Lahat ng Kabanata ng BOUGHT,TAMED AND TAKEN : Kabanata 121 - Kabanata 130

The storm had not let go of the city. Rain fell in sheets against the cobblestones, the night alive with the hiss of water and the low growl of thunder. The Moretti estate gates groaned open, and two black SUVs roared into the darkness. Luciano sat behind the wheel of the lead car, his eyes like sharpened blades fixed on the wet road ahead.Aria sat in the passenger seat, her hands clenched tightly together in her lap. Every muscle in her body vibrated with fear and adrenaline. She kept stealing glances at Luciano—the way his jaw flexed, the way his knuckles whitened around the wheel. He looked like a man possessed, a storm himself.“She knows these streets,” Aria whispered over the sound of the rain.“She won’t get far,” Luciano muttered. “Not in this weather. She’s desperate, and desperation makes people sloppy.”Matteo’s voice crackled through the radio from the second car. “She took the service road by the east wall. There are tire marks—small car, heading into the industrial quar

Rain hammered the windshield like bullets, wipers screeching against glass as Matteo pushed the SUV to its limits. The city blurred past in streaks of gray and orange firelight, but in the rearview mirror the glow of headlights burned steady—closer, multiplying.“They’re on us,” Aria whispered, her throat dry, her pulse thundering.Luciano leaned forward, his hand braced on Matteo’s shoulder, his eyes narrowing as he caught sight of the convoy closing in. Black sedans, four… no, five, their sleek silhouettes cutting through the storm like wolves scenting blood.“It’s Sofia’s men,” Luciano muttered, voice low, lethal. “She didn’t waste time.”“Boss, if they box us in on the bridge, we’re done,” Matteo said, knuckles white around the steering wheel.Luciano’s hand brushed Aria’s thigh, steadying her though his own body was wound tight like coiled wire. His eyes locked on hers, stormy and unyielding. “No matter what happens, don’t let go of me. You hear me?”She nodded, though her chest

The words sliced through the rain.“Take her.”Sofia’s voice rang clear, cruel, and final. The guns surrounding them all tilted in unison, the metallic sound of safeties clicking off echoing across the docks.Aria froze. For a single heartbeat, her mind blanked, her body refusing to move. She wasn’t sure what terrified her more—that these men might obey instantly, or that Luciano might lose himself in his fury before she even drew another breath.Beside her, Luciano was stone. He didn’t flinch, didn’t blink. His gun remained raised, his posture unyielding against the storm. But Aria, standing close enough to feel the tremor of his rage, knew he was seconds away from snapping.Matteo shifted behind them, his hand near his holster, eyes flicking between the armed men. “Boss…” His voice was low, urgent.Luciano spoke at last, his tone steady but so sharp it could’ve cut through steel. “The first man who moves toward her dies.”For a moment, the rain was the only sound. It drummed against

The pressure of Isadora’s hand crushed against Aria’s throat, grinding her spine against cold, slick concrete. Rain hammered down, soaking through her clothes, stinging her eyes, but it was nothing compared to the raw terror of that grip.Aria’s vision blurred at the edges, her chest burning with the desperate need for air. She clawed at Isadora’s wrist, nails scraping skin, but the woman’s strength was unyielding.“You…” Aria rasped, her voice strangled.Isadora’s face hovered inches above hers, sharp and beautiful even in the stormlight, her lips curling into something between a smirk and a snarl.“You were never supposed to survive,” she whispered again, her words like poison dripped into Aria’s ear.⸻Gunfire still tore the dock apart, but for Aria, the world had narrowed to that single voice, that single betrayal.Memories slammed into her—Isadora standing in the estate’s shadows, speaking with a softness that made Aria believe she was an ally, a confidante, maybe even a friend.

The air in the Moretti estate felt heavy, as though every chandelier, every marble pillar, was bowing beneath the weight of secrets finally exposed. Aria stood frozen in the grand hall, Luciano’s hand hovering near her wrist but not touching, as though even he was afraid the truth might drive her further away.Her father was alive.Alive.The words echoed like gunfire in her skull. All the nights she’d wept for him, all the pain of thinking she was utterly alone in this world—it had been built on a lie.“Aria…” Luciano’s voice was low, steady, but not without a tremor. His dark eyes searched hers, not with the cold dominance she had once known, but with something rawer. Fear.She turned on him, chest heaving. “You knew.”Luciano inhaled sharply. “I suspected. Not for long, Aria—I swear. But Isadora moved faster than I expected.”“Suspected?” Her laugh was jagged, broken. “You chained me to you, ripped me from the ashes of my life, all while knowing—knowing—he might still be out there!