Todos los capítulos de His beautiful liability : Capítulo 11 - Capítulo 17

The tires of the armored SUV sliced through the fresh, powdery snow with a low, rhythmic hiss. Outside, the blinding white blizzard had finally slowed down, giving way to a suffocating, pitch-black mountain highway shrouded in dense pine trees. The interior of the cabin was deathly quiet, illuminated only by the dull green glow of the dashboard terminal. I sat pressed as far into the corner of the leather seat as possible, clutching the lapels of my torn midnight-blue silk jacket. The oversized black cashmere sweater beneath it felt tight against my chest, trapping the lingering scent of gunpowder and Karl's dark cologne against my skin.I had killed a man. The image of the tactical scout clawing at his ruined throat replayed on a continuous, torturous loop behind my eyelids. My hands were still trembling, the phantom weight of the silver derringer burning against my palms.Karl sat right next to me, a massive, unyielding wall of dominant power. He didn't look at me. He didn't offer a

Nine minutes was not enough time to decide whether I wanted my brother dead or alive, and I hated myself for how long it took me to realize I still hadn't chosen.The first set of headlights hit the outer gate before Karl finished shouting his orders. Guards poured out from the tree line in tight formation, rifles up, boots crunching through fresh snow with a discipline that told me this compound rehearsed for nights exactly like this one. Karl grabbed my wrist and hauled me toward the stone steps of the main house, his grip bruising, his voice a low growl meant only for me."Inside. Now. I don't care if you hate me for it.""That's my brother out there.""That's a man who sold you to Petrov four months ago." Karl's eyes never left the road. "Family doesn't get a pass just because the knife is finally pointed somewhere else."I planted my feet in the snow and refused to move, and for one suspended second Karl looked at me like he might actually pick me up and carry me inside himself.

The muzzle flash of a gun fired in absolute darkness is a cruel, temporary sun. For less than a fraction of a heartbeat, the blinding burst of white-hot light burned away the shadows of the subterranean chamber, carving the stranger’s face into the fabric of my reality forever.It was a face I had seen in shattered mirrors, in the faded charcoal portraits locked away in our father’s forbidden study, and in the sharp, aristocratic contours of the man standing right beside me. He possessed Karl’s dangerous, striking jawline, and Karl’s piercing, calculating eyes—but where Karl’s expression was driven by a fierce, protective fire, this man’s features were trapped in an arctic, predatory stillness. He looked like a ghost sculpted from marble, an impossible specter born from the dark foundation of our family's sins.Then, the light died, plunging us back into a pitch blackness so thick it felt like heavy velvet pressing against my open eyes.The deafening roar of the gunshot ricocheted vio