All Chapters of His Betrayal, My Redemption: Chapter 181 - Chapter 186

Chapter 178DAHLIAThe silence was the worst part.It pressed down on me heavier than the iron door, heavier than the damp air that stuck to my throat with every breath. I had thought, for a moment, that silence might mean safety—that if we stayed still, stayed small, he would forget us.But Kennedy didn’t forget. He was in the silence. He filled it, stretched it, twisted it until every second felt like a blade against my skin.I curled tighter against Ivana, my forehead pressed to her shoulder. She was rigid beneath me, jaw clenched, eyes fixed on the door as if she could stare it into submission.“You’re shaking,” she whispered.“I’m not,” I whispered back, though my voice trembled with the lie.Ivana shifted, pulling me closer with one arm. She was always doing that shielding me, even when she was breaking inside.“You can’t let him hear it,” she murmured. “That’s what he wants. To know we’re scared.”I bit down hard on my lip until the metallic tang of blood filled my mouth. But i

Chapter 183IVANAThe cold is in my bones.Not just the kind that seeps from damp concrete into your skin, but the kind that grows from inside you when you know you’re trapped. When you’re powerless.I hate it.I hate feeling this way.Dahlia is curled against me, her fingers clutching the sleeve of my shirt like if she lets go, she’ll fall into some bottomless pit. Her breathing is shallow, uneven. She’s trying not to cry, but every time her chest shakes, I feel it.And I can’t comfort her.Not the way I should.Because my own chest feels like it’s splitting apart.I keep telling myself to be strong. That’s who I am the strong one, the sharp one, the one who doesn’t bend. All my life I’ve worn that armor, sharper than knives, louder than the fear inside me.But Kennedy…Kennedy strips you without laying a hand on you. He knows how to peel away every layer until all that’s left is your raw skin, burning, exposed.He hasn’t touched us, not yet. But it feels like he has. Like every sile

Chapter 182IVANAThe walls were too close.Too cold.I pressed my back against the damp stone, arms wrapped tight around my chest like I could hold myself together by sheer force of will. The silence was worse than the dark. It filled my ears, heavy and suffocating, broken only by the shallow rhythm of Dahlia’s breathing beside me.She was curled on the floor, her face buried against her knees. Her body trembled every so often, the way a child trembles in sleep after a nightmare.Except this wasn’t sleep.And it wasn’t a nightmare.It was real.My throat burned, but I didn’t let the tears fall. Not where she could see. Dahlia needed me to be the strong one. The shield. The wall between her and the monster waiting outside the door.But God, I was tired of being strong.I clenched my fists until my nails cut into my palms. Pain anchored me. Reminded me I was still here. Still standing.I hated how much Kennedy got under my skin. The way his voice crawled through the iron, calm and taun