Chapter: Chapter Five : The ResultsLena's povThe results took five days.Five days of Axel bringing me food I didn't ask for and sitting beside me while I ate it like he was scared I'd disappear if he looked away. Five days of Rook showing up in whatever room I was in without explanation, quiet and steady like a wall nobody had asked him to build but everyone was grateful for. Five days of Ghost watching everything from a distance with those grey green eyes that gave nothing away but missed absolutely nothing.Five days of me pressing my hand flat against my stomach in the dark and trying not to think about things I wasn't ready to think about.The envelope arrived Friday morning.Ghost took it from the courier himself. Carried it to the kitchen where the rest of us were already gathered like we'd all felt it coming without anyone saying a word. He set it on the table and nobody reached for it.Axel broke first. "Just open it Ghost.""Give me a second.""You've had five days.""Axel." Rook's voice. One word. Axel clos
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-06-16
Chapter: Chapter Four : TripletsLena's povSix weeks passed like breathing.I stopped flinching at the sound of engines. Stopped sleeping with one eye open. Stopped counting the men in every room like I needed an exit strategy.The compound had become something I didn't have a word for yet. Not home exactly. But the closest thing to it I'd ever had.I had a routine now. Morning coffee with Axel who talked enough for three people before nine AM. Afternoons helping Doc restock the medical room because he asked once and I said yes and somehow it just kept happening. Evenings when Ghost would sit in the common room reading and not say much but always know exactly where I was.It was the quietest I had ever felt inside my own head.Which is probably why my body chose a perfectly calm Tuesday morning to fall apart completely.I made it to the bathroom.Barely.I knelt on the cold tile floor and was sick until there was nothing left. Then I sat back against the wall and pressed my forehead against the cabinet and waited fo
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-06-16
Chapter: Chapter Three : Whatever They WantedLena's povThe lock clicked open and I was on my feet before the door fully swung in.Ghost walked through first. Then Axel. Then Doc.All three of them breathing hard, dirt on their hands, something dark on Ghost's knuckles that I didn't look at too long. But standing. Unharmed. Alive.I don't know what came over me.Relief I think. The kind that starts in your chest and takes over everything else before you can stop it."You're okay," I said. My voice came out smaller than I wanted it to."We're fine," Axel said. He was still buzzing with adrenaline, eyes bright, chest rising and falling fast. "You should've seen Ghost out there. Sent those suits running so fast they left one of their SUVs at the gate.""Edmund's men won't be back tonight," Ghost said. He was looking at me in that steady way he had. Like he was checking something off a list. "You're safe."Safe.I had not heard that word directed at me in so long it almost didn't sound real."Thank you," I said. I looked at all thre
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-06-16
Chapter: Chapter Two : Belong To All Of UsLena's povThe basement wasn't a dungeon.That was my first surprise.It was a wide underground room with concrete walls, a cot in the corner, a small bathroom, and a weight bench nobody had used in a while. It smelled like motor oil and damp concrete. Not pretty. But not a torture chamber either.Axel pushed the door open and nodded inside. "Sit down."I sat on the cot and that's when I felt it. The burning. I looked down at my feet and my stomach turned. The hem of my wedding dress was shredded and dark with blood. My bare feet were cut up from the highway, the bridge, every surface between the church and here.I hadn't even noticed until now.That's what running for your life does. It makes you numb to everything except moving.Axel leaned against the wall and looked at me with his arms crossed. Not threatening. Just watching. "You got guts," he said. "I'll give you that.""I got nowhere to go," I said. "That's different from guts.""Is it?"I looked up at him. He was still doing t
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-06-16
Chapter: Chapter One : I Said NoLENA'S POV"Stop shaking, Lena. You’re ruining the line of the silk."My mother’s hand snapped out, pinning my shoulder against the dressing room mirror. She didn’t look at my face; she was too busy obsessing over the lace sleeves."I think I’m going to be sick," I said. My voice sounded thin, like it belonged to someone else.Margaret finally looked at me. Her eyes weren't kind. They were calculating. "You’re not getting sick. You’re getting married. Do you have any idea what happens if you walk out there and make a scene? Edmund didn't pay two million dollars to your father’s estate for a girl who 'feels sick.'""He bought me," I whispered. "That’s what this is. A sale."Margaret slapped me.The sound echoed in the small room. My cheek stung, the heat blooming across my skin."He saved us," Margaret hissed, leaning in close. I could smell her expensive perfume, it smelled like a trap. "You should be thanking God that a man like Edmund Hale even looked at a useless girl like you. Now
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-06-16
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