All Chapters of The prison where I found you: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Morning broke over the sector like a blunt, gray blade. The intimate stillness of dawn vanished with the sound of the counter-terrorist's horn, replaced by the shrill screech of opening iron doors.I moved quickly. As soon as the locking mechanism buzzed, I slipped from Kael's warm arms and stepped off the concrete floor before he could say a word. The afterglow of my collapse felt like an open wound exposed to the block's cold air. I couldn't look at him. I couldn't accept that I had been sleeping pressed against his chest, or that for four hours the Reaper had been the only thing keeping me from collapsing.I surrendered to the beast's rhythm, keeping my head down and my hands buried deep in the pockets of my orange jumpsuit. I told myself it was strategy. I told myself that emotional attachments in a facility that thrives on blood and grenades were a fast track to death. Around midday, during the brief outdoor time, the courtyard resembled a sea of moving bodies, filled with the s

The air inside the infirmary supply closet was suffocating, thick with the sharp bite of rubbing alcohol and industrial bleach. Graves stood between me and the bolted door, flipping his heavy leather nightstick in his hand with a slow, sickening rhythm.“Vance is running out of air, pretty boy,” Graves sneered, his rat-like eyes glinting in the harsh fluorescent light. “He thinks he owns Sector 2, but the cartel’s getting tired of his little empire. Three days, maybe four, and they’re coming for his neck. When that happens, who’s going to stop them? Miller? Me?”He stepped closer, the stench of stale coffee and tobacco radiating off his collar.“Give me the ledger codes,” Graves growled, his voice dropping to a low, dirty rasp. “Give me whatever you and Vance pulled out of Wing D, and I’ll put you on a private transport out of state. You get a clean name. Protection.”“I don't have the codes,” I said, forcing my voice to remain smooth, cold, and empty. “And even if I did, I’d rather r

I woke before the count horn. For three seconds, floating in the grey haze between sleep and memory, a strange warmth bloomed in my chest. My lips still tingled with the phantom pressure of Kael’s mouth, and the ghost of his heat lingered against my back. Then the horn blew. The harsh, metallic screech shattered the illusion, dragging me straight back to reality. The cold concrete floor. The stench of bleach and rusted iron. The orange jumpsuit resting on the foot of my bunk. I sat up, my face burning with a sudden, humiliating wave of embarrassment. I was an inmate in a state penitentiary, framed for wire fraud, hunted by a ghost syndicate—and I was smiling like an idiot because the man who helped put me here had kissed me in a boiler room. Kael was already awake, sitting on the opposite bunk, lacing his heavy boots. He glanced up, his storm-gray eyes softening as they met mine. There was a quiet, unvarnished tenderness in his gaze that made my throat go tight. "Don't look at m

The disinfectant burned like liquid fire as Kael poured it over the gash on my forearm. I bit my lip hard enough to taste copper, my knuckles turning white as I gripped the edge of the wooden bench in the maintenance shed.Kael’s hands were steady, but the muscle in his jaw twitched violently with every silent pull of the needle as he stitched the skin together. He kept his head down, his storm-gray eyes fixed on the wound, refusing to look me in the face.“You’re still pissed,” I rasped, my voice tight with pain.“You almost died, Hart,” Kael grunted, pulling the thread taut with a sharp, controlled jerk. “You threw yourself in front of a six-inch spike for a man who dragged you into a cell. Excuse me if I’m not celebrating.”“I didn’t do it so you’d celebrate!” I snapped, wincing as the needle pierced skin again. “I did it because I’m tired of watching you act like your life is disposable! You step in front of every blade, take every hit, and carry every secret, and then you get ang

I didn't stop to think. I didn't consult the shift logs, and I didn't care about the consequences of breaking lockdown. The moment the alarm’s high-pitched screech echoed through the ceiling, the floor beneath my feet ceased to matter. Every self-preservation instinct I had built over a lifetime of keeping my head down burned away, leaving behind a cold, blinding terror."Hart, don't!" Julian yelled, reaching out to catch my sleeve as I bolted from the archive table. "If you run into C-Block during a tactical lockdown, the guards will shoot you on sight!""Let them!" I screamed over my shoulder, tearing my arm out of his grip.I vaulted over the library counter, kicking open the side emergency exit. The heavy metal bar slammed against the frame with a deafening rattle. The service corridor was empty, filled only with the flashing crimson strobe of the emergency beacons. Smoke from gas canisters in the main yard was already drifting into the upper vents, burning my nostrils with the sh