Semua Bab Fifty Shades of Desire: A Collection of Lust and Love: Bab 11 - Bab 20

The next day, I woke with a throbbing headache and a body that didn’t feel like mine. Every muscle ached, and every breath cost something. I lay still for a moment, staring at the ceiling, relearning the simple fact that I was still here. Still alive. After last night, I hadn’t been entirely sure I would be. I tried to roll onto my side. I let out a sharp, involuntary cry before I could stop it. Pain surged through me, raw and intimate, marking my body like a map of everything that had happened. The marks were visible, impossible to hide or ignore. I lay back and stared at the ceiling again. He was gone. The other side of the bed was cold, the sheets barely disturbed on his side, as though he had risen and left without a single moment of hesitation. A knock broke the silence. “Who is it?” My voice came out hoarse. “Kelly,” a man replied through the door. “Housekeeping.” I pulled the blanket up to my chin just as the door swung open. A young man in a uniform stepped inside, his

“I can’t believe you would do this to your husband,” the prince said. He said the word "husband" like he meant for it to hurt. I stared at him. The blade in my hand, the sleeping king behind me, and the blood on my palm. Everything I had carefully planned—he had seen it. And now he was standing across the room wearing that expression I had spent months trying to forget. “How long have you been standing there?” I asked. My voice gave away nothing. “Is that really the tone you want to use with me right now?” He tilted his head slightly, the corner of his mouth lifting. He was enjoying this. He was actually enjoying this. He started walking toward me. “What are you doing in my chambers?” I kept the blade between us. “At this hour.” “I’m here to witness your night with my father,” he spoke gently. “But who could have thought that instead of seeing you moaning under him,”—his eyes moved briefly to the king’s sleeping form, then back to me—“you were busy scheming against your husband

The rain lashed against the floor-to-ceiling windows of the penthouse, blurring the city lights of Manhattan. I stood in the center of the room, my hands trembling as I held the stolen flash drive. “I know you’re there,” I whispered into the shadows. A low, dark chuckle came from the corner of the room. Julian Vane stepped into the light. He was dressed in a black suit, his tie loosened, and his eyes cold and predatory. He didn’t look like a CEO; he looked like a shark that had finally caught its prey. “You’re a very bad thief, Clara,” he said, his voice a smooth, dangerous silk. “Did you really think you could walk out of my office with my soul in your pocket?” “I needed the money,” I snapped, backing away until my heels hit the glass window. “My brother… he owes people. Bad people. They will kill him.” Julian stopped inches from me. He was tall, overwhelming, and smelled of expensive bourbon and cold rain. He reached out, his gloved hand catching my chin and tilting my face up.

I stood in the center of the master suite, staring at the dress his assistant had left. It was silk, the color of a bruised plum, and so thin it felt like liquid.I didn’t want to put it on. I wanted to burn it. I wanted to take the heavy gold anklet he’d branded me with and throw it through his floor-to-ceiling windows.But then I remembered the way he looked at me in the dark. I remembered the way my body had sung under his hands, betraying every bit of my pride.I put the dress on. It clung to my curves like a second skin; the hem hitting mid-thigh; the neckline plunging low enough to show the faint red marks he’d left on my collarbone. I didn’t put on any underwear. Julian didn’t like barriers.The click of the electronic lock sounded, and Julian walked in, his black blazer over his arm, his white shirt unbuttoned at the collar. He looked tired, lethal, and devastatingly handsome.He stopped the moment his eyes landed on me. His gaze traveled from my bare feet—where the gold anklet

“Kai!” my grandfather called from the next room. I was staring at my computer screen, completely focused on my online game.“Kai!”His second call carried that quiet weight I could never ignore. I sighed, paused the game, and walked out.“Yes, Grandfather?” I stopped in front of his chair. He was sitting the way he always did when something important was coming: back straight, hands folded, eyes studying me.“Sit down,” he said.“Okay.” I sat beside him, trying to appear attentive. “Do you need something?”He cleared his throat, staring at me before speaking. “I want you to listen carefully,” he began. “Tomorrow, we will be going out… to meet your date.”My heart skipped a beat. “My… date?”“Your future partner. I want you to dress your best.”Something warm rushed through my chest. I stood up before I even realized it. “I’m finally meeting someone? A wife?” A laugh escaped me, sudden and full. “Grandfather, why didn’t you tell me sooner?”“Kai—”But I was already walking away, buzzin