"You were sent to betray me, Reina. Did you really think I wouldn’t make you mine instead?" She was supposed to be his downfall. A spy in his house. A pawn in a game she never agreed to play. But from the moment Reina Vale steps into Cassian Morelli’s world, the rules shatter. He isn’t the crippled king the world believes him to be. And she isn’t the innocent nurse he hired. Now, caught in a web of lies, obsession, and deadly desire, Reina has two choices—run from the monster hunting her… or let him consume her whole.
View MoreReina’s POV
The nightmare always began the same way. The sound of footsteps in the hallway. The creak of a door opening. A shadow stretching across the floor, swallowing me whole. I curled into myself, pressing my little fingers against my ears, trying to block out the hushed voices outside my bedroom. But nothing could stop the sickly sweetness of alcohol and cologne from seeping under the door, wrapping around my throat like a noose. “Be a good girl, Reina.” The words slithered into my mind, the same way they had that night. The sheets tangled around my legs, my body frozen as the dark figure loomed over me, a hand brushing over my cheek. Then the pressure. The searing pain. The muffled scream. I jerked awake with a sharp gasp, my chest rising and falling in panicked, shallow breaths. Sweat dampened my forehead, my nightshirt clinging to my skin. I pressed the heel of my palms against my eyes, willing the images away. It wasn’t real. Not anymore. But my body still remembered. With a shaky breath, I pushed the blankets off and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. The air in my tiny apartment was stifling, pressing in on me like a second skin. I needed to shake this off. To forget. Dragging myself into the bathroom, I flipped the faucet and let cold water pool in my hands before splashing it over my face. I gripped the edges of the sink, staring at my reflection. Wide blue eyes. Freckles dusting my nose. The same face that had stared back at me for years, but never quite felt like my own. I glanced at the clock—almost morning. Cursing under my breath, I rushed through a shower, scrubbing my skin until it was raw, as if I could scrape away the filth of memories long past. Pulling on loose sweatpants and an oversized hoodie, I concealed my curves the way I always did. The way I had learned to after it happened. My stepmother’s voice slithered through my mind, cold and venomous. "You brought this on yourself. You made them do it." Like hell I did. How could a thirteen-year-old be responsible for her own nightmare? How could a child be blamed for the monsters that tore her innocence away? I clenched my jaw, shoving the thought away as I grabbed my bag and locked the door behind me. The past was a shadow that always followed, but I wouldn’t let it define me. I flagged down a cab, sliding into the backseat with a heavy sigh. But the moment I remembered who my patient was today, my exhaustion twisted into something sharper. David Lance. The old man was insufferable. Even at his age, he still had the perverted habits of someone who had never been told no. The last time I had cared for him, his hand had wandered too far, grabbing a handful of my butt while I adjusted his IV. I had nearly given him an overdose just to shut him up. The cab pulled up to the large estate, the wrought-iron gates creaking open as I stepped out. I’d been here too many times to be a stranger, but familiarity didn’t make me hate it any less. Inside, the house smelled of stale money and disinfectant. I moved through the motions—checking his vitals, replacing his IV, preparing his medication. “Ah, my favorite nurse,” David rasped, his lips curling into a smile that made my stomach churn. “Come to brighten my morning?” “Good morning to you too, Mr David,” I said with an air of indifference. “The morning could be better if you had slept next to me,” he continued with a sick smirk that made my insides burn. “Take your medicine,” I muttered, my tone clipped. He chuckled again, his bony fingers brushing against my wrist as I handed him the pills. “You know,” he drawled, “if I were a younger man—” “You’d still be a perverted old bastard.” His laughter rumbled in his chest, thick with amusement. I ignored the way my skin crawled and continued with my work, barely containing my urge to shove a pillow over his face. It would be so easy. Just a few minutes of pressure. One less predator in the world. The thought made my stomach twist. I wasn’t a killer. At least not yet. Handing him the last dose of his medication, I turned on my heel and stepped onto the balcony, sucking in a breath of crisp morning air. My hands trembled as I pressed them against the railing. It was just another day. Just another patient. Just then, a loud shrill scream cut through the air. I whirled, rushing back inside to find one of the maids frozen in the doorway, hands clutched to her head. A tray lay shattered on the floor, tea spilling across the marble. My gaze darted to Mr David. He was on the ground, eyes wide and glassy. My heart slammed against my ribs as I dropped to my knees, pressing my fingers against his neck. No pulse. No breath. What the hell? My stomach clenched. The medicine. Had I—? A chill crawled down my spine. What have I done? **** My pulse pounded in my ears as I pressed my fingers harder against David Lance’s throat, searching for any sign of life. Nothing. His skin was already cooling beneath my touch, his mouth frozen in a silent gasp. No, no, no. My gaze flickered to the nightstand, where the small paper cup of pills I had given him sat—empty. I had given him the right dosage. I was sure of it. Wasn’t I? The maid stood frozen near the door, her hands clutching her head, her eyes wild with panic. “I—I just brought him his tea,” she stammered. “I walked in and—” I barely heard her. I was too busy running through the last ten minutes in my head. I had handed him his medication. I had turned away. Did I kill him? My hands trembled as I grabbed his wrist again, pressing hard against the fragile skin, willing a pulse to beat against my fingertips. Nothing. The reality settled in like ice in my veins. Mr David Lance was dead. The man who reminded me of