All Chapters of The CEO’s Temptation : Chapter 191 - Chapter 200

****************************POV: Claire*************************** --- I didn’t sleep. Not really. I lay in the dark for hours, my eyes fixed on the ceiling above me, every breath shallow and conscious. I counted the cracks in the plaster. The groans in the floorboards. The shifting of the wind as it slapped against the sea-facing walls. I replayed every word Liam had said, every subtle smile, every calculated movement. My pulse had steadied, but the tension hadn’t eased. It was like living inside a storm that had already passed — eerily still, but you knew something else was coming. And I had to be ready for it. When dawn finally bled through the windows in shades of pale gold and watery pink, I sat up. The salt air filtered through the cracked frame of the small window, crisp and cold against my cheeks. I moved carefully, testing every sound my body made, watching for the cameras — two in the bedroom that I’d found so far. One angled toward the door, another near the dres

********************************* POV: Claire***************** --- The first lie you tell yourself in captivity is that you can wait. Wait for a better chance. Wait for the door to be left open. Wait for him to slip up, to turn his back, to trust you. But waiting becomes a slow kind of rot. It eats your hope in tiny pieces, one blink at a time, until even breathing feels like a betrayal of the life you had before. So I stopped waiting. I started planning__strategizing and at the same time, waiting till it's the right time to implement everything that I have planned. And today, I found my second thread. After breakfast—tea I barely tasted and toast I didn’t touch—Liam handed me a sketchpad. “You used to enjoy drawing,” he said, like he was doing me a kindness. “I thought you might want something... familiar.” He rasped as he handed me the sketchpad. I almost laughed. Instead, I said, “Thank you.” Trying to suppress the joy in my heart. My plans are progressing.

****************************POV: Henry Allister******************** --- The news came to me not with fanfare or urgency, but in a tone so grave it drained the blood from my chest in one word. “Claire.” Reeve's voice was clear on the secure line, and the moment he said her name, I knew. I closed the file I was reviewing and sat back in my chair. New York's skyline flickered behind me—calm, unaware, unbothered. The rest of the world didn’t know what had happened. Not yet. But I did. “She’s gone?” I asked, though the answer was already written in the quiet pause that followed. “Yes, sir. We have confirmation. Abducted six days ago. Mack kept the circle tight while they verified intel.” I shut my eyes. Six days. Six long days of silence. And I hadn’t known. “Who?” I asked, even though the acid had already begun rising in my throat. “We believe it’s Liam.” He muttered The name hit harder than expected, though it shouldn’t have. It wasn’t the shock of it. It was the s

--- *****************************POV: Rowe************************* --- Mack didn’t speak after Aliana it. He just stared at her. That kind of stare made men break before the interrogation even started. But Aliana? She didn’t flinch. I didn’t know if that made her brave or just numb from all the damage she’d already done. Either way, I kept watching Mack’s hands—because I’d seen that look in his eyes before. The last time was right before he punched through a wall when Claire was taken. And honestly? He looked even worse now. “She gets one chance,” he said at last. His voice was low, almost too calm. That was what made it dangerous. I gave a slow nod, already shifting my weight closer to her without making it obvious. She might have cracked the case wide open with what she just said—but that didn’t mean she was safe in here. Not from Mack. And maybe not even from herself. Reeve was already at work, his fingers dancing over the keyboard like the keys owed him money. “Sca

***************************POV: Mack**************************** --- Time didn’t pass anymore—it dragged. Every second without Claire was a hollow ache, I couldn’t shake. It wasn’t just worry—it was torment. Claire wasn’t just missing. She was taken. Stolen from my world, pulled out like the breath from my lungs. She wasn’t just some woman i was chasing after. She was the pulse in my goddamn chest. The only person who ever challenged me saw past the armor and into the fractures I never let anyone touch. And now, she was out there—alone. Maybe scared. Maybe hurt. And i couldn’t get to her. Couldn’t protect her. Couldn’t hold her. That reality gutted me more than any threat ever could. The silence she left behind wasn’t just absence—it was unbearable. Hours turned to gravel in my throat. Every breath I took felt like it scraped the inside of my chest. I didn’t sleep. Couldn’t. Sleep belonged to people who weren’t responsible for the woman they loved being dragged into the dark