All Chapters of OWNED BY THE DEVIL: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

Time changed shape after the warning.Forty-eight hours was no longer a duration, it was a narrowing tunnel. Every decision, every movement, every breath now had weight. Even silence felt scheduled.Dominic didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t rush. But the entire command floor moved faster, like gravity had increased.“Recalculate all threat models,” he ordered. “Compress timelines. Remove redundancy layers.”“Sir, that increases operational risk...”“Yes,” he said calmly. “Do it anyway.”Risk accepted. Delay rejected.I stood beside him, rebuilding projections with the new clock. Patterns shifted immediately, like stars rearranging when you change the lens.“They’re not preparing an extraction,” I said.“No.” he said.“They’re preparing a convergence.”“Yes.” he replied.“Multiple strikes, same hour.”“Correct.” he said again with certainty.I zoomed into the probability branches. “Psychological, not structural.”His eyes cut to me. “Explain.”“They’re not trying to break your defenses

The scanner pulsed blue.Waiting.Patient.Like it knew I would choose instinct over caution.Timer: 00:18I forced myself not to move.Traps don’t rush. They invite.My first impulse was to pull my hand away; deny the system, find a bypass. But biometric locks like this weren’t meant to be overridden under countdown pressure. They were designed to weaponize hesitation.Which meant the real question wasn’t how to stop it.It was what happens if I do.“Think,” I whispered to myself.The device housing was too clean, newly installed. Not wired into the building’s original security spine. A parasite system. That meant the scanner wasn’t authentic authorization.It was a selector.Timer: 00:15“Not identity,” I breathed. “Intent.”They didn’t need my clearance.They needed my confirmation.My mind replayed the captured operative’s last words:You’re already opening…Not the building.The sequence.I leaned closer. The charge cluster wasn’t wired like demolition. It was wired like signal a

The split crown symbol stayed on the screen like a wound that refused to close.Everything in the room shifted around it, posture, tone, breathing. Not fear exactly. Recognition. The kind professionals show when a higher predator enters the food chain.I studied it quietly. “How much authority does your internal council actually hold?”Dominic didn’t answer with ego.“Absolute,” he said.Not dramatic. Not defensive. Just precise.“Over you?” I asked.“Yes.”“Operationally?”“Yes.”“Even now.”“Yes.”That mattered.Because Dominic didn’t exaggerate power, and he didn’t surrender it easily either.“What do they want?” I asked.“Control of the escalation variable,” he said.“Me.”“Yes.”I folded my arms. “Define control.”“Removal from theater.”“Protective custody?”“Technically.”“Functionally?”“Containment.”I exhaled slowly. “No.”His gaze shifted to me, not surprised, measuring.“I’m not being sidelined while Helix Crown runs the board,” I continued.“I know.”“You’re very calm abo

The locks didn’t slam.They decided.A deep internal shift rolled through the building, mechanical, layered, final. The kind of sound you feel more than hear. Every exit indicator turned from green to white.Sovereign white.Council authority.Observer One checked his wrist band again, harder this time, as if pressure could change truth.“Override signature confirmed,” he said quietly. “Top-tier.”Dominic didn’t look at him. Didn’t look at Vale.He looked at the doors, then the ceiling corners, then the sensor seams.Mapping.Always mapping.Director Vale watched him like a lecturer watching a favorite student solve a difficult proof.“Please don’t mistake this for betrayal,” Vale said pleasantly. “Think of it as stress testing your governance model.”“By illegal confinement,” I said.“By necessary pressure,” he corrected.“You’re very calm for a man in a sealed building with armed opposition.”He smiled at me. “Because I’m not trapped with you.”Observer Two angled slightly. “Explain

The room finally exhaled, but Dominic and I didn’t move immediately. Not out of fear. Not out of caution. Out of recognition. We had passed a threshold. Not the first, not the last, but the one that demanded acknowledgment: we were aligned, inseparable in calculation and instinct, in danger and in trust. Observers stood rigid, cataloging every micro-expression, every subtle movement. I caught Observer One’s eye, he tilted his head slightly, approving, recognizing the bond forming in front of them as a variable too significant to ignore. Dominic’s fingers brushed my jaw; light, deliberate, grounding. “You’re still trembling,” he said softly. “Adrenaline,” I murmured. “Slightly overdue.” “Come here,” he said. His arms drew me close again. Not in the romantic sense, yet. Not in the intimate sense. In the protective, grounding, I won’t let anyone touch you sense that felt hotter than a thousand words ever could. I leaned into him, just enough for balance, just enough for comfort, ju