the nightmares I could never escape. The man who had groped me, humiliated me, laughed in my face when I recoiled. The man I had fantasized about smothering in his sleep. And now he is gone. A slow, terrible thought crept into my mind. Would anyone believe I hadn’t done it?Reina’s POVThe drive was quiet.Not the awkward kind of quiet, like when two people realize their date was a mistake.No. This was… deliciously empty.Like no one expected me to talk. No one expected anything at all. Just space. Just breathing room.Which was good because I wasn’t sure what I would’ve said to them anyway.Hey, how was your day? Mine involved nearly getting murdered in my underwear by a sociopath with a god complex. Or maybe: Wow, thanks for saving me while I was barely dressed and screaming like a banshee. I swear I usually wear pants.Jesus.And these guys? They weren’t exactly the chatty kind. The guy sitting directly across from me hadn’t blinked since he got in. I was ninety percent sure his stare could cut through bone. And the one beside him—he looked like he collected people’s fingers in a jar for fun.I was tucked into the corner like a kicked puppy, my ribs screaming, my body aching like it had been flattened by a semi, then flung off a mountain for good mea
The air was thick with tension—like a bullet waiting in the chamber.It was the day of the so-called trap. The day Elias was meant to bleed. The compound thrummed with quiet, contained chaos, soldiers in sharp suits whispering orders into earpieces, guns checked and rechecked, vans prepped like coffins on wheels.And at the eye of the storm, Cassian Morelli sat like a god on his throne—his wheelchair.He didn’t speak.He didn’t need to.It's time to go chase an illusion.Lucas and Ethan flanked him, a pair of loyal shadows in tailored black, standing like sentinels at either side of their king. But Cassian’s eyes weren’t on them. His gaze was locked on the two men dragging a figure across the courtyard. The alleged Jonah—though nothing about the man screamed conviction.They tossed him to his knees before Cassian like an offering.Marco.Cassian’s eyes locked with his, and there it was—a flicker. A faint tremor in those steel-blue eyes. Not defiance. Not hatred.Fear.Cassian’s jaw tw
CASSIAN’S POV“What the hell are you talking about?” Lucas asked.I didn’t answer right away. I pushed off the edge of my desk and slowly wheeled to the window, the rain now a violent sheet slicing down the glass, the world outside smeared and gray.Thunder cracked overhead like the sky was splitting open.Lucas’s footsteps were steady behind me, his voice low but hard. “Boss, you said Jonah was lying. You need to help me understand what's going on.”“Jonah thinks I’m stupid,” I said, my voice quiet.Lucas blinked. “Come again?”“He thinks I’m blinded by anger. That I’m reckless. That I’d grab the first thread he dangled and unravel the whole thing myself.”Lucas moved to stand beside me, watching the storm with me like it held answers. “Boss…”“Can’t you see it?” I said, eyes fixed on the window. “It’s too clean. Too convenient. Jonah just walks in, offers me a way to gut Elias from the inside? Gives me a midnight meeting, a location no one’s supposed to know exists, a fucking escap
CHAPTER 178CASSIAN’S POV"How?" I asked again, quieter this time, but no less deadly.Jonah's gaze didn’t waver."You said you wanted to gut him. Brick by brick, skull by skull. I can give you the foundation. I know where he sleeps, where he meets, where he bleeds. But he won't come out in the open—not unless he's lured."I leaned back in my chair, cold fire burning in my veins. "You think he's stupid enough to walk into a trap?""No," Jonah admitted. "But he's arrogant enough to think he can outsmart yours."Lucas scoffed, arms crossed tight across his chest. "And what? You think you can convince him to meet you for tea?""He still trusts me," Jonah said. "Not fully. Not the way he used to. But enough. Enough to pull him in. You want Reina back? You want to end this war before it turns into a goddamn bloodbath on both sides? Then let me do what I was raised to do. Lie. Deceive. Survive."I stared at him, trying to see past the calm, the poise, the rehearsed stillness. He looked like
Cassian’s POVThe sun didn’t rise.It clawed its way up the horizon like it didn’t want to be seen. The sky was bruised gray and blood-tinged red, a warning if there ever was one.I hadn’t slept.Not really.Every time I closed my eyes, I heard her—Reina’s scream.Sometimes it was her voice. Sometimes Bella’s. Sometimes both. Merging into one endless, soul-shattering sound that yanked me awake in cold sweats.I’d reach for the pillow, searching for her warmth.But all I found was absence.And guilt.I stood at the center of the courtyard now—marble beneath my boots, the chill of morning heavy on my skin. Rows upon rows of my men lined the space. Black suits. Steel eyes. Some looked alert. Some looked uncertain. But all of them—every single one—stood silent as the tension in the air vibrated like a string pulled taut.They knew something was wrong.They felt it.And I made damn sure they did.Lucas stood slightly behind me, hands clasped, eyes scanning every face with predator calm.N
Reina’s POVDarkness ebbed and flowed like a tide behind my swollen eyes. Pain beat in my skull like a second heart. Every breath scraped raw against the inside of my chest. Blood slicked my back, my legs, the inside of my thighs. Footsteps.Heavy. Calculated. Fading.The door slammed.Silence again.A silence that screamed louder than the belt ever could.I didn’t cry.Not this time.I wasn’t sure how long I lay there—minutes, hours, maybe centuries—before sound returned.The pain had tunneled into something else—something quiet, seething, and angry. Beneath the agony, beneath the betrayal, was a spark that refused to go out.Cassian.His name pulsed like venom through my veins.Did he really serve me up to Elias like a lamb to slaughter? Or had Elias lied? Twisted the truth? There had to be something more. There had to be.But right now, none of that mattered. Because one truth cut deeper than any belt could:I was going to die in here unless I did something.Groaning, I pushed mys
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