Lahat ng Kabanata ng BOUGHT,TAMED AND TAKEN : Kabanata 91 - Kabanata 100

The rain had stopped hours ago, but the courtyard stones still glistened under the weak morning light. I could smell damp earth, the faint scent of gun oil, and the copper tang of tension that had settled over the estate like a shroud.Luciano stood by the tall windows, hands braced on the frame, staring out as though the world outside had personally betrayed him. I knew that look. It wasn’t just fury—it was calculation.“You’re not telling me everything,” I said finally, breaking the silence.His jaw ticked, but he didn’t turn. “Not everything needs to be told.”I stepped closer, my bare feet cold against the marble. “If this involves me—my father—then it needs to be told. Now.”Luciano’s shoulders stiffened. “Aria, your father isn’t just alive. He’s bargaining.”The air left my lungs in a violent rush. “Bargaining?”“He wants me to trade you for his freedom. He’s sitting on information about the Costa alliance, and he knows I need it.”My stomach twisted. “So… I’m the bargaining chi

The flames had died hours ago, leaving the estate a blackened skeleton against the dawn. Smoke clung to the air like a living thing, bitter and heavy in every breath. Aria stood barefoot in the wet grass, her gown torn at the hem, ash streaked across her cheek. She couldn’t remember dropping the dagger from her hand, but now it lay somewhere behind her in the mud, forgotten.Luciano’s arm was around her waist, firm but not forceful—an anchor in a night that had stripped the ground out from under them both. His shirt was open at the collar, soot smeared into the muscle of his chest, the sharp angles of his face dark with something more than exhaustion.“They wanted us to think it was random,” he murmured, his voice low enough for only her to hear. “But this wasn’t chaos. It was a message.”Aria turned her gaze toward the ruin, the walls she had been trapped inside now reduced to broken stone and jagged beams. The memory of the heat, the choking black, the screams—hers, his, and others—

The safehouse was quieter than Aria expected. No guards lingering in the hallway. No muffled voices leaking through walls. Just the heavy stillness of a place built for secrets.Luciano locked the door behind them with a metallic snap, his movements methodical. He didn’t look at her as he shed his jacket and holster, laying both across the arm of a leather chair.“You can read it now,” he said finally, nodding at the journal clutched to her chest.Aria hesitated, her fingers brushing the worn cover. “You’re not going to stop me?”“I’ll stop you if you think about running,” he said. “But whatever’s in there—” his voice dropped, “—it’s yours to see.”She sat at the small table, the lamplight pooling gold over the battered leather. Her thumb found the crease she’d seen earlier, the page that had already begun to split from the binding.The first line was as she remembered: If you’re reading this, it means I’ve run out of time.She read on.They told me to disappear. To become no one. But

The rain didn’t let up. It came down in cold sheets, soaking through the air with a bone-deep chill. The car’s headlights cut a narrow path through the mist as they approached the deserted port.The cannery loomed ahead—a hulking skeleton of corrugated metal and shattered windows. Rust streaked its sides like dried blood, and the sound of waves slapping against the docks echoed through the fog.Luciano slowed the car to a crawl, killing the lights a block away. He leaned forward, scanning the shadows. “Two men by the south entrance,” he murmured. “Armed.”Aria’s grip on the knife in her coat pocket tightened. She didn’t see her father, but a prickling sensation crawled up her neck—like eyes watching from somewhere she couldn’t pinpoint.Luciano opened his door, stepping out into the rain. “Stay behind me. No matter what.”They moved along the side of the building, boots silent on the slick concrete. Every step closer, the smell of salt and oil thickened. The south entrance came into v

Luciano’s hand was still gripping my chin when the door slammed open.For a split second, the only sound in the room was my heartbeat—loud, frantic, betraying me. Then I saw him.Matteo.Alive.I had watched him fall. I had seen the blood pool beneath his body. And yet, there he was, standing in the doorway, pale but breathing, his gun drawn and his eyes locked on Luciano.Luciano didn’t flinch. His grip on me tightened instead, his voice low and mocking.“So… the dead rise after all.”“You lied,” Matteo rasped, his gaze flicking from me to Luciano, reading every tremor in my body. “You told her I was gone. You used my death to chain her to you.”Luciano smirked, as if Matteo’s outrage amused him. “And yet, here she stands, not running to you. Curious, isn’t it?”I tried to speak, but my voice came out in a whisper. “Matteo…”He took a step forward, the barrel of his gun steady. “Let her go, or I swear—”“You swear?” Luciano cut him off with a scoff. “You swore an oath to me once, rem