Lahat ng Kabanata ng THE KILLER THAT CLAIMED ME: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

I should have screamed the moment I realized what was happening. I should have, but I didn’t….. I couldn’t. To be honest, there was very little that I could do in this moment. My father’s words still echoed in my mind, a mantra I hated: “It’s for the family. It’s for your own good as well, Amaya” I didn’t believe him. I was being traded off like livestock and he had the nerve to claim it was for my own good? How could any of this be for my own good?How could a father do this to his only child?The only daughter that his wife who he claimed he loved, left behind? Was I not meant to be protected by all means? The black car hummed through the city, tires slicing against wet asphalt, the rain streaking the windows in jagged lines. My fingers were pressed to my knees, digging into the fabric of my dress until the skin split. My heart pounded like it was trying to escape my chest. I had been sold. Not betrothed, not promised, like a proper daughter. No. I was sold. And the ma

I had no idea how long I had been in that cold van, praying to God that this was not the night I went to meet my mother.There were no windows for me to look out of and I could barely hear anything other than the sound of heavy tires pressing against gravel. Eventually, the van stopped with a violent jolt. My body slammed against the cold metal floor, the ropes cutting into my wrists and ankles. The masked men didn’t speak. At least not to me. They simply grabbed me and dragged me out. I realized quickly that arguing, begging, or moving would be useless. I was also worried that they would lose their temper and hurt me if I made too much of a fuss. I was yanked to my feet the few times that I lost my footing, stumbling, legs weak, every nerve screaming. My dress was torn, my hair plastered to my face, my skin stinging from bruises. I wanted to collapse, but the hands that held me were iron. “Where are you taking me?” I asked again, voice cracking, though I knew no on

They didn’t take me back to a cell. That was the first thing I noticed. The second thing I noticed was the silence. This place they were taking me for the “clean up” was quieter. A lot cleaner as well. “Stand still.” The order came as soon as they pushed me into a brightly lit room. I blinked against the sudden light, my eyes struggling to adjust. After being in the dark cell for so long, everything felt too sharp and too bright. I hesitated for half a second while I struggled to stay put. A hand grabbed my arm. “I said stand still.” “I’’m trying,” I whispered quickly, exhaustion rising. The grip loosened. Women entered the room. They were not like the armed men. They had a ofter movements and calmer faces. But their eyes… their eyes told me everything. They were just as important as the guards and on some level, maybe more ruthless. “Clean her,” one of the men ordered the women before stepping out. That was it. The door was slammed shut and suddenly… I was surroun

The leather of my chair creaked as I leaned back and let out a long sigh. The silence of my study feeling like a terrible weight against my chest. My knuckles were still stained with the faint, metallic scent of blood despite the proper soap scrubbing I’d given them. They also hurt a bit but that’s what the whiskey and the pain killers were for. Getting rid of the pain that stayed with me after I inflicted it on others. This time it was rival I had inflicted pain on. He was some arrogant prick from the Moretti line but now he was gone. I had personally watched the life flicker out of his eyes, a hollow victory that left nothing but a bitter aftertaste. It was always the same. The adrenaline of the kill would spike, and then the drop would follow, leaving me in this gray, depressing head space where my heart felt like an empty cavern. I was thirty-eight years old, the head of my very own empire, and I felt like a ghost haunting my own life. There was no rel

Regina Valak didn’t move like any other person that I had come across in all my time here. She moved the same way that her brother did; like she owned the air she breathed, and for a second, I felt a sharp pang of envy so strong it made my stomach ache. She was free. She was the definition of what I wanted to be, of what I should have been. Instead I was traded from dangerous man to the next. Regina stood in the center of my new, gilded cage, her red hair looking like a splash of blood against the cream-colored walls. Her smile stayed fixed on her face. It was wide, bright, and entirely too much for a room that had rested within the walls of a mansion so utterly depressing. "You’re quieter than I expected," Regina said. She didn't take her eyes off me as she walked over to the velvet armchair near the balcony and dropped into it, crossing one long, silk-clad leg over the other. "Bane said you were a beautiful young lady but I must say he was greatly under exaggeratin