All Chapters of OWNED BY THE DEVIL: Chapter 131 - Chapter 140

158 Chapters

THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH

The Dominion Intelligence Headquarters was nothing like the council complex.It didn’t look powerful.It didn’t look impressive.In fact, the gray stone building standing near the center of the government district looked almost deliberately forgettable. No towering architecture. No grand entrances. No decorative emblems.Just a quiet building with narrow windows and controlled access points.The kind of place designed not to attract attention.Which, in a strange way, made it far more intimidating.I stood across the street for a moment, staring at it.“You can still turn around,” Dominic’s voice said softly in my earpiece.“I thought you said not to show fear.”“That was advice for Kessler.”“And for you?”“For me, I prefer honesty.”I exhaled slowly.“You’re watching the entrance cameras?”“Yes.”“And the internal security feeds?”“Most of them.”“Most?”“Intelligence buildings have secrets even I can’t bypass.”That was… not comforting.Vaelor’s voice suddenly joined the communicat

THE TRUTH BETWEEN TWO LIES

For a moment after Adrian Kessler spoke, the room felt smaller.Dominic Ardenthal once worked for me. The words echoed in my mind like something heavy settling into place. Dominic had told us he worked in intelligence, but he never said where, or who he worked under. And now the man sitting across from me was calmly claiming to have been his director.Kessler watched my reaction with quiet amusement.“I see Dominic never mentioned that part of his past.”I kept my voice steady.“He told me he worked in intelligence.”“Yes.”“But not for you.”Kessler smiled faintly.“That doesn’t surprise me.”“Why not?”“Because Dominic rarely talks about the past.”Dominic’s voice came through the earpiece again, low and controlled.Stay calm.I resisted the urge to glance toward the door.“You sound like you know him very well,” I said.Kessler leaned back comfortably in his chair.“I recruited him.”My pulse ticked upward.“You recruited Dominic.”“Yes.”“Why?”Kessler’s eyes gleamed slightly.“Be

A PAST THAT REFUSED TO STAY BURIED

Silence stretched across the office.The kind of silence that didn’t feel empty.It felt heavy.Dangerous.Adrian Kessler watched me with quiet patience, his fingers loosely folded together on the polished desk.He wasn’t rushing.He didn’t need to.He knew he had my attention.“The real reason Dominic left intelligence,” I repeated slowly.“Yes.”My pulse had begun to pound in my ears, though I kept my expression calm.Behind the calm surface, my thoughts raced.Dominic had told me many things about his past, about his work analyzing political systems, about the internal conflicts that had pushed him out of government service.But there had always been something missing.Something he never fully explained.And Kessler knew it.“Why don’t you ask him?” Kessler said softly.My breath caught slightly.“Ask who?”His smile widened a fraction.“Dominic.”The word landed like a stone in still water.My heart skipped.Kessler leaned forward just slightly, his sharp eyes studying me.“Yes,”

THE ANSWER HE DIDN’T EXPECT

The silence inside the office stretched longer than it should have.Adrian Kessler watched me calmly from across the desk, his expression composed, patient, almost curious.He had dropped the truth like a carefully placed weight between us.Dominic’s past.The operation.The consequences.And now he was waiting.Waiting to see which direction I would move.Behind my ear, Dominic remained silent.Not because the signal had failed.Because he wasn’t interfering.The choice was mine.Kessler folded his hands again.“Well?”His voice was calm.“Do you still trust him?”The question lingered in the air like something sharp.For a moment, I didn’t answer.Instead, I studied the man sitting across from me.Five years ago, he had been the architect of Dominic’s intelligence career.The man who had recruited him.The man who had approved the operation that ended everything.And now he was sitting here trying to convince me Dominic was dangerous.Which raised a simple question.Why?I lifted my

A MOMENT BETWEEN SHADOWS

The safehouse felt smaller tonight, the air thicker, warmer. The low drone of security systems buzzed like a distant heartbeat beneath everything else.I collapsed onto the old leather couch, spine finally allowed to curve, muscles releasing their iron grip. Dominic stayed standing, always the sentinel, but his posture had shifted. Less rigid. More… aware. His gaze traced me slowly, deliberately, as though cataloguing every place exhaustion had softened me.“You were flawless in there,” he said, voice quieter, rougher at the edges. “Kept every mask perfectly in place. I almost believed the performance myself.”I tilted my head, meeting those dark eyes. “Almost?”A ghost of a smile. “I know what you look like when you’re lying… and what you look like when you’re feeling something real.” He paused. “Tonight I saw both.”Heat crawled up my throat. I tried to swallow it down. Failed.He crossed the short distance between us in two measured steps and stopped just inside my personal space,

