Loving the Monster Again

A large, masculine hand adorned with a Patek Philippe watch extended a glass of warm water toward me. The dark ink of a tattoo peeking from beneath his crisp cuff seared into my vision.

I jerked backward, my spine slamming against the wall. Tremors wracked my body.

A cornered prey.

The man looming before me wore a bespoke tailored suit and gold-rimmed glasses. He looked the picture of refined elegance.

He was my boyfriend's own brother.

His lips curved into a sickeningly sweet smile. "Delaney."

But beneath that polished veneer was the same aggressively sharp face.

The face of the devil who had kept me chained in a cartel compound basement at the border for three agonizing years.

Chapter 1

Three years after being abducted, I was finally rescued.

My boyfriend, Carter, carried me all the way from the precinct into my house. His arms were locked around me, holding on so tight it was like he was terrified a strong gust of wind might blow me away again.

Once we were inside, my best friend Piper helped me bathe. When she saw the jagged scars slicing across my stomach, she broke down, holding me while she scrubbed the dirt from my skin.

"Does it hurt?" Piper asked.

"No," I replied.

Her tears fell harder.

She didn't know that those two knife wounds on my stomach and waist were exactly what had saved my life.

When I stepped out of the bathroom, my parents had already laid out a massive spread of buttery roasted meats and rich stews. I used to love those heavy, high-calorie meals. But now, the second the raw, metallic stench of the meat hit my nose, my stomach violently churned. Years of being locked in that basement with forced, irregular feedings had wrecked my digestive system.

Even the slightest hint of heavy grease made me want to throw up.

"Try some of this roast. You always loved how Mom made it." Piper piled a huge portion onto my plate.

"You eat it." I pushed the meat back toward her.

"She can't eat that," Carter, who had been dead silent until now, suddenly spoke up.

"I can have a little." Piper shot him a sharp glare and took a bite.

A second later, she slapped her hand over her mouth and bolted for the restroom.

I sat there frozen. Confusion washed over me.

"She's pregnant. The smell makes her sick," my mom said, letting out a heavy sigh.

The words hit me like a physical blow.

"She's married?" I whispered, my voice barely making a sound.

Dead silence answered me.

My dad cleared his throat, his voice low and tight. "Carter and Piper are together now."

A sharp, ringing noise drowned out the room, and the edges of my vision went pitch black.

I couldn't process a single word Carter or Piper said after that. I just sat there, dead still, like I was the one who had committed a crime.

The only thing I remember was my dad's hand under the table, gripping my violently trembling fingers. My peripheral vision was deadlocked on the massive diamond engagement ring glittering on Piper's finger. The blinding flash of the stone felt like a direct mockery of the three years of pure hell I'd just endured.

I dug my fingernails so deep into my palms until I felt the warm slip of blood.

It was the only thing forcing me to choke down the urge to flip the entire table.

Piper wasn't feeling well, so Carter took her to the hospital. My dad drove them. He had an afternoon lecture to teach, and the campus was on the way to the clinic.

Suddenly, the suffocatingly crowded house emptied out, leaving just me and my mother.

"It's understandable, really," my mom sighed, scrubbing a spot on the kitchen counter. "You were gone for three years. Everyone told us you were dead."

"As your parents, we nearly went insane looking for you. When everyone else told us to give up, they were the only two who never stopped searching. They are both good kids. Seeing them find comfort in each other honestly, it was a relief to us."

"Because frankly, no one ever thought you'd come back."

I laid on my childhood bed, listening to my mother justify their betrayal. A crushing weight settled onto my chest, compressing my ribs until I had to gasp for air. I didn't shed a single tear.

My brain was stuck on a relentless, looping thought: How could they end up together?

I had been in love with Carter since high school. And I had only ever trusted Piper with that secret.

She grew up next door, orphaned young and raised by her grandmother. We spent twenty-four hours a day practically glued together. She was my absolute best friend. She spent hours plotting and scheming ways to set Carter and me up.

To create the perfect chance encounter under the cherry blossoms, she had climbed the highest branches just to dump petals on us. She had secretly slashed my bike tires just so Carter would have to give me a ride home. She even gave up her weekend movies to drill flashcards with me, making sure Carter and I got accepted into the exact same college.

