جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 50

Riley's POV The moment I step fully into the boardroom, everything explodes.Chairs scrape loudly against the floor. Papers scatter. A few people actually jump up so fast their chairs fall backward. Some of them look like they want to bolt straight through the windows. One man stumbles into another. A woman gasps so loudly it echoes.They stare at me like I am not supposed to exist.Like I am a mistake.Like I crawled out of the grave and walked straight into their meeting.Before anyone can recover enough to run, I turn sharply and slam the door shut with all the strength I have left in me.The sound is loud. Final.I twist the key in the lock.Click.I pull the key out slowly, deliberately, and drop it into my bag.The room goes dead silent.You could hear a pin drop.I turn around and face them.They start backing away anyway.Men in suits. Women with tablets. Board members who once smiled at me and called me brilliant. They push back from the long table, panic written all over t

Riley's POV Immediately the words leave my lips, he grabs me by the neck.His hand wraps tight around my throat, choking me hard, cutting off my air as my back presses harder against the wall. My feet barely touch the floor as his grip tightens.“How dare you mess with me like this, Riley,” he snarls, his voice low and thick with rage. “I could snap your damn neck right now and face the fucking consequences.”His fingers squeeze harder, and spots begin to dance in front of my eyes.I claw at his hand with both of mine, scratching and pulling, trying desperately to get him off me, but he is far stronger than I am. My lungs burn as it feels like my air is being cut off completely.He leans in closer, his face right up against mine, his breath hot against my skin.“Perhaps I should also kill you,” he continues calmly, “just like I did to our son.”The words hit me like a bullet.My eyes widen so much it feels like they might pop out of my head.I struggle to speak, my throat crushed und

Riley's POV They stare at me for a while without saying anything, and one by one they turn and leave the room. Caden goes first. Then Gunnar follows him out, closing the door softly behind them. Only Cane remains. He stands there looking at me with those eyes that still have a little gold in them from earlier. I pull my knees tighter to my chest and whisper, “Leave too, please.” But it seems he is not buying that at all, because he starts walking toward me at once, slow, steady steps that make my heart race faster. I almost scream when the fear hits me hard again, remembering his claws and the blood, but he is quick enough to cover my mouth with his big warm hand, pressing it firmly but not too hard. “Keep quiet,” he says in a cold voice that sends chills down my back. I do it out of fear, nodding fast against his palm. He looks at me briefly, his face close to mine, and then he says, “I don’t know what triggered this, but we wouldn’t hurt you for anything. Do you understand?

Riley’s POV I have never felt this full before, not in my body, not in my head. It is like something calmed inside me after what happened with Caden, like a loud noise suddenly stopped and left only quiet behind. With Gunnar, it was different. It felt wild, rough, like he hated every second of it but could not stop himself no matter how hard he tried. With Caden, it felt reassuring. Like he knew exactly where to touch and when to pull away. The difference scares me because I do not understand why my body reacts to them at all. I push the thought away and rise from the bed slowly. My legs feel steady under me, which surprises me because after everything I have been through today, I expected to feel weak. I stand up fully and look around the room again. This place is not my apartment. That much is obvious. The room is large, clean, and expensive. The bed alone looks like it could cost more than everything I own combined. The curtains are thick and dark, but the windows behind them

Riley’s POV Horror grips my entire system so hard that my knees almost buckle under me.“Did I— did I do that?” I ask, my voice shaky as I stare at the torn pieces on the ground, my eyes wide as the realization crashes into me all at once. My heart is pounding like it wants to escape my body.For a second, no one answers, and that silence almost drives me insane.Then Gunnar scoffs.He steps forward with that cold look on his face, the one that makes it hard to read what he is thinking. “Do what?” he says mockingly. “Kill a scout?”I swallow hard, my throat dry.“Stop imagining things, Riley,” he continues flatly. “Scouts usually don’t survive long when they enter Obsidian Veil. The energy here destroys them.”He turns and walks off like the conversation never mattered.My heart finally starts beating properly again, and I let out a long breath I did not even realize I was holding. Relief washes over me so fast that my shoulders sag.So it wasn’t me.I didn’t do that. Yes, I'm norma