Semua Bab BOUND BY SECRET, BAILED BY LOVE: Bab 41 - Bab 48

The house no longer felt like a home.It felt like a control room.Phones ringing.Footsteps moving quickly across marble floors.Low voices layered over each other, urgent but restrained.Lucien stood in the middle of it all, one hand braced against the edge of the table as he listened.“No,” he said into the phone, his voice low but firm. “That route is too exposed. If he planned this, he wouldn’t take the main road.”He ended the call before the person on the other end could argue.For a second, he didn’t move.His fingers pressed harder into the table.Then he pushed off it and started pacing.Not fast.But not calm either.Measured steps.Back and forth.His mind running faster than his body.“Any update?”Henry’s voice came from behind him.Lucien didn’t turn immediately.“Not yet.”Henry walked further into the room, hands loosely clasped behind his back.“Interesting,” he murmured.Lucien stopped.Slowly turned.“What is?”Henry met his gaze.“The timing. The execution. This w

The silence inside the car didn’t last long.It just felt like it did.Arielle stared at the back of Roman through the windshield, her breathing slow but deliberate now. The initial panic had settled into something sharper.Focus.Her wrists burned where the rope pressed into her skin. She shifted again, slower this time, twisting just enough to test the give.Still tight.But not impossible.She glanced toward the door Roman had stepped out of.Closed.Unlocked?She leaned slightly, shoulder pressing carefully against it.No sound.Good.Her fingers flexed again, feeling for any weakness in the knot.Think.Not fear.Think.Outside, Roman paced a few steps away, phone pressed to his ear.“Yes,” he said quietly, his voice low enough that it didn’t carry clearly. “I know what I’m doing.”A pause.His jaw tightened.“No. This wasn’t part of the plan.”Another pause.Roman’s gaze flicked briefly toward the car.“I said I’ll handle it.”He ended the call abruptly.For a second, he just st

The silence after her words stretched longer than it should have.Roman stood where he was, shoulders rigid, his eyes fixed on Arielle as though he was trying to decide whether she was bluffing.She wasn’t.Arielle crossed one leg over the other slowly, rubbing the faint red marks on her wrist with deliberate calm. Every movement was controlled, every breath measured.If he expected panic, he would not find it.“What now?” she asked again, lifting her chin slightly. “You brought me here, untied me, and then decided to stare at me?”Roman exhaled sharply through his nose, the corner of his jaw twitching.“You talk too much.”Arielle’s lips curved faintly.“And you don’t talk enough. One of us has to keep the scene alive.”For a brief second, something almost like reluctant amusement flickered across his face.Then it vanished.He turned away from her and walked toward the small bar at the far side of the room, pouring himself a glass of water.Arielle watched him closely.The slight te

The cold night air hit Arielle’s skin as soon as they stepped out through the back door.Roman’s grip around her wrist was firm, his fingers wrapped just tight enough to keep her moving across the uneven path behind the house.But Arielle’s mind wasn’t on him.It was on the voice she had heard.The footsteps.The presence that had entered the house.Lucien.Her pulse slammed harder against her ribs.He was here.He came.That realization hit her with a force she hadn’t expected.For one suspended second, Roman kept pulling her forward through the darkness, his attention fixed on the narrow trail ahead.“Keep moving,” he muttered under his breath.Arielle’s eyes flicked toward the faint light spilling from the side of the house.This was her chance.Not later.Now.She twisted sharply.Roman’s fingers tightened instinctively.“Arielle….”But she was faster.With all the force in her body, she yanked her hand free and shoved against his chest.Roman staggered back a step, caught off gua