All Chapters of BOUND TO THE BEAST : Chapter 41 - Chapter 48

POV: AriaFifty-three minutes. I watch the clock on Viktor's tablet count down, each second another nail in Luca's coffin.My wrists burn where the chains cut into them. I've been hanging here for hours, my shoulders screaming in agony. But the physical pain is nothing compared to the torture of watching that timer."Do you understand now?" Viktor says, circling me like a predator. "Do you see how perfectly everything has fallen into place?""You're insane.""No, my dear. I'm thorough." He stops in front of me, smiling that horrible smile. "I've been planning this for thirty years. Since your mother first caught my eye."My stomach turns. "My mother wanted nothing to do with you.""She chose wrong," Viktor says simply. "Chose your weak father over me. Over power. Over everything I could have given her. And look where it got her. Dead in a car accident that wasn't an accident at all."I already knew he killed her. But hearing him say it so casually makes me want to vomit."I was patien

POV: LucaPain wakes me before consciousness does. My chest burns like someone's driven hot coals under my skin. My shoulder throbs with each heartbeat. Everything hurts.But I'm alive. I force my eyes open. White ceiling. Fluorescent lights. The steady beep of monitors.Dr. Russo's clinic.Memory comes in flashes. Viktor's compound. The firefight. Aria chained to a wall. The gun pointed at her head.Me throwing myself in front of the bullet."Aria," I try to say, but my throat is raw, the word coming out as a croak.Movement to my left. Dr. Russo appears, checking the monitors."Mr. Moretti. Welcome back.""Aria," I say again, clearer this time. "Where is she?""Safe. She's been by your side for three days straight."Three days?"What happened?""The antidote worked. Slowly, but it worked. I had to put you in a medically induced coma to give your body time to process the toxin and heal from the trauma." She adjusts my IV. "You're going to survive, though you'll need extensive recover

POV: LucaI can't breathe. My father killed Dante's sister. Murdered an innocent woman to send a message.I sit in the hospital bed, staring at nothing, Dante's words echoing in my head."Your father ordered the hit."After everyone leaves, I force myself out of bed. Dr. Russo protests, but I ignore her. I need to know. Need to see the truth for myself.Marco drives me to the secondary mansion, the one that survived when Viktor's men burned the main estate. My father's office is here, preserved exactly as he left it when he died.I haven't been in this room in three years.The desk is mahogany, massive, imported from Italy. The shelves line the walls, filled with ledgers and records dating back thirty years.I start searching.It takes two hours, but I find it. A leather-bound ledger from five years ago. Handwritten entries in my father's precise script."March 15. Sophia Caruso becoming a problem. Meeting with federal investigators about shipping operations. Must be handled permanent

POV: AriaThe safe house balcony overlooks the city. Lights stretch to the horizon, a sea of illumination in the darkness.I grip the railing, watching the world below. Somewhere out there, the captains are gathering. Tomorrow they'll vote. Tomorrow they'll decide if a twenty-four-year-old woman can lead the most powerful criminal empire in the city.Tomorrow I either make history or become it."You're going to wear a hole in that railing."I turn. Luca stands in the doorway, barefoot, shirtless, concern etched on his face."Can't sleep," I say."I noticed." He moves beside me, his warmth cutting through the night chill. "Want to talk about it?""What if they don't choose me?" The words tumble out. "What if I'm not strong enough? Not smart enough? What if Viktor's right and I'm just a child playing at being a gangster?"Luca is quiet for a moment. Then he turns me to face him, hands gentle on my shoulders."You escaped my torture chamber," he says. "Remember that? You were terrified,