All Chapters of The Tyrant's captive bride : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

~Harper~I’m in the kitchen pretending to eat the salad Sofia left me, poking at lettuce like it personally insulted me, when Elias walks in fresh from whatever meeting he had, tie loose, sleeves rolled up, looking annoyingly good for someone I want to strangle.He stops when he sees my face, leans against the counter, crosses his arms. “You’ve been avoiding me all day.”“Yeah, wonder why.” I stab a tomato so hard it explodes juice across the plate.He sighs loud, rubs his jaw. “Still on about Lila?”“Still on about the girl you had chained in the basement, yeah, funny how that sticks with a person.”He grabs a water bottle from the fridge, twists the cap off slow. “I told you, she’s moved. Somewhere safe. Her dad finally paid part of what he owes, so I relocated her. For her own good.”I laugh, sharp and ugly, drop the fork with a clatter. “For her own good. Right. Because keeping someone chained and drugged for eight months is super good for them, then you just move her like a piece

~Harper~Sofia's in the living room folding laundry when I corner her, and she looks up quick with that nervous glance she always has now like she's expecting Elias to jump out from behind the couch or something, and she whispers that she managed to copy a few files onto this tiny thumb drive when she was in his office pretending to dust the bookshelves yesterday, said she waited until he stepped out for a call and plugged it in fast, grabbed what looked important before he came back, and now she's handing it to me under a folded towel like we're in some spy movie.I take it with my heart pounding because if he catches me with this it'll be bad, really bad, but I hug her tight and tell her she's the best and to watch her back because he's been extra paranoid lately, firing people left and right, and she nods with this sad little smile saying she knows but she couldn't just stand by and watch him destroy me without trying to help.I wait until he's out for the afternoon, some board mee

~Elias~I know she’s breaking away from me again because I feel it every time she looks at me now, that mix of hate and fear that’s sharper than before, like the file and Aurora’s call cracked something I can’t glue back together, and it’s eating at me because I need her to need me, to want me, even if it’s twisted.I test her that night on purpose, leave my Glock on the nightstand loaded with one in the chamber, safety off, right where she’ll see it when I pretend to fall asleep first, breathing slow and even while I watch her through half-closed eyes.She lies there stiff for an hour, staring at the ceiling, then sits up slow, glances at me like she’s checking if I’m really out, and her hand creeps toward the gun, fingers trembling bad enough I see it in the dark.She picks it up, heavy in her small hands, points it at my head, barrel shaking, tears already running down her face.I wait.Heart pounding because part of me wants her to pull it, end this obsession, but the bigger part

Harper I’m still standing there in the middle of the living room with my arms half-raised, apparently that’s the position my body decides is safest when the doctor finally bursts through the door, bag swinging, barking orders at the two guys trailing him, and Elias is already stepping back like he’s handing off a package, not a bleeding ex-wife on his floor. Aurora’s making these wet little gasps, clutching her thigh, eyes rolling back, and I’m thinking okay, I promised silence, I got the address, I can do this, just keep my mouth shut and get out of here the second they’re done. But then the doctor’s kneeling, cutting her dress open, and suddenly there’s this pounding on the front door, not knocking, pounding like the building’s on fire, and before anyone can say a word the door flies open and two uniforms are in the room with guns out yelling “Everybody freeze, hands where I can see them, what the hell happened here?”My heart does this flip because I know exactly what the hell ha

HarperI’m sitting up in this stupid hospital bed with the sheets twisted around my legs like they’re trying to strangle me too, and my chest is already tight from the second I woke up next to Aurora’s smirking face, but then the door swings open and there he is, Elias, walking in like he owns the place and the whole damn hospital, suit still perfect, hair still perfect, like he didn’t just shoot someone and gas a whole room yesterday. My hands start shaking first, then my whole arms, and before I can even think the words are flying out of me in these short gasps. “No….no, get out, don’t come near me,” but he keeps coming anyway, that same blank look on his face like I’m just a minor inconvenience, and suddenly I can’t breathe right, it’s like someone’s sitting on my lungs and squeezing, my vision’s going spotty around the edges and I’m crying already, hot tears just pouring down because everything’s hitting me at once Lila’s face purple , the fact he’s probably made sure she’s dead