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Lahat ng Kabanata ng Wild Desires: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

10 Kabanata

Chapter 1

The first thing Avery Morgan noticed about the man across the room was the way people feared him.Not respected. Not admired. Feared.It lingered in the stiff postures of the men speaking to him. In the nervous smiles of the women who tried too hard to catch his attention. Even the servers moved carefully around him, as though one wrong step might cost them their jobs.And somehow—despite the suffocating luxury of the Montenegro Grand Casino, despite the glittering chandeliers and the sound of expensive laughter filling the air—he looked like the darkest thing in the room.Drake Montenegro.Owner of the most powerful business empire in the country. The man rumored to destroy competitors without mercy. The same man the tabloids called a monster dressed in Armani.She should have looked away the moment their eyes met.But she didn't.She stood frozen near the champagne tower while his gaze dragged slowly over her body—unapologetically thorough, as though he already owned every inch of h

Chapter 2

The elevator doors closed behind us, sealing out the noise of the party below.Drake stood with his back to the mirrored wall, watching me with an intensity that made my skin prickle. The space between us felt charged, electric, like the air before a thunderstorm. I pressed myself against the opposite wall, trying to put distance between us, but the elevator was small and he was everywhere. His scent. His heat. The weight of his gaze crawling over my body like a physical touch."You're shaking," he observed."I'm cold.""You're lying."Before I could argue, he pushed off from the wall and crossed the distance between us in one step. His hands braced against the mirrors on either side of my head, caging me in. His body didn't touch mine, not yet, but I could feel the warmth radiating from him, could feel the promise of what was coming."Tell me to stop," he said quietly. "Tell me you don't want this, and I'll walk away. I'll have my driver take you home, and we'll pretend this never ha

Chapter 3

She should have left the next morning.That was the agreement. One night. No strings. No promises.But when Avery woke to pale sunlight filtering through the floor to ceiling windows of Drake's suite, his arm was still wrapped around her waist, and his breathing was slow and warm against her bare shoulder. She should have slipped out of bed. Should have gathered her dress from where it had fallen beside the fireplace. Should have called a car and disappeared before he opened his eyes.Instead, she lay perfectly still and watched him sleep.It was strange to see Drake Montenegro without his armor. The sharp jaw was relaxed. The calculating eyes were hidden beneath dark lashes. His lips, usually curved in a smirk or pressed into a hard line, were soft and slightly parted. He looked younger like this. Almost gentle.Then his arm tightened around her waist, and his voice came out low and rough."You're staring."Avery's heart stumbled. "You're supposed to be asleep.""I don't sleep well."

Chapter 4

Two weeks turned into three, and three turned into a month.Avery stopped counting the nights she spent in Drake's penthouse because counting implied an end, and she had stopped believing in endings somewhere around the tenth time he made her cry out his name against the silk sheets. Her own apartment became a place she visited only to change clothes and water the single dying plant on her windowsill. Everything she needed lived on the other side of the city, behind a private elevator that required a key card she now carried in her wallet like a secret badge of honor.She was drowning in him. And she had never felt more alive.---"You're late."Drake's voice greeted her the moment she stepped into the suite. He stood by the window overlooking the city, dressed in charcoal slacks and a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. A glass of whiskey dangled from his fingers, barely touched.Avery set her bag down on the marble console table. "Traffic was terrible.""You cou

Chapter 5

A month and a half. That was how long it had been since the night at the casino. Forty five days of stolen mornings and tangled sheets and a man who looked at her like she had hung the moon.Avery had stopped pretending she was in control of any of it.She stood in Drake's bathroom now, wearing one of his white dress shirts that fell to her mid thigh, her hair still damp from the shower. Through the open door, she could see him on the bed, propped against the headboard with his laptop balanced on his thighs. He was working. He was always working. But his eyes kept drifting to her, and every time they did, his fingers paused on the keyboard."You're distracting me," he said without looking up."I'm not doing anything.""Exactly." He closed the laptop and set it aside. "You're standing there in my shirt with wet hair and bare legs, and you expect me to focus on quarterly reports."Avery smiled and leaned against the bathroom doorway. "I expect nothing. You're the one with no self contro

