Semua Bab His fake wife, their real obsession: Bab 21 - Bab 30

Lydia's POVThe cold wind coming off the plaza whipped my hair across my face, stinging my cheeks. Behind me, the glass doors of the lobby were still vibrating from the chaos inside, but the air out here felt instantly thin. Suffocating.Vanessa’s breath hitched. She took another trembling step backward, her heels clicking unevenly against the wet granite, her hands raised as if to ward off a physical blow."What did you just say?" I stepped past the wall of guards. My voice was a low, dangerous whisper that cut straight through the low rumble of idling SUV engines."He’s gone, Lydia!" Vanessa’s voice rose to a frantic, thin shriek. She clutched the lapels of her stained designer coat, her eyes darting wildly to the flashing cameras of the paparazzi still lingering by the barricades. “He’s not there! I have a contact inside the federal detention center. They went to transfer him to the maximum-security wing twenty minutes ago. The cell was em

Lydia's POVThe cold concrete floor of the cell was damp, but Julian didn’t seem to care anymore."Lydia! Please, oh fucking God, Lydia!"With a desperate, animalistic heave, Julian threw his entire weight forward. The high-tensile plastic zip ties binding his wrists behind his back creaked and bit deep into his flesh, drawing fresh, bright blood that dripped onto the floor, but he didn't even flinch. He collapsed off the steel chair, hitting the concrete with a heavy, wet thud.He dragged himself forward on his knees, his face smeared with grease, blood, and his own pathetic tears. He lunged toward my feet, his chin slamming against the floor as he desperately tried to press his lips to the dusty, pointed tips of my ivory stilettos.“Get the fuck off me," I said, my voice lower than a whisper, but it cut through his hysterical sobbing like a razor blade.I didn't step back. I stood perfectly still, my eyes trained on t

Lydia's POVThe silk felt like ice water sliding down my skin.I stood in front of the three-way, floor-to-ceiling mirror in my master dressing room, watching the fabric settle. It was a liquid black, so dark it seemed to swallow the warm gold lighting of the Citadel. The dress was designed with a high, structured halter neckline that emphasized my broad, square shoulders and the sharp, athletic lines of my collarbones, perfectly balancing my inverted triangle frame. But the true violence of the dress lay in the back. It was entirely backless.The fabric cut away sharply at the sides of my ribs, plunging in a deep, dangerous curve that stopped just a fraction of an inch above the small of my lower back. With every breath, the silk clung to the curves of my narrow waist and slender hips, flowing down to my ankles with a heavy, fluid weight. I reached behind my neck, my fingers steady as I tied the thick silk straps into a tight, elegant knot, leaving t

Lydia's POV The heavy mahogany door clicked shut with a dull, final thud, instantly slicing through the high-pitched, hysterical shrieks of Vanessa Elsworth as she was hauled down the private corridor in steel cuffs. For several seconds, her muffled, desperate curses continued to vibrate through the solid wood, a pathetic, dying echo of a woman who had spent three years building an empire of stolen wealth only to watch it collapse into the dirt in a single, devastating heartbeat . Clack. Clack. Clack. The sound of dripping water from the overturned champagne bucket tapped against the black marble floor, a slow, rhythmic metronome in the sudden, suffocating silence of the VIP suite. The ice cubes spilled across the stone were already melting under the warm, amber glow of the crystal chandelier, forming a shallow pool that mirrored the flashing neon blue and crimson lights bleeding through the tinted glass panels from the cr

Lydia's POV The echo of Kian’s tablet chiming in the corner was entirely drowned out by the thunderous pulse of my own heartbeat. We didn't look at the screen. The air in the VIP suite was too thick, too heavily saturated with the scent of cedarwood, leather, and the raw, intoxicating heat of our bodies. The victory over Julian and Vanessa had unlocked something feral in us, a dark, demanding hunger that couldn't be satisfied by a single climax. The adrenaline was a drug, running hot and violent through my veins, and I wanted more. I wanted to be consumed. Cassian didn't give me a chance to breathe. His large, tattooed hands clamped around my waist, his grip so firm and possessive it left burning imprints on my bare skin. With one effortless, powerful lift, he hoisted me off the plush velvet sofa. My breath hitched as the world tilted, my heels dragging against the dark cushions before he set me down