Semua Bab Taken by my stepfather : Bab 41 - Bab 50

Daniel’s POVThe iron scent of the basement clung to me like a second skin. It was in the fibers of my shirt, under my fingernails, and coating the back of my throat. Violence, when done in such a way, has a way of lingering. It is a primitive residue.I looked at Eden. She was standing in the center of the room, her white silk robe splattered with the red spray of a man who no longer mattered. She looked like a fallen angel standing in the middle of a slaughterhouse. Her eyes were wide, fixed on the door where Miller had been dragged out, but the hollow horror that had occupied them for years was beginning to be replaced by something else.Shock. And a dark, burgeoning realization of her own power."It’s over," I said, my voice sounding like gravel under a heavy boot.I didn't wait for her to respond. I grabbed her hand, my grip firm and unyielding, and led her out of the cold air of the lower levels. We moved through the house like ghosts. The staff had vanished; Victoria had seen t

Daniel’s POVThe room was quiet, save for the ragged breathing of the woman in my arms. Eden was a collapsed star, heavy, glowing with the heat of the discipline I had just administered, and entirely centered in my orbit. The red welts on her thighs were beginning to deepen into a rich, angry crimson, a visual receipt of the debt she had paid.I carried her to the leather chaise in the corner of the room. I didn't want to leave just yet. The air in here was thick with the scent of her submission, a musk that acted on my nervous system like a drug."You took it well," I murmured, resting her head against the cool leather. I picked up a glass of water, holding it to her lips. "Better than I expected for a woman who has spent her life bracing for the blow. You didn't just endure the sting, Eden. You chased it."She drank, her throat working as she swallowed. When she looked up at me, the pupils of her eyes were so blown they nearly swallowed the irises. "Because with you... I know why it

Eden’s POVThe morning air in the master wing was quiet. I stepped out of Daniel’s room wearing nothing but a man’s white shirt he had left for me, the scent of cedar and powder clinging to the shirt. I felt different. The weight of his presence in the bed next to me all night, even without a touch, had centered me. I felt like a weapon that had finally been polished.Then, the silence shattered."You."The voice was a jagged shard of glass. I looked up to see Lilian standing at the end of the long, sun-drenched hallway. She was dressed in a Chanel suit that cost more than my first foster family’s car, her face a mask of perfectly applied rage. She looked like the woman the world saw: refined, elite, and untouchable.But I saw the rot beneath the paint.She moved faster than I expected. Before I could even draw a breath to greet her, she was in my space. Her hand blurred through the air.CRACK.The slap was so hard my head snapped to the side. The sting was hot and immediate, but unli

Eden’s POVThe kiss crushed my lips against his teeth, his tongue invading mine like he owned every inch of my mouth. I tasted blood, but the blood was mine, from the split lip Lilian had given me, and it mixed with his spit, salty and raw. My hands clawed at his shirt, bunching the fabric to pull him closer, but he grabbed my wrists in a vise grip, slamming them behind my back. His single iron hand pinned them there, unyielding, while his other hand fisted my hair, yanking my head back to expose my throat."You think you fought for yourself?" Daniel growled against my skin, his teeth sinking into the tender flesh of my neck, hard enough to bruise deep purple blooms. The pain shot straight to my core, a white-hot spark that made my thighs clench. "Property doesn't fight. Property submits. Say it.""I submit, Sir," I gasped, my voice already breaking, the words tumbling out like a prayer.He shoved me back onto the bed, my legs splaying wide under his weight as he loomed over me. His f

Daniel’s POVI watched from the shadows of the bar as Lilian retreated.She walked with a stiffness that betrayed the tremors in her soul. To the rest of the room, she looked like a woman returning from a brief, perhaps tense, chat with an acquaintance. To me, she looked like a building whose foundation had finally turned to ash.I waited ten seconds. Long enough for her table to become deafening. Long enough for her "date"—a man I’d personally ruined in a merger three years ago and who was now clearly a desperate attempt at a rebound—to look at her with the pity she so richly deserved.Then, I walked back to Eden.She looked magnificent. She hadn't moved an inch, her posture perfect, her expression a mask of serene, dangerous satisfaction. She had just performed a public execution without raising her voice, and she hadn't even spilled her wine."Everything alright?" I asked, though I knew the answer."Perfect," she said.I leaned down and kissed her. I didn't care about the rules of