Chapter 6

The first crack appeared on a Tuesday. It wasn't dramatic. No shouting, no slammed doors, no tears. Just a quiet fissure that spread through the foundation of whatever they were building, thin and fragile and impossible to ignore. Avery had arrived at the penthouse straight from work, still wearing her gray pencil skirt and silk blouse, her hair pinned up in a messy twist. She was tired. The kind of bone deep exhaustion that came from back to back meetings and a publisher who kept changing deadlines. All she wanted was a glass of wine and Drake's arms around her. What she found was an empty suite. That wasn't unusual. Drake worked late more often than not, and he had never promised to wait for her by the door like a loyal husband. But something felt different tonight. The air in the penthouse was cold. The lights were dim. And on the kitchen island, beside a bouquet of white roses, sat a single piece of paper. Avery picked it up. It was a photograph. Glossy. Professional.

Chapter 7

The penthouse felt different after that night. Avery couldn't explain it. The furniture was the same. The view was the same. Drake's arms around her were the same. But something had shifted beneath the surface, a fault line she hadn't known existed until the photograph cracked it open. She stayed anyway. She stayed through Drake's calls to building security. Through his quiet fury as he reviewed surveillance footage that showed nothing. Through the uncomfortable realization that someone had accessed his private elevator without a key card, which meant someone had help from the inside. "You should stay with me," he said that night, pulling her closer in the dark. "Not just overnight. Move in. Bring your things. I'll keep you safe here." Avery stared at the ceiling. "You're asking me to move in because you're scared someone is trying to hurt me?" "I'm asking you to move in because I want you here. The other thing is just practical." She turned her head to look at him. His face wa

Chapter 8

She didn't sleep. The second note sat in her drawer like a living thing, breathing poison into her apartment. Avery lay in her bed staring at the ceiling, replaying every moment with Drake, searching for cracks she might have missed. Did he love her or the idea of her? Was there really a difference? By dawn, she had made a decision. She wasn't going to let some anonymous coward dictate her relationship. If someone wanted to scare her away from Drake Montenegro, they would have to try harder than cryptic notes and old photographs. She dressed for work with deliberate care. A red blouse, the color of confidence. Dark jeans that hugged her curves. Heels that made her feel powerful. She looked in the mirror and told herself she was fine. She was strong. She was not going to crumble. Her phone buzzed on the nightstand. Drake: Come over tonight. I need to see you. Her heart flipped. Even after everything, even after the suspicion and the fear, he still had that effect on her. She typ

Chapter 9

She woke to an empty bed. The sheets beside her were still warm, the pillow still dented from Drake's head. But he was gone. Somewhere in the penthouse, she heard the low murmur of his voice, sharp and clipped. A phone call. Business, probably. He was always working, even in the middle of the night. Avery stretched beneath the silk sheets and stared at the ceiling. Her body ached in the best way, still humming from the hours they had spent tangled together. But her mind was elsewhere, stuck on the note she had hidden in her drawer and the lie she had told to keep it secret. She needed to tell him. The thought landed in her chest like a stone. If she was going to build something real with Drake Montenegro, she couldn't keep secrets. Not about threats. Not about fear. Not about the way her hands shook every time she opened her apartment door. She sat up, reaching for his shirt draped over the foot of the bed. Then she heard it. A woman's voice. Low and smooth, coming from somewh

Chapter 10

She lay perfectly still when Drake returned to the bedroom. The mattress dipped beneath his weight as he settled beside her, close enough that she could feel the warmth radiating from his skin. His hand found her hip, fingers curling around the curve of her bone through the thin fabric of his shirt. He thought she was asleep. She could tell by the careful way he breathed, the deliberate softness of his touch. Avery kept her eyes closed and her heart racing. She should confront him. She should open her eyes and tell him she had seen everything. Heard everything. The way Celeste had touched his chest. The way she had whispered about the women he had ruined. The way she had promised not to go away. But something held her back. Fear, maybe. Or pride. Or the terrible possibility that if she asked the wrong question, he would give her an answer she couldn't survive. So she let him pull her against his chest. She let him press a kiss to her hair. She let him hold her like she was somet

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