All Chapters of The Don’s Dangerous Addiction: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Morning light poured through the floor to ceiling windows and spread across the cold grey marble floor. Pale. Like an operating room light.Avery sat up, her body aching. Her eyes swept the room.No photos. No plants. No decoration at all. Grey white walls, metal trim. So empty it made her chest tighten.Last night's memories crashed back. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open.Sensor lights in the hallway flicked on as she walked, then died behind her. Every door looked the same. Quiet. Endless. Like being sealed off from the world.At the end of the hall, two black suited guards blocked her way."Mr. Kessler said you shouldn't wander around."Avery stopped. "I need access to Mr. Kessler's complete medical records. I can't make a treatment plan without his full history and medication records. That means going back to my clinic—""Anything your clinic has, we have here."The guard cut her off."And any resource Mr. Kessler needs for treatment? We have it here too. Just tell

Avery was shoved into a car. The door slammed shut behind her.The cabin was dark. Dominic sat across from her.Before she could catch her breath, he spoke."Your daughter is with me."Avery's fists clenched. "What did you say?""Wenger's men grabbed her. I intercepted them." Dominic's voice was flat. "She's fine."She stared at him. Something surged up in her chest.She lunged. Her fists hit his shoulder. Once. Twice. Dominic didn't move. He took the hits.When she swung the third punch, he shot his hand up and caught both her wrists. He twisted them and pinned them against the seat back.Avery's back hit the seat. She was stuck.She struggled. Her wrists twisted in his grip. His fingers tightened. His knuckles ground against her bones. She sucked in a breath."Enough."She didn't listen. She lifted her knee and drove it toward his stomach.Dominic shifted sideways. He blocked her knee with his hand and pressed it down. Her leg got trapped between him and the seat. She couldn't move.

Avery couldn't sleep.She watched the sky bleed from ink-black to a bruised, pale gray. She lay there, eyes wide, as Dominic's words played on a loop in her mind: “I wanted to see if you would use Wenger's method. To kill me.”Beside her, Dorothea's chest rose and fell in a rhythmic, innocent slumber. Avery brushed a stray hair from her daughter's forehead. Her own fingertips were ice-cold.A sharp double-knock broke the silence."Dr. St. Clair. The Boss has canceled today's appointment."Avery froze. "Where is he?""In his study. He gave strict orders not to be disturbed."Her chest tightened. After last night's confrontation, he hadn't pressed her. He hadn't threatened or tested her. He had simply... discarded her. This sudden silence was more unnerving than any interrogation.She stood by the window, peeling the curtain back just enough to see the courtyard. Sunlight shattered against the fountain into a thousand jagged pieces. Everything looked peaceful, as if the midnight standof

A gunshot cracked through the air.Before Avery could react, a hand shoved her head down. She was yanked into someone's chest, hard.The bullet hit the spot where she had been standing. Wall chips scattered everywhere.She looked up. It was Dominic.His chin pressed against the top of her head. His gun was already in his hand. He fired at the dark figure on the windowsill.His arm locked around her waist, so tight it almost crushed her bones. His other hand moved fast to the gun at his hip. In the span of a turn, he had already fired.The figure grunted. The bullet grazed his arm. He stumbled but didn't back off. He pulled a smoke grenade from his pocket and slammed it to the ground. White smoke billowed everywhere, stinging their eyes.When the smoke cleared, only a few drops of blood remained on the windowsill. Dr. Greene was gone too.Avery gasped for air. The sting on her cheek grew sharper.Dominic looked down at her. "Are you hurt?""Just a glass cut."Her eyes landed on the flo

Morning came.Dominic's chair was empty.When Avery woke up, he was already dressed. Hearing her stir, he turned."Let's go. The lab."He didn't give her time to hesitate.Drake stayed behind to watch the house. The car waited at the gate.Dominic walked ahead in a dark tactical jacket. Avery followed. They got in the car, both lost in their own thoughts. Neither spoke the whole way.The road grew narrower. Avery recognized it. Her parents used to take her here when she was little.Back then, there were lights on both sides. The lab building glowed from within, bright through the windows. From a distance, it looked like a glass box.Now there was nothing. The trees had grown wild, branches reaching into the road, scraping across the roof of the car.The car stopped. The ground was covered in dead branches and fallen leaves that crunched underfoot.The air smelled heavily of rust, mixed with something chemical.Stepping over the threshold, Avery saw doors hanging crooked, some fallen.