All Chapters of Blind Desires: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

TATEI WOKE UP and everything was black. Not the kind of dark you can push through or guess where you are. It was the kind that swallows you whole, thick and endless. No rough ropes biting into my skin, no blood clogging my throat—just silence and cold that creeped under my skin.The sheets were soft and warm around my legs, wrong in every way. My body felt like it had been through hell, every nerve screaming. My head throbbed like a war drum, my lip cracked and sore, wrists rubbed raw from whatever bullshit they did to me before. I wasn’t tied up anymore, but I ached like I’d been beaten half to death.For a second, I wanted to believe I was dead. That this was some kind of dream or coma where I didn’t have to fight anymore. That would’ve been the easy way out.Then I heard it. The sharp click and flick of a lighter.The glow of a cigarette flared to life and I jerked back before I could even think, pain bursting through my ribs and spine. I choked on a gasp I couldn’t get out, bitin

TATETHE LOCK CLICKED, and my entire body tensed before my brain caught up. I’d gotten used to the silence now—too used to it. The kind of quiet that made you forget what breathing was supposed to feel like.I thought it was him. Enzo. Coming back to finish what he started or maybe to tear a piece off. My heart clawed up my throat.But it wasn’t.It was the other one.Eli.He walked in like it was nothing, holding a paper bag and wearing the same smug look he had the last time. His curls were a mess, green streaks standing out like he wanted people to notice him. He didn’t look like someone who should’ve had access to a place like this, much less me.He dropped the bag near the bed, crouching without saying a word. His eyes ran over me like he was checking inventory, like I was a thing.I stayed still. My body ached, especially my leg from where I’d tried to break the cuffs. I’d stopped trying to shift around it two days ago.“I’m sure you haven’t had real food in a while,” he said. H

TATE“YOU’RE BACK,” I muttered, not bothering to look up.The door clicked shut behind him, same way it had the last time, but this time… the air felt tighter. Off.“Stay the fuck away from me,” I added, dragging my sleeve across my mouth and shifting back on the bed. “Unless you’re here to get me out, don’t bother pretending you give a shit.”Eli didn’t answer.His footsteps padded across the floor, slower than usual, less cocky, more… deliberate. I looked up.He stood a few feet away, lips parted, sweat shining at his temple. His pupils were blown, too wide for the light and he kept licking his bottom lip like it was dry, like he couldn’t stop tasting something only he could feel.“What the hell is wrong with you?”He smiled, but it wasn’t the usual grin. It was lazy. Glazed. Feral, in a way that sent a cold slither down my spine.“I missed you,” Eli said. His voice was too soft. Too smooth. “You didn’t miss me?”“No.” My answer came sharp, cutting through the air. “I didn’t.”I sto

TATEI WOKE UP soft.That should’ve been a good thing, right?Soft bed. Clean sheets. Air that didn’t stink like mildew and piss. But I blinked up at the white ceiling and felt... wrong. Like the world had tipped sideways and hadn’t told me.“What the hell,” I muttered under my breath.For a second, I didn’t move. My brain was still stitching itself back together, memories dragging like rusted chains. There’d been shouting. Enzo. Eli. That look in Enzo’s eyes that was cold enough to freeze bone, cruel enough to make someone disappear.My skin itched.I sat up too fast. The sheet slipped down my chest. There was no cuffs, no restraints. Just me, breathing too hard in a room that looked... normal.But it wasn’t.It never is.The floor was carpeted. Thick, clean, like it belonged in a guesthouse or a fancy hotel. Curtains drawn tight. A dresser in the corner. No peeling paint, no dried bloodstains on the wall.I swung my legs off the bed and touched down like the floor might give out. It

ENZOI DIDN’T SAY a word when I got back to the house.My boots tracked ash across the marble. Smoke clung to me like it had soaked through the skin and settled in the bones. The guards didn’t look at me. They knew better.I went upstairs. Straight to my room.My head pounded. Fists still twitched like I hadn’t killed enough men to make the ache stop.I didn’t stop until I hit the bathroom. I didn’t bother flipping on the lights, just twisted the shower handle and stepped under the spray as steam clawed at the mirror.Clothes dropped one piece at a time. Everything stinking of gasoline, ash, and blood.I scrubbed harder. Palms red. Water hotter than necessary. Like if I could peel off enough layers, I’d reach something untouched. Something that hadn’t watched two men burn. Something that didn’t want to rip Johnny’s throat out with my teeth.I shut the water off, stepped out, and toweled down roughly. The marble floor was cold, biting against my bare feet but fuck, I didn’t feel it.My