the windows of my suite felt offensive. It was too bright, too cheerful for the way my skin crawled.

I hadn't slept all night.

Every time I closed my eyes, I felt the phantom pressure of rough fingers of that guard digging into my shoulder.

Regina had told me that all would be well and I suppose it would. I just needed time to get over it.

Besides, it all happened the previous evening. It was a new day and I had to be strong and push through.

I was staring at my breakfast; a plate of fruit that and pancakes when a knock sounded at the door.

It wasn't the soft, rhythmic tap of Maria or Sofia or Elena that I had become accustomed to over the past few weeks.

It was a sharp, military strike.

"Miss Vancouver,” the strong voice came from behind the door, “The Boss is requesting your presence in the courtyard."

My heart plummeted. Bane was the last person I ever wanted to see.

“Now?" I asked hoping I would have time to mentally prepare myself to face him.

"Immediately."

I didn't even have time to change. I was still in a cotton robe, my hair falling in loose, unbrushed waves.

I followed the guard down the stairs, my mind was screaming. Did Regina tell him?

She said she wouldn’t…… at least, not yet.

As we neared the heavy oak doors that led to the central courtyard, I felt it.

Silence.

A thick, suffocating silence that felt heavy enough to drown any scream.

The doors opened, and I went cold.

"Oh, God," I whispered, my hand flying to my mouth.

The courtyard was lined with men. At least forty guards.

The entirety of them were on their knees on the stone pavement. Their heads were bowed, their hands clasped behind their necks.

It looked like an execution.

Bane was seated in a high-backed iron chair at the head of the formation, looking like a dark god presiding over a sacrifice.

He was dressed in a black suit, his legs crossed, a glass of water on the small table beside him.

Regina was seated to his left, her face a mask of cold, regal indifference.

It was not the look that I had come to associate her with.

But it was Nathaniel who held my gaze.

He was pacing behind the kneeling men, a silver handgun glinting in the morning sun.

He looked like he was waiting for a movie to start.

"Princess. Come here," Bane said.

His voice wasn't loud, but it commanded immediate obedience.

I walked forward, my legs feeling like they were made of water. I stopped a few feet from his chair, my gaze darting between the row of kneeling men.

I recognized some of them.

Bane didn't look at the men. He only looked at me.

"My sister tells me a member of my staff forgot his place yesterday. She tells me a man here thought he could lay hands on what is mine."

"I... I told her it was fine. I don't want this," I begged, looking at Regina.

She didn't blink. She just stared straight ahead.

"It is not fine," Bane snapped, his eyes flashing with a sudden, sharp heat. "Identify him."

I looked at the row of men. I saw him. Third from the left.

The man with the rumpled collar and the cruel eyes. He was shaking now, sweat dripping off his chin onto the stone.

Our eyes met for a split second, and the sheer, pathetic terror in his gaze made me sick.

"I... I can't," I whispered, shaking my head. "Please, just let them go.“

"That isn't how we do things here," Nathaniel’s voice cut in.

He stopped pacing directly behind a guard near the end of the row a man I knew had done nothing but nod to me respectfully.

"Amaya," Bane said, his tone dropping to a warning low. "Identify the man. Now."

"No," I sobbed, clutching my robe shut. "It was a mist……”

BANG!!!

A gunshot rang out and the sound was deafening.

I screamed, throwing my hands over my ears as the smell of gunpowder filled the air.

The guard Nathaniel had been standing behind collapsed, clutching his thigh as blood began to bloom through his trousers.

He didn't scream. He just let out a low, wet groan, his face going white with shock.

"No! NO! PLEASE STOP" I shrieked.

Nathaniel looked at me with those cold, hollow eyes.

He calmly, adjusted his grip on the gun.

"If you don't point him out in the next ten seconds, I move to the next man. And I won't aim for the leg this time. I’ll keep going until the courtyard is painted red, or until you find your voice."

Nathaniel pointed his gun at another guard and began to count.

"Bane, stop him!" I begged. "He’s innocent! That man didn't do anything!"

Bane didn't move.

"Then point out the one who did. Save the others, Amaya. The clock is ticking."

"Nine," Nathaniel counted. "Eight. Seven..."

"Stop!" I cried.

