All Chapters of The Ceo’s Unwanted Claim: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

"You are the bucket catching the water."He walked back to the table. He grabbed the folder. He ripped it open. Papers flew everywhere."This isn't work!" he yelled, throwing the pages into the air. "This is a message! This is Tanaka laughing at me! He is using you to pass notes in class!""He's giving you the weapon!" I screamed back, standing up. "Who cares where it came from? It destroys him! Isn't that what you wanted?""I wanted your loyalty!" Dante roared. "Not his charity!"He stormed over to the wall. To the large flat-screen monitor mounted there."You think you are clever," he whispered. "You think because I didn't find the phone call, I don't know."He grabbed a remote. He clicked a button.The screen flared to life.It wasn't a TV channel. It was a security feed.Grainy. Black and white. High angle.It showed the Archives room.My blood turned to ice."You said there was a blind spot," Dante said softly. "Kenji Sato said there was a blind spot in the hallway."He looked at

"I claimed my wife," he said."I am not your wife.""You screamed my name," Dante said. "That is a vow."He walked to the door."Clean yourself up," he said. "We have a message to send.""What message?""To Tanaka," Dante said. "He sent me a note. I am going to send him a response."He opened the door."And Evelina?"I looked at him."Do not try to hide things in boxes anymore," he said. "It insults my intelligence."He left.I lay in the bed for a long time. I listened to the sound of the shower running in the guest bathroom.I touched my lip. It was swollen. I touched my neck. It was throbbing.I thought about Kenji Sato. I thought about his gentle hand.You are not alone.I closed my eyes.Dante thought he had erased him. He thought he had scrubbed the memory away with his violence.But he was wrong.He had just made the memory sharper. He had made the contrast clearer.Kenji was gentle. Dante was cruel.And I knew which one I wanted to survive.The next morning the city was grey.

The world did not end with a bang. It ended with the soft click of a wooden box closing.Dante shut the lid. He hid the finger. He hid the silver ring with the turquoise stone. But he could not hide the image that was now burned into the back of my eyelids.I was on the floor of the vault. The cold concrete seeped through my dress, chilling my skin, but I was already freezing from the inside out. I couldn't breathe. My lungs felt like they had filled with concrete."Evelina."Dante’s voice was far away. He was crouching in front of me. He looked huge. Terrifying. His face was a mask of violence barely contained by human skin."Look at me," he commanded.I shook my head. I couldn't look at him. If I looked at him, I would have to acknowledge that this was real. That my sister—my innocent, sick baby sister—had been mutilated because I had signed a contract with a devil."She needs that hand," I whispered. The logic was fractured, hysterical. "She paints. She draws. She needs her hands,

The black sedan was waiting exactly where the note said it would be.It was parked in the shadows of the underground garage, a sleek, armored beast that looked more like a weapon than a car. I ran toward it, my heels echoing like gunshots in the empty concrete cavern.My hands were shaking so badly I dropped the keys twice before I managed to unlock the door.I threw myself into the driver’s seat. The smell of leather and new car scent hit me, sterile and cold. I jammed the key into the ignition. The engine roared to life, a deep, guttural growl that vibrated through the steering wheel.I didn't think. I didn't plan. I just drove.I tore out of the garage, swiping the keycard Luca had given me at the gate. The arm lifted.I was out.I was on the street. The rain was coming down in sheets, blurring the city lights into streaks of neon and gray. I merged into traffic, my heart pounding a frantic rhythm against my ribs.I am free.But I wasn't free. I was just loose.I reached for the da

The townhouse was not a home. It was a grave standing upright on a quiet street in the Upper East Side.It was a narrow limestone building squeezed between two larger pre-war apartments. The windows were dark. There was no doorman. There was no awning to protect us from the rain that was still falling in sheets.The SUV stopped at the curb.Dante didn't speak. He got out and walked around to my side. He opened the door.He didn't drag me this time. He just stood there and waited.It was a test.If I tried to run he would catch me. If I tried to scream he would silence me. He wanted to see if I would walk into the prison on my own two feet.I stepped out of the car. My legs were numb. My dress was soaked and heavy clinging to my skin like a cold second layer. I shivered violently but I locked my knees to keep from falling.I walked to the front door.Dante followed close behind me. I could feel his body heat radiating against my back. It was the only warmth in the world.He unlocked th