All Chapters of Taken by my stepfathers: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Eden’s POVI sat on the edge of the hospital bed, staring at the floor. My hands were clenched in my lap, my shoulders tight, and my mind running in circles. I think it's best I leave.I need to leave.I didn’t say it out loud yet, but I knew it. This city, that house, this entire sick fantasy of a reunion, I was done.I came here for her. For my mother. And all I got was humiliation and rejection. A hollow woman playing house with her expensive clothes and empty heart. A woman who looked at me and saw nothing but competition.Tears streamed down my cheeks silently, but I didn’t bother wiping them. I let them fall because I was done self-pitying. Let the tears remind me how stupid I was to think I could be loved by someone like her.The door opened, and Lilian walked in wearing stilettos at nine in the morning, holding a damn Birkin bag like she was doing a fashion shoot. She strutted into the room like she owned it, and when her eyes landed on me, she smirked.“Oh, I guess I have to

Daniel’s POVThe door clicked open after a soft knock. I didn’t bother looking up. I was in the middle of reading quarterly reports with a headache that could crack concrete.“Come in.”Someone stepped in. I looked up and nearly forgot how to breathe.Hair still damp from the shower. Skin glowing. Wearing one of those soft little tops that did nothing to hide her figure. She was holding a tray.“I brought coffee,” she said, her voice sweet and calm, like she wasn’t the most dangerous thing in this damn house.She walked over, placed the tray on my desk, and I forced myself to keep my eyes on the papers in front of me. Her scent hit me immediately, vanilla and soap and trouble. I clenched my jaw.“Victoria didn’t need to send you,” I muttered.“She didn’t. I asked,” she said softly.I looked up at her. That’s when she did it.She dropped to her knees. Right there, on the floor of my study. Calm and graceful, like she belonged there.Her hands rested lightly on her thighs, her head tilt

Eden’s POVThe morning light poured through the curtains, soft and golden, but nothing about it felt warm. I sat up slowly in bed, my eyes heavy and swollen from the night before. My cheek still throbbed faintly from Lilian’s slap, but that pain was background noise compared to the hollow ache sitting in my chest.Something inside me had gone quiet. It was like a switch had flipped. The part of me that craved connection, that wanted to be seen, to be loved, that part was dormant now. Burned out. I couldn’t afford to want anything from anyone anymore. Not Daniel, and not Lilian.I went to the bathroom and looked at my face in the mirror. The swelling had gone down. There was still a faint outline of the slap—a red shadow fading into my skin like a bruise that hadn’t fully bloomed.I didn’t feel like crying anymore. I didn’t feel anything. By the time the rest of the house was waking up, I was already dressed and heading out.“Miss Eden?” Victoria’s voice carried softly from the hallway

Eden’s POVMorning light spilled through the thin blinds of my apartment in pale golden stripes, cutting across the cracked ceiling and sliding slowly down the wall like it was testing the space before fully committing to it. Dust floated lazily in the beam, dancing like tiny fireflies. I blinked awake, my eyes adjusting to the brightness, my body still heavy with sleep. The couch creaked when I shifted.I didn't have a bed yet, but having a roof was better, and a secondhand couch I found on a curb two streets over with a handwritten sign taped to it that said FREE—STILL GOOD. The cushions dipped unevenly, and one spring poked my thigh if I lay too far to the left. I’d learned quickly how to position myself so I didn’t wake up feeling like I’d wrestled a metal monster in my sleep.I stretched slowly, arms reaching overhead until my shoulders popped, a quiet groan escaping my lips. The blanket slid off my legs and pooled onto the floor. My feet touched cold tile when I swung them down.

Eden's POVI left it unlocked on purpose. I knew it was Daniel. The groceries in the fridge that I never bought, the sheets that suddenly smelled fresh when I hadn’t washed them, the mirror that no longer had streaks even though I never touched it. It wasn’t just in my head. He’d been coming here. Quietly, without ever being seen. Leaving things, fixing things. Making my little shoebox apartment feel… safe.I didn’t know what to make of it. Obsession? Care? Guilt? I couldn’t tell. But I let it happen. I let him come and go like a ghost with keys. And last night, I left the door open just enough so if he came again, he wouldn’t have to unlock it.I don’t know what I wanted from that. Actually, I do, but I won’t say it. At least not out loud.The day went on like any other. I took the train to work, my earbuds in but no music playing. Just static and thoughts. I walked in, nodded to Claire, tied on my apron, and got to work.Until the universe decided I couldn’t even have a clean shirt.