All Chapters of Only in Vegas: Claimed by the Devils Son: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Mia’s heart slammed against her ribcage as her hand scrambled across the wall, finally flicking the switch.The light flickered to life, casting harsh white across the room—and across him.He was Axel. And he wasn’t. The resemblance made her stomach twist: the same cruel mouth, the same cutting cheekbones, but older. Meaner. Even darker. The life beaten out of him replaced with something evil. Something rotten.His eyes—cold, lifeless and black. There wasn’t an ounce of Axel’s playfulness. No flashes of softness. No warmth. No sign of the gentleness his mother gifted him.Just death.It was Slade Morino.Mia’s throat tightened as the maid’s warning echoed in her head: If anyone but me enters this room… hide.Too late.“You’re prettier than the last one,” he murmured, taking a step forward, like a wolf casually closing the distance with a lamb. “I see why he’s getting sloppy.”Mia backed toward the door, wishing her body would move faster, wishing she hadn’t eaten, wishing she hadn’t s

The days passed in slow, torturous repetition.Mia drifted from window to bookshelf, eating what she could, never finishing a full meal. She circled that dragon-marked book again and again, glaring at it like it was personally responsible for everything that had happened to her.But the real culprit was still Axel.Every time she thought about his soft apologies, about his hands carefully bandaging her wrists after Slade—rage twisted in her stomach. It wasn’t enough. Nothing could ever undo what he’d done to her. He took her life. And the worst part? Some stupid, self-preserving part of her still wanted him. Still waited for him to return like some broken pet.By the third day, boredom won over fury. She finally plucked the book from the shelf and dragged it to the window, flipping open the crimson-stained leather cover.“Morino Family Tree.”The writing was faded and difficult to read, the opening pages smudged and warped with age. She traced the dates with her fingertip, feeling sic

Axel crushed his lips against Mia’s, their teeth clashing, but she didn’t pull away — no, she met him with equal hunger. Her fingers worked his buttons loose with a fury he’d never seen from her before. And God, he wanted to tear her apart — rip every last defence down and claim her until she forgot her own name — but something stopped him. His father’s face. That damn smug smile. The memory of Mia’s wrists bruised and red, blood trailing in delicate lines over her pale skin.No. He gritted his teeth, fighting the pull to become the monster everyone said he was.He wasn’t his father.His hands trembled where they rested against her waist, holding her like she might break apart if he gripped too hard. Mia moaned softly, gently pushing into his palms, her nipples pebbling under his touch. Her back arching beautifully against the wall. Her reactions made it harder to hold back, to be the better man, but something cold and sharp coiled in his stomach — the gnawing guilt he couldn’t shake

The stark, blinding light as the car pulled out of the underground car park made Mia’s eyes sting, her mascara clinging on for dear life as she blinked furiously against the assault. The city stretched before them like a polished weapon, gleaming, heartless, cutting. The luxury buildings, the neon signs of late-night pleasure, the black-tinted cars sweeping past—it all looked clean, but Mia knew better. Underneath the surface was rot.And in the leather seat next to her sat the most beautiful contradiction she’d ever met.Axel looked like sin itself, dressed in a black tailored suit, shirt unbuttoned just enough to tempt. His knuckles still bore faint marks from the last fight, and his jaw was shadowed with days of stubble that made him look feral, dangerous, and godlike. A fallen angel, she thought bitterly. Yin and yang. Light and dark. Tenderness and violence. He was both her salvation and the thing that would break her.And for some sick and twisted reason, her chest and her body

The silence in the car was thick, broken only by the hum of the engine beneath them and the distant hum of neon city lights. Mia sat perfectly still, the leather of the seat cool against her thighs, her hands folded neatly in her lap to disguise how badly they were trembling. Axel’s jaw was tight, his grip on the steering wheel white-knuckled as his eyes flicked to the rearview mirror like a predator tracking prey. The city blurred past in flashes of red and blue neon, like they were driving through hell itself. Then, without warning, Axel yanked the wheel to the left, veering sharply off onto a quiet industrial street littered with old shipping containers and dumpsters. He threw the car into park and killed the engine, the silence sudden and deafening. “What are we doing?” Mia asked carefully, her voice soft but steady. His eyes flicked to her, wild, half-feral. “Family business. Stay here.” Before she could argue, he was gone, slamming the door with a metallic thunk, disap