LOGINKillian threw the bloody towel onto the floor. He walked past his underboss, stepping out of the freezing cellar and heading up the concrete stairs to his secure office in the city safehouse.Killian stripped off the ruined, blood-soaked shirt, leaving it in a pile on the floor, and took a harsh, freezing shower in the attached bathroom. The icy water washed the blood down the drain, but it didn't touch the heavy, suffocating guilt sitting inside his chest.He put on a clean black t-shirt and walked into the office, sitting heavily behind the massive mahogany desk.Marco walked in a few minutes later, carrying a sleek manila folder. He set it down directly in front of Killian."Boss, the papers are ready," Marco said quietly.Killian stared at the unmarked folder. He didn't open it. He just rested his hand flat against the heavy paper, his jaw tightening."Good," Killian murmured. He looked up at Marco. "When she heals completely... when the time comes, you will give these to her."Ma
The damp, freezing air of the underground cellar reeked of copper and raw fear.Killian stood in the center of the concrete room. He was wearing a crisp white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up past his elbows, dark trousers, and heavy boots.A few feet in front of him, Dario Vitiello was suspended from the ceiling by heavy iron chains.The once-powerful Italian Don was completely unrecognizable. His body was a ruined, bloody mess of flayed skin and broken bones. His tailored clothes had been ripped away days ago. Every single one of his fingernails had been meticulously pulled out with the exact same pliers he had used on Luna.He was hanging on the absolute edge of death, his breathing a wet, jagged rattle.Killian picked up a heavy, steel-tipped whip from the metal table."You think..." Dario gasped, his head lolling to the side as he struggled to look at the Pakhan through a swollen, bruised eye. He spat a mouthful of blood onto the concrete. "You think you are... a savior?"K
The question hit me like a physical blow. Leave him? Walk away? Even when I was furious, even when I thought he had abandoned me... the thought of actually leaving him had never crossed my mind.I stared at her, my heart beating frantically."No," I whispered.I looked Dr. Aris in the eyes. Fresh tears burned my vision."Does that make me pathetic?" I asked, my voice breaking with deep shame. "Does it make me a pathetic, broken girl? I know he tormented me. I know he is a monster who locked me in a cage. But even after everything... I still don't want to leave him. Is something wrong with me?""No, Luna. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you," Dr. Aris said firmly. "Human emotions are incredibly complex. You experienced profound fear with him, but you also experienced profound protection. It does not make you pathetic to feel attached to the person who showed you safety, even if that same person originally took it away."The heavy guilt in my chest loosened just a fraction.I too
LUNA POVI pulled the soft cream cardigan over my shoulders, my fingers stiff as I pushed the buttons through the holes.I looked at my reflection in the bedroom mirror, but my mind wasn't really there. I was stuck exactly where I had been for the last forty-eight hours.Two days.It had been two days since I broke down in the living room. I remembered curling into a tight ball on the sofa, sobbing until my throat was completely raw. Killian’s heavy footsteps had faded down the hall, leaving me alone with the crushing weight of his confession. I will never ask for your forgiveness. I don't deserve it. I had cried until my exhausted body simply shut down, pulling me into a dark, heavy sleep right there on the cushions.But when I opened my eyes the next morning, I wasn't on the sofa.I was tucked into my own bed. The heavy duvet was pulled up to my chin, and my head was resting on the soft pillows. The faint, sharp scent of his cologne lingered in the air.He had carried me up the stai
LUNA POVHis heavy words hung in the quiet living room.I failed you. I am so sorry.Killian stayed on his knees, his eyes closed, pressing his forehead against my scarred knuckles. His massive shoulders were tense, bracing for whatever I was going to do next. He was waiting for me to yell at him again. Or maybe, he was hoping I would just let my fingers curl around his hand and forgive him.I looked down at his dark hair. My chest heaved with a ragged, painful breath.I snatched my hand away.The movement was sharp and violent. I pulled my arms back, wrapping them tightly around my own knees, pressing my spine into the corner of the sofa to get as much space between us as I could.Killian’s head jerked up. The sudden emptiness where my hand had been seemed to hit him like a physical blow."Yes," I whispered, my voice trembling violently. I looked at him through my tears. "You failed me."He didn't move. He didn't try to reach for me again. He just knelt there on the hardwood floor, l
LUNA POVMy fork hit the porcelain plate with a loud clatter.The sharp sound echoed across the long mahogany table, but it didn't even slow him down. The heavy thud of his boots just kept moving against the hardwood floor.He was leaving. After hiding from me for three entire months, he had sat at my table, eaten his food in absolute silence, and was now just walking away again.I sat there for a few seconds, staring at his empty chair. My chest rose and fell. The suffocating weight of the last four months—the weeks of cold isolation before the fire, the agonizing night he left for Italy, the sheer terror in that drawing-room—boiled up into my throat all at once.Something inside me finally snapped.I pushed my chair back. The wood scraped harshly against the floor."Killian."My voice came out sharp, cutting through the quiet dining room.His boots stopped. He froze in the archway, but he didn't turn around. His broad back just faced me, completely unmoving.I took a shaky step towa
The chain rattled.It was the first sound of the morning, a metallic scrape against wood that pulled me out of the gray fog I'd been floating in.I woke up on the rug at the foot of Killian's bed. My body was curled into a tight knot, knees pulled to my chest, spine pressed hard against the mahogany
Morning arrived with a boot to my ribs.Not a kick meant to break bone. Just a nudge. A reminder of where I was and what I was."Up," Killian ordered.I uncurled from the rug slowly, my body stiff and aching. My joints locked up from sleeping on the cold floor, the damp draft that swept under the do
The IV bag was empty.I lay on the bed, watching the last drop of clear fluid hesitate at the plastic nozzle before slipping down the tube and vanishing into my vein.The silence in the room was heavy, broken only by distant footsteps in the hallway outside.I felt alive again.It wasn't a good feel
The light finally won.It pierced through my eyelids even when they were closed, a searing white lance that felt like it was cooking my brain inside my skull.I didn't know how long I'd been standing. My legs weren't legs anymore. They were columns that had stopped holding weight, nerves screaming s







