All Chapters of POSSESSION: Hate Me: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Jamie woke with his body already fuming.Anger.It sat heavy on his tongue, metallic and bitter, curling at the edges of his thoughts like smoke. For days he had been afraid — trembling, calculating, trying to survive by shrinking himself smaller.That hadn’t worked.Fear had given them control.Silence had given them control.Obedience had given them control.So today he would try something else.He would make Matteo feel unstable. 'How dare him just decide he gets to keep me. I'm a person!' Jamie thought.Jamie stood in the center of his pristine bedroom and looked around slowly. Everything was perfect. The bed made perfectly with elegant corners. The heavy velvet curtains pressed flat. The polished desk reflecting the morning light. A cage disguised as luxury.He moved to the mirror and studied himself.Bruises from the cove had faded into faint yellow shadows beneath his skin. His lip had healed. His eyes, though — they looked sharper now. Harder.“You want control?” he murmur

Jamie had expected punishment from Matteo. He wanted him to combust into flames.He had expected anger.He had expected retaliation.What he hadn’t expected—Was laughter.It started small.A breath through Matteo’s nose. Barely there.But Jamie caught it.He was standing in the doorway of Matteo’s private study, arms crossed, watching the slow discovery unfold.The whiskey bottle sat on the desk.Perfect.Untouched.Except it wasn’t whiskey anymore.It was mayonnaise.Jamie had gone to ridiculous lengths for this. Slipped out during the maid shift change. Memorized patrol patterns. Slid into the office barefoot. Swapped the liquid carefully.It had felt awesome doing this to Matteo's favourite bottle of whiskey.Like reclaiming something.Matteo uncorked the bottle.Poured it.The thick, pale substance slid into the crystal glass waiting.Silence.Enzo was in the room too.He noticed first.His expression turned lethal.Matteo stared at the glass.Then—He laughed.He freaking laughe

Jamie didn’t sleep that night.Enzo’s warning looped in his head over and over again.If you break him… you won’t survive what’s left.Jamie sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the unbreakable window.Break him.Was that what he was doing?Or was Matteo already cracked — just refusing to show it?It didn’t matter.There was one move left that Matteo hadn’t accounted for.Lucas.Jamie hadn’t seen him in days. Matteo had been careful — calculated — maintaining the lie that Jamie was unstable, that he needed “space,” that his behavior had grown erratic.And Jamie knew exactly why.If Lucas believed him sane, everything unraveled.If Lucas believed him imprisoned, Matteo lost leverage.So Jamie would remove the leverage.The opportunity came at lunch.The doors to his room opened without warning.“Walk,” one of the guards instructed.Jamie raised an eyebrow. “No blindfold today?”The guard didn’t respond.Interesting.Jamie followed down the corridor — not toward the usual wing — but to

The ballroom glittered like perfection.Crystal chandeliers spilled light over marble floors polished to a mirror sheen. Champagne shimmered in tall flutes. Laughter rose and fell in curated waves. A quartet played something elegant and forgettable near the staircase.Celebrities moved through the crowd like living currency.Jamie recognized almost all of them.A chart-topping pop star surrounded by executives.An Oscar-winning actress laughing at something she clearly didn’t find funny. Two global directors arguing softly about distribution rights.And Alexis Fagan.International film icon. Magazine covers. Charity ambassador. Known for sincerity, for thoughtful interviews, for advocating “safe creative spaces.”He looked immaculate and he was looking at him. Jamie looked away sharply.Matteo looked like he owned the place. He probably did.Matteo moved through the room effortlessly — shaking hands, commanding attention without even speaking. Investors leaned in when he did speak. J

Lucas Lucas realized he was no longer touching the ground.For a brief, disorienting second, the world tilted—cobblestones sliding sideways beneath his vision, the sharp Italian sunlight flashing between buildings. Pain pulsed through his ankle where he had twisted it moments earlier while trying to keep up with Jamie’s reckless exploration in a hidden cove.Then he looked up.And saw him.Lucas blinked, trying to understand why the tall stranger was holding him as if he weighed nothing at all.One arm was hooked securely beneath Lucas’s knees, the other braced around his back. The man carried him with an effortless steadiness that made Lucas suddenly aware of everything—the heat of the stranger’s body through his shirt, the faint scent of whiskey and expensive cologne, the hard strength beneath the fabric of his black button-down.Two buttons at the collar were undone.Lucas noticed that first.Then the eyes.Dark. Sharp. Watching him with an intensity that made his stomach twist in