And on the night of graduation, when I finally confessed my feelings, she was the one who sneakily killed the classroom lights so I'd have the courage to steal my first kiss from him in the dark.

Chapter 2

That night, Carter's face burned a dark, furious red. "Delaney, have you zero shame?"

Rejected, a heavy knot formed in my stomach. "It was just Truth or Dare. If you're not into it, I'll just kiss someone else next time."

He grabbed the collar of my shirt, his eyes narrowing into a fierce, possessive glare. "Don't you dare."

Carter and I made it official right after graduation. We ended up at the same college. Piper claimed she couldn't bear being away from me, so she enrolled there too. From then on, the three of us were practically glued at the hip on campus.

So, when exactly did Piper start having feelings for Carter?

I had no idea. All I remembered was me constantly gushing to her about how amazing Carter was, my love for him spilling over in every conversation. But she never once mentioned having a crush on anyone.

During the summer after our freshman year, the three of us planned a road trip down to a remote border town. A last-minute emergency made me miss our flight, so the two of them flew ahead while I rebooked the next one.

When I finally landed, a torrential storm hit out of nowhere. The cab driver demanded double the fare upfront.

When I refused, he kicked me to the curb.

I was left clutching a bag of their favorite snacks, shivering under a rotting wooden awning on a desolate stretch of highway, waiting for them to pick me up.

The receiver offered nothing but an endless, cold automated voicemail. I stood there in the pouring rain, feeling like a piece of garbage abandoned by the rest of the world.

Right then, a heavy motorcycle roared under the awning to escape the downpour. The rider, his face obscured by a dark helmet, paced furiously as he shouted into his phone.

"Yeah, keep waiting to collect the fucking corpse. You son of a bitch, step outside and say that to my face."

He spewed a violent string of curses for ten straight minutes. I pressed my back against the damp wood, holding my breath.

He snapped his phone shut. A pair of aggressively predatory eyes scanned me up and down like I was fresh prey. "You got food?"

"Y-yes. Take whatever you want." I instantly shoved my bag of potato chips into his chest. Terrified he'd get angry, I dumped the entire grocery bag of snacks onto his bike seat.

"Whatever I want is mine?" A dark, wicked smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.

Cold sweat broke out across my neck. I shrank deeper into the shadowy corner, clamping my mouth shut.

He ripped open my snacks, fully dominating my tiny patch of shelter, and dialed another number. This time, his mood seemed lighter.

"The fucker isn't starving today. Bumped into a chick. Get your mind out of the gutter, asshole. Look at the trash you sent my way."

He went back to aggressively chewing out whoever was on the other end for another ten minutes. Finally, he locked eyes with me again. "What's your name?"

"Delaney," I stammered, my vocal cords vibrating with pure panic. "You don't have to pay me. It's yours."

"Delaney?" He assessed the desolate surroundings, a low, dangerous chuckle escaping his throat. "Anyone ever tell you not to hand out your name to strangers?"

"Huh?" I asked.

"Especially when you run into men like me."

The rain was still coming down in sheets, but he kicked his bike into gear and vanished back into the storm.

A while later, an old woman shuffled under the awning, shaking off the rain. She asked if I was Delaney.

I eyed her with immediate suspicion. But she smiled warmly, saying her grandson mentioned a kind girl who shared her food on the road, and he'd sent her back to give me an umbrella.

A rush of relief washed over me, followed by a pang of guilt for judging the biker so harshly. He was a good guy after all.

I reached out to grab the umbrella handle.

The second my fingers brushed it, a sharp, chemical stench assaulted my nostrils.

My vision violently pitched sideways.

The world went black.

When I finally forced my heavy eyelids open, rough ropes bit deeply into my wrists. I was tied to a chair in a filthy motel room.

A tight circle of rugged men surrounded me, their eyes fixed on my body with vicious, hungry intent.

Chapter 3

"The chick Kael has his eye on is a fucking knockout. Boss, we haven't seen a piece of meat this prime in months. Why don't you let the boys have a taste first?"

"You got a death wish? You think Kael touches sloppy seconds?" A man with a jagged scar slicing across his face shut them down.

