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Chapter 10
publish date:
2026-05-15 09:00:00“Don’t leave,” Eli whispered.
Cove stopped halfway to the door. He stood there for a long moment, back still turned.
“Please,” Eli added, voice rough from crying. “Just a little longer. I’m still shaking.”
Cove turned around slowly. “I’m not your babysitter, Eli.”
“I know,” Eli said. “But right now you’re al
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CLAIMED IN THE DARK Chapter 105
Into the Auction HallThe elevator doors opened right into the underground garage. The air smelled like engine oil and wet concrete. Ruiz was already at the first car, engine running low, three guys from the team piled in. Lena climbed into the second vehicle with two more shooters. Cove slid behind the wheel of our car, one hand on the wheel, the other resting on my thigh like he was making sure I stayed put.“Promise again,” he said, voice low as he started the engine.“I promise,” I said back, buckling my seatbelt tight. The laptop bag stayed on my lap. My fingers tapped the side of it nervous-like.Ruiz’s voice crackled over the comms. “Boss, we’re ten minutes out. Eli, you got eyes on the hall yet?”I opened the laptop quick, pulling up the drone feed. The map showed the underground auction hall in red, level seve
CLAIMED IN THE DARK Chapter 104
The Argument and the SurpriseI shut the laptop lid after reading the message from the old contacts, and the words still sat heavy in my stomach. Nikolai Volkov. The Bratva leader. Matteo had joined up with him. That changed the game completely. The whole city felt like it was closing in at the same time.Cove stood right there in the server room, arms crossed tight, staring at the closed laptop like it had personally hurt him. “Bratva. They’re all in now. Nikolai’s with Matteo. We can’t go in blind.”Lena leaned against the wall, still holding her half-empty coffee cup, eyes sharp. “I know. But we got the warning. That’s something. Ruiz and the team are already moving the vehicles out front. Ten minutes. We can’t sit here debating while Matteo’s making his move.”I tried to stand up, my legs still a little wobbly from the night before, but I did it anyway. “We have to. He’s setting a trap at the auction hall. We need to know exactly where he is before we roll out. My laptop can find
CLAIMED IN THE DARK Chapter 103
The beep from the recorder faded into nothing, but the voice kept playing in my head. Matteo’s calm tone, like he was ordering coffee. “Matteo here. The auction hall tonight. Secondary squad hits the servers. I go in with Nikolai. Kill the hacker Eli. Finish the war. Voss dies. City burns with us. Tell them hello from the grave.”Cove stood there, arm still around my shoulders, and stared at the dead assassin like he was trying to read the last breath off his face. I stayed right next to him, my legs still wobbly from the couch, but I didn’t sit down again. “He’s right. It’s a trap. Underground auction hall tonight. He’s using the Bratva to finish it all.”Cove’s jaw tightened. “We play it out loud. Whole team needs to hear.”He hit the button on the small black box Lena had pulled out. The recorder started again. Same voice. “Matteo here. The auction hall tonight. Secondary squad hits the servers. I go in with Nikolai. Kill the hacker Eli. Finish the war. Voss dies. City burns with u
CLAIMED IN THE DARK Chapter 102
The door to the interrogation room clicked shut behind the guard, leaving just the soft hum of the city far below and the low glow from a single lamp on the table. Eli sat slumped on the couch nearby, still too shaky to stand on his own, his legs curled under him like they didn’t want to listen. His hands gripped the edge of the cushion, knuckles white. Cove paced slow circles in front of the table, arms crossed tight over his chest, eyes locked on the man tied to the chair across from him.The assassin—face still bruised, one leg bandaged from the graze—lifted his chin and gave a weak laugh. “Well, well. The big bad Voss king himself. And the little hacker playing guard dog.”Cove stopped pacing. “You’re the last one who touched Eli in the server room. Name.”The man spat on the floor, the red hitting the tiles. “Doesn’t matter who I am. You’re dead. All of you. Matteo’s men don’t miss.”Eli’s voice came out rough from the couch, low but steady. “You grabbed me. You pinned me down. T
CLAIMED IN THE DARK Chapter 101
Eli woke up slowly, his body heavy and confused. He was on the big couch in the living room of the penthouse, the soft cushions pressing into his back. Cove’s arm was wrapped tightly around his shoulders, pulling him close. The emergency lights were on low, casting a warm orange glow across the marble floor and the tall windows. The city lights of the night outside the glass walls looked far away, like they belonged to someone else’s world. Eli’s breathing was still fast and shallow, the panic attack still clinging to him like cold sweat on his skin.His legs felt weak when he tried to sit up. He pushed himself a little too hard and they buckled under him. Eli let out a small groan and dropped back onto the couch. “I… I can’t,” he whispered, his voice hoarse and rough. “My legs won’t work.”Cove didn’t let go. He simply shifted, sliding an arm under Eli’s knees and lifting him easily. Eli’s head rested against Cove’s shoulder as he was carried the short distance to the couch. Cove sat
CLAIMED IN THE DARK Chapter 100
Eli forced himself through the panic, his body shaking in the pitch black of the server room. The darkness pressed against him like a living thing, the kind that had haunted him since he was nine. The closet. The fire. The endless night that had made him scream until his voice gave out. His heart slammed against his ribs so hard he could feel it in his throat. His hands trembled as he gripped the pistol he had taken from the limo earlier. The platinum collar around his neck felt like a chain, heavy and cold. The silver ring on his finger pressed against his knuckle, a reminder of the life he had chosen with Cove.He forced his eyes to open. The emergency lights outside the server room door cast a faint red glow through the small window, but that was not enough. He needed more. He needed to see. His fingers moved on the laptop, the glow from the server monitors spilling into the room. He aimed the pistol carefully, the red dot from the laser sight dancing on the wall where the first sh
CLAIMED IN THE DARK Chapter 25
Cove stood up fast. “I told you to leave it alone.”Eli kept staring at the screen. “Why are there files with my name on them? ‘Eli Reyes Protocol’? ‘Long-term Hold’? What the fuck is all this, Cove?”
CLAIMED IN THE DARK Chapter 24
Eli buried his face in the pillow but it came out anyway. “Cove… fuck…”Cove groaned and moved faster. “Again.”“Cove,” Eli moaned, voice shaking. He couldn’t hold it back anymore.
CLAIMED IN THE DARK Chapter 23
Eli stared straight into his eyes. “Why did you really take me, Cove? Not the debt story. Not the ‘your brother offered’ story. The real reason?”Cove looked at him for a long moment, then stood up and walked to the window. He kept his ba
CLAIMED IN THE DARK Chapter 22
Eli whispered, “He really wanted me dead…”Cove stayed sitting beside him on the bed, hand still on his shoulder. He didn’t say anything at first.Eli laughed, but it sounded broken. “All this time I thought maybe deep down
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