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Lahat ng Kabanata ng STOLEN BY THE DON: Kabanata 31 - Kabanata 40

120 Kabanata

THE RAGE

Luca didn't return to the study after leaving Sienna; instead, he found himself in the estate's gym, a space he rarely used anymore, preferring the controlled violence of his work to the meaningless release of physical exertion. But tonight, he needed something—anything—to channel the storm building inside him. He'd destroyed an innocent woman's life chasing a ghost; kidnapped her, imprisoned her, traumatized her—all because he'd been too obsessed, too damaged, too consumed by a fifteen-year-old memory to see reality. She'd already been broken and put herself back together through sheer determination—and then he'd shattered her again, stolen the fragile peace she'd fought so hard to build. His first punch hit the heavy bag with enough force to send pain shooting up his arm; he welcomed it, hit again, harder this time, putting all his self-loathing into the impact. The girl with the scar on her wrist; the twelve-year-old who'd been so desperate to escape pain that she'd tried

WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?

And the worst part, the part that was tearing him apart, was that Sienna had survived hell before he'd ever touched her."So I'm trapped too," Luca laughed bitterly. "Trapped by my own actions, by the uncertainty I've created, by the knowledge that anything she feels could be manufactured by circumstances rather than real emotion." "That's your penance," Matteo agreed. "Living with uncertainty, with guilt, with the knowledge that you destroyed something precious before you even knew it existed." Luca stood, moving to the window again; outside, he could see the art studio where Sienna was probably still painting, processing the devastating news about her twin through the only language she truly trusted. "She deserves better than me," he said quietly. "She deserves someone who didn't kidnap her, who didn't force her into this nightmare, who could offer her love without the shadow of violence and coercion hanging over everything." "Yes," Matteo agreed simply. "She does; but that's

THE ULTIMATUM

Sienna woke to find Luca standing in her room—his room, technically, the one he'd moved her into weeks ago; dawn light filtered through the curtains, painting everything in shades of gray and gold. He looked like he hadn't slept; his clothes were the same ones he'd worn yesterday, wrinkled now, and there was something haunted in his eyes that made her sit up slowly, instinctively wary. "What's wrong?" she asked, her voice still rough with sleep. "I need to talk to you," Luca said, his voice strangely flat. "Now, before I lose my nerve, before I convince myself silence is kinder." Sienna pulled the blanket around herself, suddenly feeling vulnerable in her sleep clothes. "It's barely sunrise, Luca; whatever this is, can it wait until—" "No," he interrupted, moving closer. "It can't wait; I've spent all night thinking, pacing, trying to find the right words—and I've realized there are no right words, no gentle way to say what needs to be said." He sat on the edge of the bed,

WHATEVER CAME NEXT

"So what?" Sienna's voice rose, desperation bleeding through. "I'm just supposed to accept this? Accept that I'll never be free, that you're going to keep me here forever because you've decided your feelings trump my rights?" "No," Luca said quietly. "You don't have to accept anything; you can hate me, fight me, spend every day making my life hell—I'll still keep you here, still refuse to let you go, because losing you is worse than being hated by you." He stepped back, giving her space to breathe. "I'm giving you an ultimatum, though it's not much of one; you can stay as my prisoner, fighting me every step of the way, making this a war of wills that destroys us both—or you can stay as my partner, my equal in everything except freedom, building something real despite the twisted foundation." "That's not a choice," Sienna said, her voice shaking. "That's just two different versions of captivity dressed up as options." "I know," Luca agreed. "But it's all I can offer; I've tried

THE FIRST TEAR

Sienna didn't leave her room for the rest of that day; she sat by the window, staring out at grounds she'd tried to escape from, feeling the weight of Luca's ultimatum pressing down on her like physical force. He wouldn't let her go; after everything, after promising freedom, after seeming to understand the magnitude of what he'd done—he'd chosen himself over her autonomy, proven that his obsession was stronger than any moral compass. She should hate him completely now, should feel nothing but rage and betrayal; and part of her did, the part that had survived captivity before, that knew how to build walls and turn emotions into weapons. But another part of her, smaller and more dangerous, couldn't stop thinking about the look in his eyes when he'd made his confession; the raw pain, the self-loathing, the genuine anguish of a man who knew he was doing something unforgivable but couldn't stop himself. That part confused her, made her question everything she thought she understoo