I had no idea who this 'Kael' was. My throat was raw from screaming, tears stinging my swollen eyes until my brain simply short-circuited into a merciful, pitch-black nothingness.

When consciousness clawed its way back, the scarred man was holding up his phone, on a video call.

"One girl for a little intel. Do we have a deal?" he asked.

The man on the screen didn't even spare me a glance. "Not interested," he snapped. "Throw the trash back where you found it."

Scarface didn't back down. "You sure about that? My boys here are definitely interested."

"I dare you," Kael replied.

The screen went black.

"Fuck. Wasted my goddamn time," the scarred man spat. "Get her measurements. Ship her off to the auction."

A swarm of men descended on me. The blinding flashes of cameras seared my retinas.

My blood ran ice cold; I might as well have been a corpse.

The memory spiked a blinding pain through my skull.

I made a promise to myself. Making it out meant a clean slate. I shoved the past into a locked box in my mind.

But in the suffocating stillness of this afternoon, the devil under the rain awning clawed his way back to the surface.

His name was Kael.

He was the monster pulling the strings from second one. He orchestrated the kidnapping. He was the one who threw me to those rotting animals.

The day I finally escaped, he was still waiting for me back at that heavily fortified estate to bake him an apple pie.

"I hate sweet stuff," he said.

"I don't know how to bake anything else," I replied.

"Can't you learn a little something for me?" He hooked a heavy arm around my waist, dipping his head low. The mask of gentleness on his face was terrifyingly flawless.

"Then how about you try a different flavor for me?" I pushed up on my toes, pressing my lips to his. "Like this."

A dark, slow smirk spread across his face as his fingers went to work on his shirt buttons. "Forget the pie. I'm craving something else."

The pie never got made. I spent the next hour staring at the violently shaking ceiling above my head.

Later, his heavy chest pressed against my back. He let out a low, rough exhale. "Delaney, I regret it. Let's just spend the rest of our lives together. Yeah?"

"Okay." Panic spiked in my veins. Terrified he'd see through my facade, I shoved the words out. "I need to use the bathroom."

I had barely cleared the perimeter when the entire estate exploded into a blinding ball of hellfire.

Rough hands dragged me into the back of an armored federal cruiser. Three years of unspeakable horrors went up in smoke inside that inferno.

Later, the agents told me the compound had burned down to fine ash. Even the bones were scorched to dust. They pulled his DNA from the wreckage.

But they never found the ring I asked about.

The promise ring Carter gave me.

I sat there like a hollowed-out shell, the words washing over me leaving nothing behind.

"Just forget those three years. Go back and finish your degree." My mom's voice violently snapped me back to the present. She killed the engine outside the university gates.

"Mom." I grabbed the door handle, freezing in place. "When exactly did you and Dad get divorced?"

Her shoulders instantly stiffened. "A couple of years ago."

"A couple of years ago?" I let out a dry, cracked laugh. "And my new little brother is already two?"

I only found out after I got back. I had a two-year-old half-brother. And my dad had remarried earlier this year. His new wife was already showing.

"Delaney, you can't expect me to wait around for that man forever! He only ever cared about his job. The only reason we stayed together was for you."

"When you were gone why the hell should I have stayed with him?" Her voice cracked, the hysterical pitch returning as the tears started falling again.

She grabbed my arm, her nails digging into my jacket as she sobbed out the agonizing details of her three-year search for her dead daughter.

I stared at her gripping my sleeve, swallowing a mouthful of bitter ash.

But I came back.

Chapter 4

After letting her cry it out, I grabbed my bags and headed back to campus. Piper and Carter met me at the gates and walked me to my new dorm room. Piper chattered away beside me, while Carter kept his head down, silently making my bed.

It felt like a sick rewind to freshman year. Carter quietly smoothing out my sheets, Piper organizing my bathroom caddy. Back then, everyone on campus swore I had hit the absolute jackpotthe picture-perfect boyfriend and a ride-or-die best friend. I used to believe it, too.

But now Piper was pregnant.

She couldn't help me unpack. Halfway through a sentence, she would gag and press a hand to her mouth. I dug through my bag and handed her a tin of ginger drops just to keep her from throwing up on my shoes.

"Delaney, you're the best." She gripped my hand, her eyes wide and sickeningly innocent. "You coming back is a literal miracle. Will you be the godmother to my baby?"

