All Chapters of BETRAYED BY MY MATE CLAIMED BY HIS STEPBROTHER : Chapter 41 - Chapter 46

NATALIA DE LUCA…….For a moment, I thought I misheard him.The café hummed around us, cups clinking, voices rising and falling but all I heard was his voice, low and steady, dropping a bomb between us.“Marry me.”My fingers froze around my coffee cup. My heart gave a sharp, traitorous lurch in my chest. I hadn’t expected him to move this fast. Teasing him at the banquet, staging a “chance” encounter outside the boutique, orchestrating today’s little blind date, all of it was meant to plant seeds, to stir curiosity, to make him chase.But Knox Davenport didn’t chase like other men. He devoured.I stared at him, letting the silence stretch, watching the way he leaned forward, eyes locked on me like he’d already made up his mind. That intensity in his eyes, it was dangerous. Addictive.I forced a laugh, soft and disbelieving. “You can’t be serious.”He didn’t blink. “Do I look like I’m joking?”God, the way he said it, like he could tear the world apart just to hand me the pieces. For

NATALIA DE LUCA…..The first thing I felt was pain. Excruciating pain in my back. My lashes fluttered open, and for a moment I didn’t recognize the walls in front of me, white, smooth, unfamiliar. Not home. Not prison.Where am I?My heart stuttered, panic clawing its way into my chest. I was lying on my back. I sat up with a jerk, breath catching in my throat, eyes darting across the room. Clean walls, expensive furnishings, an armchair tucked neatly by the window. Everything spoke of wealth, of order, yet nothing I had ever seen before.Where am I?I clutched the blanket tighter around me, every muscle wound tight as a bowstring. My ears strained at the faintest sound. Then…The door clicked open.My head snapped toward it, every nerve braced for the worst.And then he walked in.Knox Davenport.He carried a glass jug of water in his hand, casual as if he owned not just this house but the air itself. His dark hair was damp, his shirt sleeves rolled up, and when his eyes landed on me

ARIELLA…..For the first time since I came to the Green Jade Pack, I had allowed myself a little indulgence. A dress, nothing warlike, nothing sharp-edged, just silk and shimmer for my birthday banquet next weekend. A birthday I had actually decided to celebrate, not hide from. I remember smiling as I folded the bag on my lap, thinking of Zach’s expression when he saw me in it.That smile died the moment our car lurched and coughed to a dead stop.We were near the border. Too near. I was coming back from the city after buying a dress for myself. The road stretched into shadows where trees bent inward like watching soldiers, and the silence was wrong. My skin prickled.The driver, a man Zach had assigned, or so I thought cursed under his breath, then turned to me with a stiff expression. “Stay inside, Luna. I’ll check.”Something in his tone set my nerves on edge, but I nodded and stayed seated, fingers tight on the dress bag as if it could anchor me. I watched him step out, lift the h