Desperate 2

"Until I saw you," Luca agreed. "And I thought finally, after all this time, I'd found her—found the missing piece that would make me whole again; but you weren't her, could never be her, because you're not gentle or soft-spoken or sweet." "I know," Sienna said, familiar bitterness creeping into her voice. "I'm the damaged one, the wrong twin, the one who survived hell instead of being rescued from it." "No," Luca said sharply, turning to face her fully. "You're not the damaged one—or if you are, it's a damage that makes you stronger, fiercer, more real than any fantasy Serena was my escape from darkness, but you—you're someone who's lived in darkness and refused to let it win; there's a difference between being saved from monsters and fighting them yourself." Sienna felt tears threatening and fought them back. "Don't do that; don't try to make keeping me prisoner sound noble by claiming I'm stronger or better than the woman you actually wanted." "I'm not trying to make it no

THIRD OPTION

"I know," Sienna said, but she didn't pull away from his touch. "But I'm crying anyway—for you, for me, for the impossibility of this entire situation. I'm crying because I should hate you completely and I don't, because something's shifted between us and I don't know how to navigate it." "Then we're both lost," Luca said, his hand still cupping her face. "Both drowning in something neither of us knows how to handle." Luca's arms came around her carefully, as if she were made of glass; he held her while she cried, while she let out everything she'd been holding back—rage, grief, confusion and something that might have been the beginning of affection she had no right to feel. "I hate this," she whispered against his chest. "I hate that you've taken my choices, that you've trapped me here, that you've made it impossible to feel anything clean and uncomplicated." "I hate it too," Luca said into her hair. "I hate what I've done, who I've become, the fact that I'm too weak to let

THE STRAIN

"I want to bargain," Sienna corrected. "You have all the power, all the control but I have something you want, something you can't take by force; my willing participation, my choice to build something real rather than just endure captivity. That's valuable, Luca, and it should be worth something." Luca leaned back in his chair, studying her with an expression she couldn't quite read. "What do you want?" "Freedom," Sienna said simply. "Not permanent freedom, not escape but periods of time where I can leave, go places, live parts of my life outside these walls. You said you can't let me go completely, fine but give me pieces of freedom, controlled releases where I can breathe without feeling the cage closing in." "No," Luca said immediately, his voice hardening. "That's not possible." "Why not?" Sienna challenged. "You're worried I'll run, that I'll disappear the moment I'm beyond your reach. So come with me, send guards, put trackers on me if you must but give me the il

YOU BELONG TO MY MISTAKE

"You're asking me to choose between keeping you completely safe and giving you a reason to want to be here," he said. "That's an impossible choice." "No, it's not," Sienna said, joining him at the window. "You just have to decide which matters more—possession or partnership, control or connection; you can have one or the other, Luca, but you can't have both." He turned to look at her, and she saw it clearly—the terrified boy who'd lost everyone he loved, who'd learned that control was the only protection against loss. "Freedom?" he said, and then he laughed—a harsh, bitter sound that held no humor. "You want to bargain for freedom, as if it's something I can negotiate away in pieces? Sienna, don't you understand? Freedom isn't on the table; it never was, never will be." "What do you mean?" Sienna asked, her stomach dropping. "You belong to my mistake," Luca said, the words coming out raw and unfiltered. "The moment I took you, the moment I let my obsession override everyth

THE SMILE

Dinner that evening was a tense affair; Sienna sat across from Luca at the unnecessarily large dining table, both of them picking at food neither seemed to want, the silence between them heavy with everything left unsaid. The conversation from that morning still hung in the air—his refusal to negotiate, his brutal honesty about her belonging to his mistake, the finality of her imprisonment; Sienna had spent the day in the gardens, pacing like a caged animal, trying to process the reality that there would be no compromise, no middle ground, no escape. Now, forced into proximity again, she felt rage building in her chest—not the hot, explosive kind, but something colder, more calculated, the kind of anger that came from complete powerlessness. "You need to eat," Luca said quietly, gesturing to her nearly untouched plate. "We leave early tomorrow for Milan; you'll need your strength." "Don't," Sienna said, her voice tight. "Don't pretend to care about my wellbeing when you've

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