Alle Kapitel von His Dark Asset (R18): Kapitel 61 – Kapitel 70

VERITYThe ceramic mug felt heavy in my hands as I took one last sip of the bitter dregs before setting it down on the sticky laminate table.I dug into the pocket of my denim jacket, pulled out two crumpled dollar bills, and left them beside the glass sugar shaker.The bell above the aluminum door chimed a hollow goodbye as I pushed my way out of the Sunnyside Diner, and the Queens night air immediately hit me like a splash of dirty river water.The wind was biting and thick with the foul smell from a distant garbage truck, but I kept my head down and hauled my canvas duffel bag up on my shoulder.I walked down the cracked pavement of 31st Street while the adrenaline of my escape slowly began to curdle into sheer physical exhaustion.I was broke, unemployable, and I had absolutely no safety net, but a strange sense of victory warmed my chest because the suffocating presence of Adrian Sutherland was no longer pressing down on me.Directly across the empty intersection, a buzzing pink

VERITYThe drive back across the Queensboro Bridge was spent in toxic, suffocating silence.I sat pressed into the far door with my arms crossed tightly over my chest and glared out at the gray predawn fog rolling over the East River.Beside me, Adrian reeked of territorial rage.Adrian didn't speak, and he didn't touch me.He sat with his elbows on his knees, his jaw set tight enough that the bone looked ready and about to snap through the stubble.He didn't take me back into Gramercy Park.The black Bentley descended directly into the private subterranean garage beneath Sutherland & Associates and slid into his reserved executive stall at 7:45 AM.When the car stopped, Adrian turned his head, and his dark eyes cut through the gloom. "You're coming upstairs. You'll shower in the private suite, put on professional clothes, and sit at your desk."I didn't argue or fight back.The exhaustion and the terror had drained every ounce of resistance from my blood.I felt like a hollow shell,

ADRIANMikhail gripped Verity's arm and steered her through the side door into the private suite adjoining the office before her feet could properly find the floor.The door sealed behind them."Clear the floor!" Adrian barked into the intercom.Time seeped sluggishly through the room.Adrian stared at the window until the main door opened again. This time, Melony stood there.She crossed the threshold, her eyes bulging with rage and her pretense abandoned."You bastard!" She hurled her leather portfolio on the conference table, and pens scattered like startled birds. "You let that little gutter whore speak to me like that? In front of your staff?"Adrian pressed the console on his desk. The magnetic locks engaged with a heavy click.Then he walked slowly to the bar and poured two fingers of neat scotch but didn't touch it.He leaned back with his arms crossed and watched her rave."You think you're untouchable, Adrian?" Melony took three aggressive steps forward. "You brought a stree

VERITY“You can’t keep me in here!” My shout bounced around the marble foyer.The two guards stationed by the front doors didn't flinch. Carter, the guy who introduced himself when Mikhail shoved me inside, stared straight ahead with dead eyes. The other guy never spoke at all.“Tell Adrian I want a word with him.” My voice scraped raw. “Tell him this isn't a negotiation. This is—”I trailed off, realizing this was pointless.I spun away and marched straight to the wet bar.My hands shook horribly, making the crystal decanter clatter hard on the glass rim.Blind anger took over and I whipped the tumbler straight at the wall.The glass shattered into a thousand glittering pieces, raining all over the white marble and the gray rug.Neither guard even blinked.Desperate for any voice but my own, I grabbed the remote and jabbed at the screen. There, enormous, was my face.My brain refused to make sense of it. The photo had been cropped so close that only my throat remained, ringed with da

VERITYI woke up to a blinding headache hammering behind my eyes the next day, making the morning light slicing through the floor-to-ceiling windows painful.My mouth tasted like cheap wine, ash, and bitter regret.I pushed myself up into a sitting position, my entire body throbbing with a dull ache.The crushing reality of my situation crashed back, stealing all the oxygen from my lungs.Adrian had a wife. A family. He used me, broke me down to my rawest nerves, and then abandoned me to rot in this gilded cage while he went back to his untouchable empire.I pulled my knees to my chest, burying my face in my hands as a violent shiver racked my spine.I refused to just sit here and die.I refused to let Adrian Sutherland turn me into a pathetic, waiting mistress entirely dependent on his credit cards.My law degree was the only thing I had left. It was my only real way out.I could bury myself in my classes, graduate early, and transfer to a completely different city.I would run so fa