جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 40

QUAN The photo hit like a bullet. Lia. Bruised. Bound. Blindfolded. Salve stood at the head of the table, his expression unreadable but his knuckles were white around the edge of the polished wood. Dimitri paced near the windows, smoke curling from the cigarette between his fingers. And me — I couldn’t look away from that photo. The bruises. The faint smear of blood at her lip. The woman who had changed everything we were. The woman they called wife — and I… never dared to call mine. I was supposed to protect her. Dimitri had trusted me with that. Salve had given his silent approval. And still — she was gone. Dimitri’s voice broke through the silence, low and sharp. “They said to come alone. Twelve hours.” His tone was flat, but his eyes burned. Dimitri didn’t raise his voice when he was truly angry — he got calm. That was worse. Salve leaned back slowly, gaze flicking between the message on the phone and me. “You were with her.” It was a fact but it cut just th

QUANThe drive back to the mansion was silent. Dimitri sat at the wheel, one hand gripping it so tight the leather creaked, the other resting on his gun. His jaw hadn’t unclenched once.Lia sat in the backseat, wrapped in one of Dimitri’s coats. The headlights painted her face in flashes. Every time I looked back, she was staring out the window, eyes distant, lost in her memories. By the time we reached the mansion, dawn had started bleeding into the horizon. The guards were already lined up at the gates, tension rolling off them in waves. The minute the car stopped, the front doors opened.Sia ran out barefoot, robe half-tied, eyes wide with worry.“Lia!”She didn’t wait for permission; she pulled her straight into her arms. Lia froze for a second, then melted into the embrace, the sound that escaped her somewhere between a sob and a breath.Sia looked up at me over her shoulder, relief softening her face. “Thank you,” she whispered.I only nodded. There wasn’t much to say.Dimitri

EASTER BUNNY A metal pipe clattered across the floor as he kicked it, curses spilling under his breath like poison. He tore off his mask — the painted white rabbit face with the hollow eyes — and hurled it against the wall. It cracked down the middle, bouncing twice before landing at his feet. “Useless,” he snarled. “Absolutely useless.” The echo mocked him. He ran a hand through his hair, pacing like a caged animal. He’d come so close. The girl was right there — tied up, already broken at the surface, even if she tried pretending otherwise. He had been inches away from owning her. From selling her. From ruining her. And then— That brat. That pretty-faced little loyal dog. Quan. “They think this is over.” A slow, poisonous smile crept up his face. “They think they won. " And in the centre, the screenshot he’d printed of Lia the night he took her — her terrified eyes looking straight at the camera. “She was supposed to be my message,” he whispered. “A pretty lit

LIA “Quan?” “Yeah?” “My stepmother,” I whispered. “What… what’s going to happen to her?” The soft clatter of a servant placing dishes in the far corner faded. “Dimitri and Salve still have her,” he said quietly. “She’s being held in one of the guest wings.” “She was part of it,” I said, voice thin. “Part of… everything that happened to me.” “I know,” he murmured. “What are they going to do to her?” The question fractured in my throat. “Will they kill her?” He didn’t answer immediately. His thumb brushed over the back of my hand. “They won’t touch her unless you want them to,” he finally said. “Dimitri gave me his word.” “My word?” I echoed. “Why should it matter? After everything she did—” “Because it’s your trauma,” Quan said gently. “Your story. Your choice.” My breath caught. “You don’t owe her forgiveness,” he said. “You don’t owe her a second chance.” “And you definitely don’t owe her pain.” I blinked. “Pain?” “Li… you’re not the kind of p

LIA Salve folded his hands. “We’ve decided.” Quan straightened beside me. “About her stepmother?” “Partly,” Salve said, voice calm. “But also about you two.” Dimitri’s grin sharpened. “Congrats, lovebirds. You’re going into Greater-Glass hiding.” My stomach dipped. “Both of us?” “Yes,” Dimitri answered, far too quickly. “Together. One location. Off-grid. Tight quarters.” His eyes gleamed. “Unfortunate, I know.” Quan stiffened. “That’s usually reserved for—” “Situations where we need people safe,” Salve cut in. “Where nothing—no one—can reach them.” “And,” Dimitri added, tapping the table, “where they can’t reach each other’s throats either.” His smile tilted wickedly. “Or where they might. In a different way.” “Enough,” Salve said gently, though his lips twitched. “Lia needs protection. And Quan”—his voice softened—“you’re the only one she trusts enough for this.” Dimitri clasped his hands dramatically. “Plus, she won’t sleep unless you’re breathing in the same f