My vision was blurring with tears. I looked at the man third from the left.

He was weeping silently now, his shoulders heaving.

If I didn't say it, Nathaniel was going to kill everyone. I could see it in his face. He was itching to do it.

"Six. Five..."

"Him!" I pointed a shaking finger at the man who was guilty. "It was him! The one in the middle!"

The silence returned, sharper than before.

Nathaniel stopped counting.

He walked over to the man I had pointed at and grabbed him by the hair, hauling his head back.

"Is this the one, Princess?" Bane asked, standing up slowly.

"Yes," I choked out, the word feeling like a betrayal. "Yes, just... please don't hurt anyone else. Please."

Bane walked over to the guard and looked down at the man with a disgust so profound it was visceral.

"You were given a simple task," Bane said, his voice a low vibration of pure rage. "Guard the perimeter. Protect the assets. Instead, you thought you were a king because I gave you a badge and a paycheck."

"Boss, please!" the man blubbered, snot and tears covering his face. "I was just joking around! I didn't hurt her! I swear!"

Bane looked up at the Captain, who was standing by the door.

"Take him. I will come pay him a visit myself later tonight. And captain?

"Yes, Boss?"

"Make sure he is kept busy before I arrive”

Two large men stepped forward and grabbed the guard under his arms.

He began to scream.

"No! Please! Amaya, help me! Boss, forgive me! Please! I’m sorry!!!”

I watched, frozen in horror, as they dragged him across the stone, his heels kicking uselessly against the pavement.

His screams grew fainter as they pulled him through the heavy iron gates.

I knew then that this was going to be last time I ever saw that man alive.

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  • THE KILLER THAT CLAIMED ME   82:Amaya

    The wardrobe handlers my father sent didn’t speak. They moved around my childhood bedroom like silent robots, laying out a heavy black silk evening gown across the mattress. It looked like an elegant shroud I can’t deny that truth.Regina stood by the door, her arms folded, watching me with an expressionless gaze as I sat unmoving on the edge of the bed. "Put it on," Regina said, nodding toward the dress. "Roman’s security detail is already in the driveway. Victor isn't going to ask you again." I didn't look at her. "And if I say no?" "Then the handlers will dress you themselves, Amaya. Don't make this more humiliating than it needs to be. It’s just a dinner."“Since when did you become my father’s lapdog?”“How dare you?!”“Be silent, Regina. This isn’t your domain anymore”I stood up slowly, my limbs stiff, and let the handlers dress me. The fabric of the black gown was cold against my skin. They zipped it up, tightened the waist, and pinned my dark hair back. Regina

  • THE KILLER THAT CLAIMED ME   81: Amaya

    By noon, the interior of the mansion was cast in a dim, amber twilight as heavy clouds blocked out the sun. I sat in one of the high-backed leather chairs in my bedroom, watching the dust motes drift through the narrow beams of light.My mind was somewhere far away.In my mind, I was with Bane. We were back at his beach house seated by the shore.The wind was in our hair and for a moment, just a tiny moment, I was happy.I was free.I was alive again. The heavy double doors of the bedroom swung open with a loud creak. My father walked in, his hands clasped tightly behind his back, his eyes locking onto me instantly.Even before he spoke I knew that he was probably here to deliver the unfortunate news that Roman would be here soon. "Roman's convoy just cleared the southern security checkpoint," Victor said, his deep voice cutting through the silence of the room. "They will be at the main courtyard within twenty minutes.”“Is there any reason that you saw the need to come and bothe

  • THE KILLER THAT CLAIMED ME   80: Amaya

    The heavy door of my bedroom clicked shut behind my father, the sound of the deadbolt sliding into place.I remained on the floor, my cheek pressed against the cold floor and sobbed silently.The physical sting of my father's slap was a dull ache compared to the suffocating weight of my reality. Every piece of this room was a reminder of what I truly was to Victor, a biological property. A thing that had to be traded, stored, and managed. The small, fragile illusion of love and freedom i felt with Bane had been erased in one violent night.And now Bane and Nathaniel were dead.Why did I have to kill everything that I touched? Regina stared at me all along. She didn't leave with Victor. Instead, she pushed off the wardrobe and walked slowly toward the bed. She stopped a few feet away, looking down at me with the same clinical, diagnostic expression she used when looking at files. "Get up off the floor, Amaya," Regina said quietly, her voice entirely flat. "Crying won't alter th

