All Chapters of OWNED IN THE DARK: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

70 Chapters

CHAPTER 11: SUSPICION

CIARAI froze immediately when I saw Carlista….how do I explain Mathew's presence?For one horrible second, nobody moved.Carlista stood in the doorway wearing a cream blazer and ripped jeans, her chest rising hard like she'd climbed the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Her eyes moved from me to Mathew and then narrowed immediately."What the hell is he doing here?"I opened my mouth.Nothing came out.Mathew, annoyingly calm as always, stepped back from me like he hadn’t just been touching my face two seconds ago."I can explain," I said quickly."Please do." Carlista folded her arms. "Because last time I checked, this man was engaged and you supposedly couldn't stand him.""Still true," I lied instantly.Mathew looked at me.I ignored him."He just..." I scrambled for the first believable excuse my brain could produce. "He helped me with the apartment."Carlista blinked. "Helped you?""Yes."She looked around slowly at the half-unpacked boxes. "You hired Mathew as a moving com

CHAPTER 12: ATTACK

CIARA I sighed as I watched him walk away. I moved to my bed after a bath and wrapped a towel around myself as I lay on the bed and stared into space. “Give me time Ciara, I'd fix it all.” My phone vibrates alerting me to a message “We need to see Ciara tomorrow. No excuses.” I signed as I responded with an “Okay.” I wanted to believe Mathew but one thing I'd learnt so far is that my only reliable backup plan is just me, myself and I. After the death of my parents and my lonely childhood despite Carlista's presence had made me even more aware of reality. “Chin up Ciara…there's no one coming to your rescue. Suck it up, you're about to become a mother.” I dragged myself to the closet and pulled on an oversized shirt and leggings with sleep now gone from my eyes as my mind replayed Louis’s look as he stared Carlista down- she'd tell me whenever she's ready to tell me but right now I needed to fight my own war. The next morning while drinking a cup of tea and staring at yet an

CHAPTER 13: ACCIDENT

MATHEW"Ciara was in an accident she's presently at..." I hung up immediately. I didn’t remember parking my car. One second I was tearing through the garage entrance, the next I was sprinting toward the wreck like a man who lost his sanity. Her car was a complete mess...front end crumpled against a pillar, driver’s side caved in by whatever bastard had rammed her.“Ciara!” My voice at that moment lost any tone even to my own ears. A security guard tried to block me but I pushed him hard enough that he stumbled back. Two paramedics were already working on her. The driver’s door had been pried open, and there she was, looking lifeless on the seat, blood trickling from a cut on her forehead, airbag dust coating her oversized shirt.My knees hit the concrete floor before I even realized I’d dropped and that there were reporters around but I just didn't care about that at the moment as I grabbed her hand. It was completely lifeless.“She’s pregnant,” I choked out. “About eight, maybe

CHAPTER 14: SHOCK

MATHEW "You need to go have a bath and change your clothes Mat." Carlista says softly the next morning but I scoffed and ignored her."I can't get the picture of her bloodied body out of my mind Carlista."My phone buzzed. Louis. I stepped into the hallway so I wouldn’t disturb her, though she couldn’t hear me anyway.“Talk fast,” I said, completely irritated.“I found something.” Louis’s tone was clipped. “One of the men in the photo I sent you.....the taller one with the neck tattoo ....he’s not just some hired muscle. His name is Carlos Mendez. He’s an upcoming opponent in the underground circuit. Fights next week. Someone paid him heavy to make sure Ciara never made it to that board meeting.”The hallway tilted. My grip on the phone tightened until I heard the plastic creak.“Say that again.”“Carlos Mendez. He tampered with the brakes and rammed her. He’s at the old training warehouse on 9th and Harbor right now, probably thinking the job is done. I’ve got eyes on him.”Rage exp

CHAPTER 15: HELL

MATHEWTHREE YEARS LATER What exactly does hell feel like? It's my reality - it's Ciara forgetting our relationship altogether. She graduated from college, had our son Adam, yet remembered nothing of our time as lovers. Carlista tried helping, told her I was the father of her child, and she's dealt with me as a stranger since then... almost treated me like some business project driving me insane every day. I stared into space at my office as I stood facing the window before I heard his excited little voice as he trailed in with Louis. "Mathew...I'm back." I scoffed and smirked as I scooped him up..."You little rascal...you could call me daddy you know?" He scoffed. "No I like calling you Mathew besides aunt Carlista and Uncle Louis says it's fine." "Where's your mom?" "Mama's going on a date today yippee." Everything goes silent as I stare at the exact copy of myself in my son. Louis clears his throat, shifting uncomfortably in the doorway like he’s stepped into a m

