Lahat ng Kabanata ng Serpentine Desires : Kabanata 91 - Kabanata 100

I curled into a ball, knees pressed to my chest, arms wrapping around my trembling body. The cold floor was unforgiving, a harsh contrast to the burning shame that consumed me. My throat was raw, my lips swollen and bruised, but it was my heart that ached the most—splintered into pieces so small I couldn’t even feel it anymore. Judas was gone. He left me lying here, broken and discarded like I was nothing. I wasn’t even a person to him. I was a possession. A toy he could break over and over again just to prove a point. Tears welled up in my eyes, hot and thick, sliding down my cheeks as silent sobs racked my body. My fingers clutched at the torn fabric of my sweater, but it offered no comfort. I was exposed—physically, emotionally, entirely. I could feel every bruise, every mark of his claim still searing on my skin. I should hate him. God, I do hate him. But I hate myself more for not fighting harder. For letting him take from me what little I had left.Minutes passed, or maybe it

I watched as Ivan disappeared into the crowded cafeteria blending seamlessly with the students milling about. My heart was racing and my mind still reeling from what had just transpired. I had said yes. I had agreed to leave with him, to run away from all of this—Judas, Lucius, the entire Romanovski world.I should’ve felt relief, but instead, all I could feel was the heavy weight of dread settling over my chest like a shroud. I could still hear his words in my head. Two days. That was all it would take for us to escape. Switzerland, he said. A fresh start. Far from the claws of Judas and the webs he build around me.But was it even possible? Could I really trust Ivan?My fingers twitched, the memory of his touch still lingering, a ghostly warmth that contrasted with the cold, gnawing uncertainty gnawing at my insides. I glanced down at the table, the flash drive still sitting there like a mocking symbol of everything I thought I had accomplished. Ivan was right—this was a distraction

Darkness. Warmth and a strange pull.I opened my eyes slowly trying to force out the haze of sleep clinging to my mind, wrapping me in a fog that made it hard to tell where I was or why everything felt so off. The sheets beneath me were warm, soft, unfamiliar in a way that sent a jolt of confusion through me. For a second, I couldn’t breathe. My chest felt tight like someone was pressing down on me, keeping me pinned in place. I shifted slightly, trying to sit up when I felt it—an arm draped over my waist, heavy and possessive and fingers splayed against my bare skin beneath my shirt.Everything rushed back in a wave that nearly knocked the air from my lungs. Judas.Oh heavens… Panic surged through me like ice in my veins. My body went rigid and my heart hammered so loudly it filled my ears. His arm was still there, holding me close, his skin warm against mine. My breath hitched as I tried to pull away, to free myself, but th

Her eyes were wide—terrified, confused, furious—and I fucking loved it. The way every flicker of fear, every tremble of uncertainty on my little troublemaker’s face felt like a shot of adrenaline straight to my veins. A personal drug of mine I couldn’t help needing more. Fuck when did it come to this?The way she looked at me, like I was some untouchable force, something dangerous, something she didn’t understand but couldn’t escape. It was intoxicating.I stared at her—my little bird. Her hair clung to her skin and the fucking drops of water slid almost tauntingly down the heavenly curves of her body, and for a moment, I lost myself. My mind, always so sharp, so fucking precise, went hazy as I drank her in. The sight of her—bare, soaked, trembling—it did something to me. God, she was beautiful. More than I could admit.Not in the way those plastic, made-up women flaunted themselves. No, my ptichka was raw. Real. Unpolished and fucking perfect. It was torture how her soft, trembling b

A restless heart was the prisoner of secrets untold. And so was mine.I paced around the room with my heart thrumming like the fluttering wings of a trapped bird. Judas had left, but this agitation in my chest lingered, pulsing with an urgency I couldn't shake. I clutched the cardigan around me feeling the weight but not its warmth.Something was wrong—I could feel it crawling up my spine, sinking its claws into my skin, and whispering into my thoughts. Shit.What did he mean by those words? Why did he say them?‘And if you betray me, if you ever think you can take what is mine and give it to another…’I stilled. He knew. He fucking knew. Cause… I just underestimated him. I played him for the fool he never was. Or was it him playing me?The silence gnawed at me and I couldn’t ease this dread. My mind spun in circles, replaying the cold, dangerous glint in his eyes and that strange gentleness of his touch as he brushed my hair, and the unspoken threat woven between every word he had mu