บททั้งหมดของ The prison where I found you: บทที่ 1 - บทที่ 7

The morning alarm tore through the block like a gunshot, but I was already awake. I hadn't slept a second. All night, the cold concrete wall pressed against my back as I stared at the empty top bunk, my mind trapped in a terrifying loop.I couldn't stop thinking about the way Graves had beaten me, or the way the man named Kael had stepped out of the shadows. I could still feel the phantom ghost of Kael’s storm-gray eyes dragging over my face, my throat, my body. In the dark, shivering under the thin sheet, an unwanted, dangerous heat had coiled low in my gut. I hated my body for it. I was terrified for my life, yet my mind kept racing back to his broad shoulders, his heavy hands, and the sheer power radiating off him.When the heavy cell doors unlocked with a deafening screech, the guards herded us out like cattle.“Move it, scum!” Officer Graves’ voice boomed from the guard platform above. He spotted me in the crowd, his eyes glinting with dirty promise. He tapped his heavy nightstic

My lips still burned from his mouth, but the morning alarm blew the pretense of safety to pieces.As the cell tier opened, Vance and his mountain of a lieutenant—a brute with scarred knuckles named Miller—were waiting at the bottom of the iron stairs. Their grins were filthy, promise dripping off their teeth.Before they could step into my path, Kael’s massive shadow cut between us.“Move,” Kael growled flatly, not even slowing his stride. “He’s on my detail.”Miller sneered, taking a provocative step forward. “Since when do you run a daycare, Reaper? You kissed his little bruised lip last night, now you’re taking him to work?”Kael stopped dead. The air on the tier went arctic. Without a word, Kael reached out, grabbed Miller by the throat, and slammed his heavy frame against the steel railing so hard the whole tier rattled.“I run this block,” Kael said, his voice terrifyingly quiet as Miller gagged, his face turning purple. “If I decide he walks beside me, you step out of the way.

The crash echoed through the ward with the force of an executioner’s axe. The heavy iron doors slammed shut in unison; the reverberation made my teeth chatter. I stood in the center of my empty cell, chest heaving, still feeling the phantom of Kael’s mouth burning against my lips and the imprint of his rough hands seared into my skin. Across the corridor, Kael was locked in his own grim cage. His gray eyes remained fixed on mine through the narrow bars. The air between us remained thick, heavy, and dangerous. I thought I’d have a second to breathe, to figure out how I’d survive the night. I was wrong. Ten minutes after the lights went out, a key turned softly in my lock. I scrambled back against the wall, heart pounding in my throat, expecting Officer Graves or Vance’s brutal gang to burst through the door. Instead, the door creaked open just enough for a shadow to slip inside. It wasn’t a guard, nor was it a bloodthirsty inmate. It was a young guard I’d never seen before; she wa