Semua Bab Heels & Handcuffs - Club Gold Trilogy: Bab 91 - Bab 100

Bella. The penthouse was quiet, darkness broken only by the city lights filtering through the windows. I couldn't sleep—too many thoughts racing through my mind, too much awareness of what I'd said to Nick earlier. I love you. And he'd said it back. The words echoed in my head, both thrilling and terrifying. I'd said them to Marcus once, in the early days when I'd still believed his version of love. But this was different. With Nick, with Alex, love didn't feel like a trap closing around me. It felt like freedom, like possibility, like coming home to a place I'd never known existed. I got out of bed and padded down the hallway, drawn by the light spilling from under Nick's door like a moth to flame. My bare feet were silent on the plush carpet. I knocked softly, my knuckles barely making a sound, and his voice called out, "Come in." He was sitting up in bed, sketching something on his tablet, shirtless and beautiful in the dim lamplight. The warm glow cast shadows across the pla

Bella. I stood in the shower, letting the hot water pound against my skin, trying to wash away the panic that had seized me the moment I saw that package. Forty-six hours. In forty-six hours, Marcus's deadline would be up. And then what? Would he storm the building? Send someone else to take me? Hurt Alex and Nick to get to me? The thought made my stomach heave, and I braced myself against the tile wall, fighting back nausea. I'd been doing so well. Learning to feel safe again, learning to trust, even learning to want intimacy without fear. Last night with Nick had been beautiful—a revelation of what my body could feel when someone cared about my pleasure. But one package from Marcus had unraveled weeks of progress. I was right back where I'd started—terrified, powerless, convinced that escape was impossible. *No,* I told myself firmly. *You're not powerless. You have Alex and Nick. You have security. You have options.* But the fear was a living thing in my chest, constrictin

Bella. I woke up surrounded by warmth. Alex was behind me, his arm draped possessively over my waist, while Nick faced me, one hand tangled in my hair. The three of us were wound together so tightly I couldn't tell where one of us ended and another began. And I'd never felt more whole. Last night had been a revelation. Not just the physical pleasure—though that had been incredible—but the emotional intimacy of being with both of them at once. The way they'd moved together, anticipating each other's movements, working in perfect synchronization to bring me pleasure. It had felt like coming home. "You're thinking too loud," Nick murmured, his eyes still closed but a smile playing at his lips. "Sorry," I whispered back. "I'm just... processing." His eyes opened, warm and concerned. "Good processing or bad processing?" "Definitely good." I traced his jaw with my fingers. "Last night was perfect. You're both perfect." "We're far from perfect," Alex said from behind me, his voice

Alex. I stood at the window of my office, watching the street below with hawk-like intensity. Somewhere out there, Marcus Castellano was planning his next move. And every instinct I had screamed that it was going to be soon. "You're going to wear a hole in the floor," Nick said from the doorway. "He's out there. Close. I can feel it." "I know. I feel it too." Nick moved to stand beside me. "Sarah's got the building locked down tight. He can't get to her, Alex." "Can't he?" I turned to face my brother. "He got close enough to deliver that package. He knows exactly where she is. And now he's desperate, which makes him unpredictable." "So what do you want to do?" "I want to hunt him down and end this myself," I said, the words coming out harsh. "I want to make him understand that Bella is ours, and touching what's ours has consequences." Nick studied me carefully. "You're more worked up about this than I've ever seen you about anything. Even more than the Yamamoto deal that almo

Nick I watched Bella walk toward Marcus through the night vision scope, and every muscle in my body was coiled tight, ready to spring into action at the first sign of trouble. My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears. My hands gripped the edge of the maintenance shed so tightly my knuckles had gone white. Everything in me wanted to run to her, to put myself between her and the monster who'd hurt her, to eliminate the threat once and for all. "She's doing great," Alex murmured beside me, though I could hear the tension in his voice. We were hidden behind a maintenance shed, close enough to reach her in seconds but far enough that Marcus wouldn't spot us immediately. Close enough to protect her if things went south, but not so close we'd spook him before the FBI could get their evidence. "I hate this," I said through gritted teeth, watching Bella's small figure approach Marcus's darker silhouette. "Every instinct I have is screaming at me to get her out of there." "