Lahat ng Kabanata ng DESPISED AND DEVOURED BY MY STEP FATHER : Kabanata 91 - Kabanata 100

Danny's POV The house was silent, but it wasn't the kind of peace that lets you sleep. It was a suffocating, heavy silence that pressed against my ears like deep water. I sat on the edge of that oversized, velvet lined bed, staring at the wall, and I felt like I was disappearing.I looked at the clothes in the wardrobe again. They weren't mine. They were just… items. Props for a character I wasn't even sure I wanted to be anymore. My mother didn’t want me. My dad was just a ghost in a photo frame I couldn't even reach. And my best friend? hated everything about me. I was so incredibly, achingly alone, drifting in this gilded cage while a man downstairs played God and called me a national asset.I couldn't breathe. I needed to leave. I needed to stand on my own two feet before I completely forgot how to walk.I marched downstairs. My pulse was drumming in my throat, a frantic, desperate rhythm. I found him in the study, where else? He was surrounded by books and shadows, looking like

Chadwicks POV The engine of the car purred like a living thing under my hands, but for the first time in years, I couldn't focus on the road. My grip on the wheel was tight, knuckles white, because the alternative was reaching out to touch him. And I knew if I touched him, I wouldn't stop.Danny was sitting in the passenger seat, completely unaware that he was single handedly dismantling my self control. He looked… ridiculous. In the best, most infuriating way."Don't you look too bright for the day?" I asked, my voice coming out harsher than I intended. It was a reflex, I had to push him away before I dragged him closer.He turned his head, that sharp, perfect jawline catching the afternoon light. "How do you mean?"I glanced over, and my brain short circuited. "I mean, you are like shining... and that gloss on your lip and your perfect brows and sharp jawline, and that blue eyes. You..." I stumbled over the words, hating how my composure fractured. "You don't seem like a guy who is

Danny's POV The air in the room didn’t just grow heavy, it turned stagnant, lethal. When Nana asked if I was in love with Chadwick, the silence that followed felt like a physical weight pressing against my chest.Chadwick laughed, a dark possessive sound that made my skin crawl. "Of course he is," he said, his voice dripping with an arrogance that made my teeth ache.Miguel scoffed from the corner, a sound of pure, bitter derision. Chadwick’s grip on my hand tightened so hard I felt my knuckles pop, a silent warning to stay quiet, to stay in line. But Nana wasn't having it. She waved her hand dismissively, her eyes tracking the flicker of fear in my expression."Let the boy answer for himself," she said, her voice like sandpaper on wood. She turned that piercing, unblinking gaze onto me. "Well? Danny?"I opened my mouth, but my throat felt closed up, dry as dust. I looked at Chadwick, at the way he was looking at me like I was a puzzle he had already solved, like he owned the answer

Danny's POV The flight to Paris was a suffocating exercise in restraint. I sat there in the premium cabin, surrounded by luxury, but all I could feel was the icy prickle of jealousy crawling up my spine. Chadwick sat right beside me, scrolling through his phone with that infuriatingly calm demeanor."Did you tell your wife you would be taking me to Paris?" I asked, the words sharper than I intended.Chadwick didn't even look up. "Yeah, she knows."He said it so casually. She knows. My stomach twisted into a knot, cold and heavy. He was still in contact with her, still playing the role of the devoted husband while he dragged me across the world. I swallowed hard, forcing a smile that felt like glass. He belonged to someone else, but he acted like I was his entire world. The dissonance was tearing me apart.When we landed, Paris was everything I had seen in movies glittering, loud, and impossibly beautiful. But I was wound too tight to appreciate it. My eyes kept darting toward the

Danny's POV Chadwick’s eyes were still fixed on the charcoal sketch, his shadow looming large over the easel. That line, you can't get me out of your head it hung in the air like an accusation. He knew. He knew he had been under my skin, in my blood, everywhere.I felt a surge of panic, but I shoved it down. I couldn't let him have this win. I couldn't let him think he was still the puppet master. Danny's owner.I stepped into his space, my hands shaking, and grabbed the edges of the sketchbook. "I can get you out of my head, Chad," I said, my voice barely a whisper, forcing it to sound bored, detached. "I just needed to get the image out on paper. It was stuck, like a glitch. Now it’s out, and I am free from the tyrant."I slammed the book shut, the sound echoing in the quiet hall. I didn't look at his face. I didn't want to see if he believed me or if he was laughing at me. I just grabbed my bag and walked out, my heels clicking sharply against the marble floor.I was lying. I was