All Chapters of BOUGHT,TAMED AND TAKEN : Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

Aria had never felt fear quite like this—not even when she’d been auctioned off like cattle, not even when Luciano had first locked her in his golden cage. This… this was different.Because this time, she was walking into the fire alone.The private jet hummed beneath her, sleek and silent as it sliced through the clouds. A steward, faceless and silent, had handed her a drink she didn’t touch. She sat rigid in her seat, her hands folded tightly in her lap, her heart racing like a war drum. Her only armor was her mind—and the hope that Luciano was already planning the bloodbath to come.She touched the hidden earpiece Dante had helped her secure. “Can you hear me?”Static.Then a voice.“Loud and clear,” came Luciano’s growl.Her heart unclenched at the sound.“If he touches you—”“Then you burn everything,” she said softly. “I remember.”The line went silent again, but she could feel him there. Watching. Waiting.When the jet landed, Aria was escorted off the tarmac by two men with sh

The night smelled of smoke and gunpowder.The burning compound behind them painted the sky in violent shades of orange, but Luciano’s eyes were fixed only on the figure ahead.The woman stood in the middle of the road as if the chaos didn’t touch her. Her black coat moved slightly in the wind, her hands tucked in the pockets like she was waiting for a taxi instead of facing the man who had just turned Damian Carrera’s empire to ash.Aria’s grip on Luciano’s hand tightened. “Who is she?” she asked again, her voice low.Luciano didn’t answer immediately. His jaw clenched once, twice, like he was holding back words that might break something in both of them. Finally, his voice came, raw and quiet.“She’s supposed to be dead.”⸻They slowed, not because he wanted to, but because she wasn’t moving. Aria scanned her face—sharp cheekbones, dark eyes that seemed to peel back layers with a glance, lips curved into a smile that didn’t reach those eyes.“Luciano,” the woman said, her tone like s

The voice was like a shard of ice down Aria’s spine.Luciano froze mid-step, his shoulders going rigid, gun lifting toward the shattered window.Aria’s breath hitched. The moonlight framed a silhouette outside—tall, slim, a cascade of hair moving in the night wind. Isabella.“You’re not supposed to be here,” Luciano growled.Isabella’s laugh drifted through the jagged opening. “And yet, here I am. Isn’t that the problem with cages, Luciano? They keep things in… but they also keep things out—until someone decides to break them.”Luciano moved between Aria and the window, shielding her. “Get out before I make you regret stepping on my land.”“Your land?” Isabella tilted her head, eyes gleaming in the silver light. “Everything you have is mine, including her.”⸻Aria gripped the sheets to steady her trembling hands. “Why me?” she asked before she could stop herself.Isabella’s smile was slow and deliberate. “Because you were supposed to die before you ever touched him. But fate… or his a

The convoy moved through the city like a blade through silk, silent and fast, but every turn brought them deeper into the kind of streets where shadows whispered and windows never opened.Aria sat rigid in the back seat, the envelope with Isabella’s handwriting burning in her lap. Your father. The words wouldn’t stop replaying in her head, each repetition cutting deeper. She had spent years believing he was dead—gone without a trace. Now Isabella was dangling him like bait.Luciano sat beside her, silent, his fingers drumming against the handle of his gun. Every so often, his gaze flicked to her, checking—measuring—like he could read her pulse from her skin.⸻They reached the waterfront again, but this time not the public docks. This was the underbelly of the city—a place where rusted ships swayed like corpses and the smell of oil and salt clung to the air.The Black Orchid was no flower. It was a club hidden in an abandoned cargo terminal, a fortress of steel doors and reinforced gl

The echo of the gunshot tore through the Black Orchid, shattering the tense stillness into a storm of motion. Glassware clattered, chairs scraped, and panicked screams rose like a tide.Aria’s ears rang, every muscle seizing in terror. She clung to her father, her nails digging into the fabric of his jacket, trying to shield him with her own body.His body jerked, and her heart stopped.“Papa—”But when she looked, it wasn’t him bleeding.⸻One of Luciano’s men lay on the ground, his face twisted in pain, clutching his chest where blood poured between his fingers.The shooter wasn’t Isabella—it was one of her guards. The man still held his gun, arm raised, scanning for his next target.Luciano moved before anyone else could. His gun barked twice, the sound thunderous in the confined space. The guard staggered back, crashing into a table, then crumpled in a heap.Shouts erupted, bodies scattering. Aria caught a glimpse of Isabella in the chaos, her pale dress flashing in the dim lig