All Chapters of Dying Was Easier Than Loving Him: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Gabriella’s POVI woke up to the hum of cheap fluorescent lights overhead. The room was not a dark dungeon, but the pale yellow walls and bare mattress felt far worse than any iron cage. They had taken my jewelry, my shoes and my phone before locking the heavy reinforced door.I sat up on the cot, running my fingers through my tangled hair. The adrenaline that had carried me through the confrontation with Damien had finally burned away, leaving a bitter taste in my mouth. I replayed every second of that interrogation in my head, grinding my teeth as I remembered the exact moment my composure fractured. I had let him see my fear when he pulled out that photograph of Ronan's lodge. It was a stupid, amateurish mistake and I hated myself for it.I paced the small length of the room, bare feet cold against the linoleum floor. I needed a way out. I needed a strategy before the elders convened to strip my family of their status.My thoughts turned immediately to my father. Harlan was a cowa

Amelia’s POVThe door slammed shut above me, cutting off the muffled sounds of gunfire and howling and leaving me in pitch darkness.“Okay, Amelia,” I whispered to myself, my voice trembling as I clicked my small flashlight back on. “You are currently stuck in an underground mad scientist lair, your boyfriend is fighting a dozen armed wolves on the surface and your legs feel like wet noodles. Perfect time for a stroll.”Lucas’s furious, agonized roar echoed through the stone floorboards above my head, vibrating straight into the soles of my boots. Every single instinct I possessed screamed at me to turn around, throw open that metal hatch and charge back into the fight. But I forced my feet to take a step deeper into the dark tunnel instead. Turning around meant getting captured by Ronan within ten seconds and turning myself into a helpless hostage would only guarantee Lucas got killed trying to protect me.“He told me to run,” I muttered, pressing my hand against the cold, damp conc

Amelia’s POVI held my breath so hard my lungs felt like they were going to turn into raisins. The search team’s flashlight beam danced across the metal edge of the desk, missing my shoulder by about three inches.“She is not behind the primary console,” a heavy, gravelly voice grunted from the archway. “Check the storage alcoves down the hall.”I closed my eyes, preparing myself to scream, bite, or throw the ancient logbook at the first guy who looked under the desk. But before I could even twitch, an ice-cold, leathery hand clapped firmly over my mouth from behind.My heart did a backflip straight into my throat. I tried to thrash, but a surprisingly strong arm wrapped around my waist, yanking me backward through a narrow gap in the cracked drywall that I had completely missed in the dark. I was dragged six feet into a tiny, dusty crawlspace behind the room’s main frame before the hidden wall panel clicked back into place.“Shh,” a wet, rattling breath puffed against my ear.I froze

Damien’s POVThe doors of the council chamber slammed shut behind me, the loud bang echoing through the tall stone hall like a gavel falling on a death sentence. Twelve pack elders sat behind the long bench at the front of the room, their faces carved out of cold, unyielding granite as they looked down at us.Victor stood at the podium to my right, his graying hair slicked back, his designer suit completely spotless despite the storm breaking over our heads.“Members of the council,” Victor began, his deep baritone carrying through the room with the practiced, effortless authority he had used for thirty years. “The recent disturbances near our northern perimeter are unfortunate, but they are entirely under control. My son and I have neutralized a rogue scouting party led by Ronan and the security breach in the old territory was merely an abandoned storage vault that has now been re-sealed.”I stared at the side of my father’s face, feeling a sudden wave of disgust so strong it made my

Elena's POV The entire chamber went ice cold. Every eye on the high council bench snapped toward the gallery where I stood, turning on me like a row of loaded barrels. Decades of meticulous preparation, elegant diplomacy and flawless composure evaporated into nothingness in the span of a single sentence.“Silence the prisoner,” Elder Vance commanded, though his sharp eyes never left my face as guards dragged a screaming Gabriella through the double doors. The heavy metal latches clicked shut, leaving a ringing silence in the room.“Elena,” Vance said, his tone dropping into a dangerous register as he rested his forearms on the bench. “Did you hear the accusation made by Miss Crosswyn?”I forced a soft, sad sigh to break from my lips, adjusting the lapels of my gray coat as I stepped down the carpeted stairs into the main floor. “It is the desperate slander of a cornered woman who has lost everything, Elder Vance. You surely cannot take the wild outbursts of a traitor seriously.”“Giv