All Chapters of HATE ME HARDER (a dark revenge romance): Chapter 11 - Chapter 15

Chapter 11: DAMIEN’S POVPain yanked me back to consciousness like a chain wrapped around my ribs.For one merciful heartbeat everything was numb, body, mind, the world reduced to a dull gray hum. Then reality slammed into me: fire in my left shoulder, ribs screaming with every shallow breath, the metallic taste of old blood coating my tongue, the cold bite of concrete under my back. I was lying down, no longer on the iron chair, but on a bed.I forced my eyes open.The room was dim, lit only by a single bare bulb hanging from a frayed cord in the ceiling. Dust motes drifted in the weak yellow beam. Concrete walls, peeling paint the color of old bruises, a cracked window boarded from the inside with plywood and nails. The air smelled of mildew, rust, old furniture, and something sharper, blood, definitely mine. This was not my penthouse, not a hospital, not even the concrete basement where I’d last remembered fists, batons, mocking laughter, I was still alive.The thought hit ha

Chapter 13DAMIEN’S POV:The safehouse feels smaller every time she walks into the room. The single bulb overhead buzzes like it’s on its last breath, throwing long shadows across the concrete walls. Rain taps the tiny window high up like impatient fingers.Raven stands by the metal table, sorting through the med kit she dragged in earlier. She’s still in the black tactical pants and long-sleeve shirt, but she’s unzipped the vest halfway. I can see the black sports bra underneath, the way it hugs the swell of her breasts, the faint sheen of sweat in the hollow of her throat.I haven’t taken my eyes off her since she came back downstairs.She feels it. I know she does. Every time she glances over, our gazes lock for half a second longer than they should.I pushed off the duvet, my ribs protested, but the pain is distant now, drowned out by something hotter.“Raven.”Her hands still on the gauze she’s rolling.I cross the room in four steps. She doesn’t back up, but her shoulders tense

Chapter 15: RAVEN’S POV:I woke up inside the cage of Damien’s arm.His forearm was heavy across my waist, fingers splayed low on my stomach, warm seeping through his body to mine. His chest rose and fell slowly against my back, breath stirring the short hairs at my nape. For the first time in years I didn’t jolt awake. I just… existed there. My skin feeling the warmth of a man in years, and our heartbeat, beating in sync.The quiet was so complete I could hear the faint tick of the old radiator in the corner and the distant rumble of a truck on an expressway.I should have shoved him off, should have reminded myself who he was, what he did, why I still kept the knife under the pillow. But I didn’t. I let myself feel the weight of him for exactly seven seconds.Then my phone buzzed on the nightstand.One sharp vibration. Then another.I reached for it without untangling myself and the screen lit up. An unknown number.Six words glowed brightly on the phone screen, and then a vide