  • THE KILLER THAT CLAIMED ME   79: Amaya

    A heavy, suffocating darkness pressed down on my chest, dragging me under every time I tried to claw my way back to the surface. My head throbbed with a sickening ache that pulsed behind my eyelids, a brutal reminder of the weapon Regina had slammed into my temple. Everything hurts. When the blackness finally began to crack, it didn't give way to the flashing red emergency strobe lights of the Valak estate.It didn’t even give way to the image of Regina standing above me. Instead, a soft, filtered morning light pierced through my lashes, revealing a high ceiling adorned with familiar white molding. What in the world?I know this place.I blinked rapidly, the agonizing pressure in my skull intensifying as I tried to lift my head from a plush silk pillow. There was no way that I could be here.In this place.After all this time.The air didn't smell like spent gunpowder, copper, or the burning stone of a burning estate. It smelled of expensive French lavender, polished mahog

  • THE KILLER THAT CLAIMED ME   78: Bane

    The world turned completely red. I watched the exact trajectory of the blow in agonizing, high-definition horror. One second my eyes were locked onto Amaya, her beautiful, soot-stained face illuminated by the flashes of my men's weapons, as she ran.Her hands reaching out to touch me. The next second, she was being violently ripped backward. I watched as Regina knocked Amaya out. The heavy steel butt of Regina's weapon struck the side of Amaya's head with enough force to drop a grown vanguard soldier. I saw the light instantly leave Amaya's dark eyes. I watched her limp, fragile body collapse onto the blood-spattered gravel of the courtyard like a broken doll. A sound tore out of my throat that wasn't human—a raw, demonic shriek of pure, unadulterated fury.They hurt her. They hurt Amaya.The last remaining boundary of my sanity snapped like a brittle twig. I lunged at my sister. I didn't care about the incoming mercenary rounds that were chipping the stone pillars inches

  • THE KILLER THAT CLAIMED ME   77: Amaya

    The world was spinning in a fractured blur of crimson strobe lights and deafening explosions. The image of the young vanguard captain falling to the floor, his chest torn apart by automatic fire, was permanently branded into my mind. He had done his best to save my life and lost his in the process. I would never forgive Regina for doing that to him. That was the last thing that he deserved. I couldn't breathe. My throat burned with the thick, toxic taste of spent gunpowder, ash, and the metallic tang of blood. My side still hurt with every move after Regina had hit me with her knee and pinned me to the ground like some animal. Every instinct screamed at me to curl into a ball and hide among the shattered remnants of the limestone pillars. I should have but the frantic sound of the sirens drove my feet forward. I had to get to him. I had to find Bane. If I found Bane, he would make sure that I was safe. I tore through the smoke-choked arches of the lower gallery, my

  • THE KILLER THAT CLAIMED ME   51: BANE’S POV

    The leather upholstery of my office chair creaked under my weight as I rubbed the bridge of my nose, staring blankly at the flickering security tapes. I couldn’t help but think of Amaya. The staff and some of the guards had reported her sudden, violent outbursts and I couldn’t make sense of

  • THE KILLER THAT CLAIMED ME   49: BANE’S POV

    The silence in the dining room was overwhelming, especially given the fact that Amaya sat across from me at the long mahogany table. She had her eyes completely fixed on her plate but she hadn't touched her food. She hadn't even looked at me since the guards pulled her chair out. Last week,

  • THE KILLER THAT CLAIMED ME   40: BANE’S POV

    The drive to Calabria was mostly silent. Not that it was much of a shock going by what we had all witnessed. I hadn't spoken since we left the warehouse. My mind was a battlefield, replaying the image of that note stapled to my soldier’s chest. RETURN THE GIRL YOU STOLE I kept thinking o

  • THE KILLER THAT CLAIMED ME   27: AMAYA’S POV

    The garden had become my only sanctuary. It was the only place I could have any semblance of privacy even if the air was thick with Bane’s expensive surveillance. I was sitting on a stone bench near the lily pond, a sketchbook open in my lap, though I hadn't drawn a single line. My mind was

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