BETWEEN TOUCHES AND ALARMS

The safehouse breathed around us, low electronic purr, soft blue pulses from the monitors, the faint metallic scent of cooling circuitry. Every light flicker felt like a reminder: Kessler was still out there, still watching, still hungry.But right now Dominic was closer than any camera could reach.He sat beside me on the couch, thigh pressed deliberately along the length of mine. The contact was steady, unapologetic. Heat seeped through denim and cotton, sinking into my skin until I was hyper-aware of every inch where we touched, and every inch where we didn’t.“You’re quiet,” he said, voice so low it vibrated inside my ribs.I kept my eyes on the scrolling feeds. “Thinking.”“About Kessler?”“About a lot of things.” My gaze flicked to him. “Mostly you.”Silence stretched, thick and electric. Then his hand moved, slow, no hesitation, fingertips grazing my jaw before sliding into my hair. He tucked the loose strand behind my ear, but his palm didn’t retreat. Instead it cupped the sid

FLAMES IN THE SHADOW

The first thing I noticed when we returned to the monitors was the subtle shift in the feeds. Small anomalies, almost imperceptible, until you looked closely.“Something’s moving,” Dominic murmured, leaning over my shoulder. His hand brushed mine as he adjusted a camera angle. The touch, though brief, sent a ripple through me, a jolt of warmth I couldn’t ignore.I swallowed hard, keeping my focus on the monitors. “It’s too subtle to tell who it is,” I said. My voice was calm, but my heart raced.Dominic didn’t move his hand away. Instead, he let it linger lightly over mine. Not enough to break protocol. Just enough to remind me that we weren’t alone in this world, and that for all the danger, we had each other.“You’re tense,” he whispered, low enough that only I could hear.I gave a faint shrug, forcing my voice to remain steady. “I always am.”“No,” he said softly, his thumb brushing the back of my hand. “Not like this.”My pulse quickened. The brush of his thumb, the warmth of his

THE FRACTURED NIGHT

The city outside was quiet, deceptively quiet. Every shadow felt heavier, every muted sound magnified in the stillness of the safehouse. Dominic and I moved with the precision born of months of surviving Kessler’s manipulations, but there was a tension now that went beyond operational necessity.We had survived the drone test, patched feeds, and double-checked all entrances. Yet, in the back of my mind, the earlier touches, the whispered words, the closeness that had sparked fire between us, still lingered. I could feel Dominic’s presence beside me, the heat of his body brushing against mine as we worked.“You’re not talking much,” he murmured, his voice low, meant only for me.I let my gaze fall to his hand brushing against the keyboard, brushing fingers just slightly against mine as I leaned over the console. “I’m thinking,” I said softly, though I knew he would hear more than just words.He leaned closer, almost imperceptibly, his shoulder brushing mine. My pulse quickened. “About

THE EDGE OF CONTROL

The safehouse had begun to feel like a cage. The walls, reinforced concrete painted matte black, seemed to lean inward with every passing hour, shrinking the space between Dominic and me until breathing felt like an act of defiance.Overhead, the ventilation system hissed softly, a mechanical sigh that did nothing to cool the rising heat beneath my skin. Every monitor glowed with cold blue light, cycling through feeds of empty corridors, rain-slick rooftops, and the distant smear of Dominion City traffic.Kessler’s shadow wasn’t just outside anymore; it lived in the alerts, in the stutter of our heartbeats, in the way Dominic’s jaw kept tightening every time another probe grazed our perimeter.We stood shoulder to shoulder at the central console, bodies close enough that the slightest shift sent fabric whispering against fabric. His left arm brushed mine as he reached to adjust a camera angle. The contact was brief, deliberate, and gone too soon. My pulse kicked hard against my ribs.

A BREATH BETWEEN FIRES

The safehouse had fallen into one of those deceptive silences, the kind that feels like the hush right before a storm breaks. The ventilation system whispered overhead, monitors glowed with their steady, indifferent blue, and outside the reinforced walls Dominion City kept its restless pulse.Kessler was still out there, invisible threads of surveillance snaking closer with every failed probe, but for the first time in what felt like days the alerts had gone quiet. No shrieking klaxons. No red strobes. Just the two of us, finally allowed to occupy the same small pocket of space without immediate interruption.We sat on the old leather couch, close enough that our shoulders touched from collarbone to elbow. The contact was constant now, no longer accidental.Dominic’s thigh rested along the length of mine, denim against denim, the faint heat of him seeping through until my skin felt branded. Every slow breath he took lifted his chest against my arm; every exhale stirred the fine hairs

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