Semua Bab HE BROKE ME; THEN HE OWNED ME: Bab 51 - Bab 60

~ReidSitting quietly in the cell, I embraced a kind of inner peace most wouldn’t expect from a man caged like an animal. The dampness of the dungeon clung to my skin, the scent of iron and mildew battled with my nose.But I didn’t care. My eyes were closed, breathing measured. My body was here, shackled beneath layers of stone, but my mind? My mind had already slipped beyond the walls.I imagined waves crashing gently against the shore, a wind carrying salt and memory. I could almost feel the grains of sand beneath my fingertips, the sting of sun on my face. That was the trick, detach enough from the moment, and the prison became less of a punishment and more of a pause. A breath. A meditation.Footsteps echoed from a few meters beyond the cell door.They were quiet, deliberate. Someone was coming. But I didn’t stir. I didn’t flinch. Whoever it was, whatever they came for, it didn’t matter. My soul was still walking the shore.Because when you’ve spent years hunting monsters, you

~ThorneThe door creaked open, and the scent of citrus and vanilla slipped into the room before she even stepped in.Lucia.She carried a silver tray, hips swaying with deliberate grace, her heels clicking softly on the marble. She wore a black silk robe, short, too short, cinched at the waist, the plunge of the neckline revealing the swell of her breasts, practically begging for attention. Her hair was swept over one shoulder, lips a glossy red. It wasn’t breakfast she was trying to serve. Not really.I leaned back in my chair, eyeing her.It’s been weeks since I last tasted her. I knew she was craving it. I could see it in the way she kept licking her lips as she walked over, placing the tray in front of me, then bending just a little too low so her cleavage spilled forward."Your breakfast, sir," she purred, her voice velvet and heat. “I thought you’d enjoy something warm this morning.”I didn’t respond. Just watched her. The robe clung to her like a second skin, and that sultry

~KatherineI was still breathless, my body humming from the aftershocks of what he’d just done to me. Lucien started to move up the bed, but I stopped him with a hand to his chest, firm, teasing. I rose slowly, letting my eyes rake over his body, every muscle, his breath shallow, his need written all over him.I sat up on my knees and leaned in close, brushing my lips against his jaw, his neck, savoring the taste of him.“You’ve had your taste,” I whispered against his skin, smiling as his breath caught. “Now it’s my turn.”I trailed kisses down his chest, slow and intentional, feeling the way his body moved beneath my touch. His hand slid into my hair as I reached his hips, but he didn’t guide me. He didn’t have to.I looked up at him, meeting his eyes.“I want to taste you,” I murmured. But before that, he took charge.He cupped my breast, firm and possessive, and I arched into his touch. The way his thumb flicked over my nipple made me gasp. I bit my lower lip to muffle the sou

~ThorneThen the stupid thing I never hoped would happen, happened.The door creaked, slow.Lucien stepped out from the bathroom, shirt half-buttoned, a gun in his hand, pointed right at my head."Let her go," he said calmly. Too calmly. "Or I’ll kill you."Twelve of my men who had followed me inside immediately raised their weapons in response, lasers locking on Lucien’s chest, his head, his heart. One move and he’d be riddled with holes.But I raised a hand.“Stand down,” I said to my men, never looking away from the traitor standing ten feet away with the balls to point a weapon at me. “No one shoots unless I say so.”Lucien didn’t flinch. “I’m not bluffing, Thorne. Let go of her.”I tightened my grip around Katherine’s throat. She wasn’t struggling. She was smiling like a lunatic caught in the climax of her favorite opera.“If you kill me,” I said, my voice low and cold, “then all three of us die here. You, me, and her.”Lucien’s jaw clenched, but his eyes didn’t move off me.“Yo

~KatherineThorne stood in the middle of the room, a silent god of wrath cloaked in shadows. Around him, his guards dipped cruel, twisted irons into open flames jagged instruments designed not just to just injure, but to unmake. One looked like a spider, another like a serpent’s fang. One had claws that would pierce through skin in five separate directions.I inhaled slowly and shut my eyes, a tremor slipping through me.I’d endured a lot. I’d handed out worse. But even when I was ordered to torture a lady, even when I had to break a girl, I did it with style. Precision. A little drowning. A little chemical burn. Sometimes I used gas so foul it made them vomit secrets. But this?This was medieval.Fire was fire. Once it touched you, there was no pretending.I clenched my fists to keep from shaking.Thorne wasn’t speaking. Just watching. His silence was heavier than threats. He was letting the room do the talking, the scent of burning metal, the soft hiss of flame, it was hell.I c