All Chapters of Awakened: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

The professor’s voice had long devolved into a meaningless, background buzz, drowning beneath the heavy fog creeping through my mind.I sat near the back of the lecture hall, staring blankly down at the open notebook on my desk without absorbing a single word written on the white pages. I was completely blanking out. No matter how hard I tried to focus on the economic theories being projected onto the screen at the front of the room, the only thing floating in my head, burning into the back of my eyelids with terrifying clarity, was the contract....upon duration of her academic degree, the signee agrees to a mandatory five-year employment contract within the corporate executive structure of Syer Enterprises...My fingers tightened around my pen until my knuckles turned stark white. Five years. Bound to his empire, bound to his terms, forced to report to his sprawling corporate headquarters. I blinked slowly, shifting my gaze toward the large analog clock mounted on the side wall of t

Chapter 37Julian’s POV I pulled back sharply, tearing my eyes away from hers as the sheer, dangerous proximity of her lips slammed into my senses like an electric shock.The heat radiating off Ashley’s skin still lingered on my chest, threatening to burn straight through the three-piece suit I wore like armor. I cleared my throat, forcing my face into a wall of impenetrable ice, wrapping my composure back around my shoulders before I completely lost my mind in the middle of my own executive floor."Get back to work," I commanded, my baritone gravelly, cold, and clipped.I didn't wait to see the flash of annoyance in her dark eyes. I turned on my heel and walked briskly toward my massive mahogany desk, adjusting my cuffs with aggressive, deliberate precision. I sat down in my leather armchair, pulling a thick stack of quarterly reports toward me, desperately trying to anchor my focus back to spreadsheets, risk assessments, and logistics dividends. I was trying to fix things in place,

Chapter 39Julian’s POV Ashley flashed me a faint, serene smile that didn't reach her dark, calculating eyes."We should start going, don’t you think?" she murmured, her voice smooth, composed, and utterly devoid of the nervous tremors I had come to expect from her whenever her family was brought up.I stared at her in dead silence, my heavy brows pulled tight in quiet confusion. Her sudden shift in demeanour, coupled with the striking sight of her standing in tailored black trousers instead of her usual submissive silk skirts, made something dark and defensive flare in my chest. She was hiding a card up her sleeve. I could feel it in the air, cold, deliberate, and dangerous. But I decided to keep on going nonetheless. I simply gave her a brief, stoic nod, grabbed my coat, and led her down to the waiting Maybach.The drive across the city was heavy with an unuttered tension. As the high-rises of the financial district gave way to the sprawling, gated estates of the upper-class suburb

Chapter 41The heavy mahogany door creaked open with a low, agonizing groan, revealing a room that had been frozen in time for far too long.A thick layer of fine dust coated the dark wooden furniture, reflecting the faint moonlight filtering through the heavy velvet drapes. The air inside was cool, heavy, and smelled faintly of aged paper and lavender, the distinct, comforting scent that had always belonged to my mother. Stepping across the threshold, I gently pushed the heavy door shut behind me, holding the brass handle up until the latch caught with a soft, muffled click that ensured no sound would carry down the carpeted hallway.My heart hammered violently against my ribs like a trapped bird beating against a cage. Downstairs, my father, Evelyn, Lurii, Julian and Marcus were sitting around a sprawling dining table built entirely on lies, with Julian using the massive weight of his presence to keep the wolves at bay. I knew I didn't have much time. Every second I spent away from

Chapter 43Ashley’s POV I stilled my heart, forcing the icy blood in my veins to steady as I sat beneath the warm, suffocating glow of the crystal chandelier.Julian’s hand was still wrapped firmly around mine, his long fingers broad, warm, and solid over my cold skin. The sheer heat of his grip was an unbroken current running through me, a silent anchor in a room full of predators. I didn't pull away. I didn't care if my father’s eyes lingered on our joined hands, or if Evelyn’s fake composure cracked around the edges. I needed that anchor, because looking across the mahogany table, I already knew everything my father wanted to say.I knew the script before he even opened his mouth. I had lived through the subtle manipulation in my past life, and I could read the sharp, corporate calculation buried beneath his practiced paternal mask. Yet, I decided to let him go on with it. I sat back in my chair, adjusting the strap of my handbag resting against my knee, and allowed him to dig his