CHAPTER 16: LETHAL

CIARA "Please... how the hell he thinks I'd actually go on a date with him for real is beyond my imagination. I don't even like the guy." I tossed my phone onto the glossy tabletop, the screen buzzing with a final, unread text from Carlista. I didn't need to read it to know what my best friend was saying. It would be some variation of "Be careful'"or "Don't murder him until the contract is signed." I breathed out a sharp, irritated breath and leaned back against the plush velvet booth. *L’Aura*. It was the kind of restaurant that charged seventy dollars for a microscopic dollop of caviar and called it an experience. The lighting was low, the music was a soft, slow jazz, and the atmosphere was thick with the smell of old money and ruthlessness. Perfect for an ambush. Right on cue, the heavy glass doors swung open. Murray Bruce walked in like he owned the place, though, technically speaking, his father owned the firm that owned the place. He wore a tailored suit that cost more than

CHAPTER 17: INDIFFERENCE

MATHEWThe phone call from my investigator was still ringing in my ears when I slammed the device face-down onto my desk."She did what?" Louis asked, crossing his arms as he leaned against the office bookshelf. He had been waiting out the silence, watching the storm gather behind my eyes."She grabbed Murray Bruce by the balls under the table at *L’Aura*, forced him to sign over seventy percent of the Horizon project, slapped him across the face on her way out, and left a hundred-dollar bill on the table," I said, a dark, breathless laugh ripping from my throat. I ran a hand through my hair, pacing the length of the room. "The literal exact copy of what she used to do when someone backed her into a corner. She doesn’t remember me, Louis. She doesn't remember our apartment, our nights, or the fact that I used to hold her while she cried. But her muscle memory? Her corporate instinct? That’s all perfectly intact."Louis let out a low whistle, shaking his head. "Man, Murray’s father is

CHAPTER 18: ADRENALINE

MATHEWThe underground basement in smelled exactly like my internal state: confusion, headache, and frustration. The roar of the crowd was a deafening, vibrating wall of sound that hit me the second I stepped out of the makeshift locker room. Hundreds of men and women packed the smoky arena, waving pound notes and screaming for blood."He's a monster, Mathew!" Louis shouted over the din, frantically taping my left wrist as we neared the rusted chain-link cage. "He goes by 'The Anvil.' Broke a guy's jaw on the mainland last week. Keep your distance, use your speed!"I didn't answer. I just stared straight ahead at the giant silhouette waiting in the center of the ring. The guy was easily six-foot-five, a wall of pure, dark muscle covered in scars. He looked like he ate concrete for breakfast.Good. I wanted him to be tough. I wanted him to hit me hard enough to make the image of Ciara’s cold, unbothered eyes blur in my mind."You ready?" the referee barked, pushing me into the cage and

CHAPTER 19: SPIT FIRE

CIARA“Stupid bastard.”My hands were shaking so violently I could barely hook my bra.Every muscle in my body ached, a deep, radiating heat that served as a brutal reminder of exactly what had happened on my desk just hours ago. The smell of Mathew still clung to my skin, defying the expensive perfume I had desperately sprayed to erase him.I leaned against the marble sink of my private office bathroom, staring at my reflection. My lips were swollen. A faint, red burn from his stubble marred the sensitive skin of my neck.“It meant nothing, I repeated to myself, my teeth grinding together until my jaw throbbed. It was just a physical reaction. Muscle memory. Nothing more.But this was a lie I told myself. For three years, I had kept him at bay with cold stares and legal boundaries, yet the second he touched me with those bloody, bruised hands, my entire defense system had collapsed. I screamed his name. I clung to him like he was the only solid thing in a shifting universe."Damn it!

CHAPTER 20: EX RETURNS

MATHEWBy the time I walked into the courtyard of my brick townhouse in Shoreditch, the adrenaline from the match and Ciara had finally ebbed, leaving behind a deep, throbbing ache in my ribs and a skull that felt like it was being compressed by an iron vice.Louis had dropped me off in his truck without saying much, only giving me a hard look that said don’t do anything stupid. But my mind was already spinning out of control.“Heads up boss man… Maggie is back.”The text message from my boy on the streets was still blinking on my screen when the heavy iron gate creaked open. I didn't even have time to lock my car before a figure stepped out from the shadow of the brick entryway.Maggie.She looked exactly like the trouble I had spent three years trying to bury. She was wearing an expensive, tight designer coat, her hair fixed into an elaborate style that sat perfectly, but her face was completely ruined by a violent, ugly scowl. And right there, stretching across her left cheek, was

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