My eyes cut to Carter. His hands froze on the comforter. He looked up, his jaw ticking tight.

"Sure," I said.

The word tasted like ash, but I couldn't find a reason to say no.

After that, I navigated the campus like a ghost. Random students constantly went out of their way to stare at me, their faces dripping with suffocating pity. Even the professors made it weird.

When they called my name during roll, they would drop some overly rehearsed line: "Life is a long journey, Delaney. Your past trials will forge you into something unbreakable."

I would just stand there, digging my nails into my palms, paralyzed by the unwanted spotlight.

A violent wave of nostalgia hit me. In the old days, Piper and I would be hiding our phones under the desks, slacking off in the back row. The second a professor cold-called me, Carter would smoothly slide his notebook onto my desk with the exact answer highlighted. Afterward, he would give me a stern lecture, toss his study guides at my chest, and drag me by the hood of my sweatshirt to the library.

But now, I was sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with strangers three years younger than me. He was gone.

He and Piper were already seniors. He was buried in law school prep, and she was resting in her off-campus apartment, growing his child.

At noon, Piper dragged me to the cafeteria, linking our arms just like she used to. Carter had already secured a booth and our food. He sat there, methodically picking every single slice of jalape?o out of her salad.

"Pick Delaney's out, too. She can't handle spice anymore," Piper nudged him.

His fork hovered over my plate. "Since when do you hate spicy food? Changed your palate?"

I stared flatly at him. "Got sick of it. So I changed it."

A muscle feathered along his jawline. "For those three years over there were they feeding you?"

"I ate fine. Learned to stomach anything," I replied.

When they first dumped me at the border cartel compound, I couldn't stomach the raw, bloody cuts of meat or the unidentifiable slop they shoved through the bars. But missing a single meal meant risking starvation.

No one could ever predict Kael's twisted moods. One second, his thumb would be tracing my cheekbone, pressing a bruised, agonizingly gentle kiss to my lips.

The next second, if I dared to defy him, he would order his guards to drag me down to a submerged metal cage, leaving me shivering in freezing, chest-deep water for twenty-four straight hours.

"Were you terrified over there?" Carter's voice cracked, his eyes suddenly going glassy.

It was the first time either of them had dared to bring up my time in hell. They usually danced around those three years, terrified they would trigger a breakdown.

"Yeah. I was." I kept my voice deadpan.

"Is it true they harvest kidneys? Did they auction you off to those underground brothels and take those kinds of photos of you?" someone asked.

"I heard they run sick dark web livestreams. Did they force you into that?" another chimed in.

"How the hell did you even survive?"

The air vanished.

A crowd of students had suddenly swarmed our booth. The suffocating weight of their bodies closed in. Question after question. Prying. Digging.

A high-pitched ringing pierced my eardrums. Cold sweat slicked my palms.

My lungs seized up, forgetting how to breathe.

Chapter 5

Cold sweat slicked my spine. I couldn't tell if the crowd pressing in on me was sick with pity or just hungry for bloody gossip. My lungs seized.

I was right back at the border cartel compound.

I wasn't the only piece of fresh meat on the auction block that day. There were othersboys and girls. Men reeking of stale sweat, cheap tobacco, and rot circled us, picking over our bodies like livestock. They dragged girls by the hair into a rotting wooden shed.

The thin plywood walls did absolutely nothing to muffle the screams as they "inspected the merchandise."

Scarface slapped a fifty-grand price tag on my head. The buyers scoffed. When the bidding stalled, they grabbed a pale, terrified teenage boy instead, dragging him away into the shadows.

As for me, they threw me into the dark web livestream ring. They shoved contracts in my face and forced unidentifiable pills down my throat until I gagged. When I fought back, they locked me in the pitch-black basement to break me.

Within days, almost everyone else from my batch was gone. Some were hauled out of that wooden shed in body bags. Others lost their minds in the dark, reduced to hollow, drooling shells.

To keep breathing, I played the only card I had. A desperate, absolute lie.

"I know your boss," I spat, lifting my chin. "And he owes me."

A chorus of ugly, roaring laughter echoed around the room. "He owes you? We'd believe he owes you a night on your back, sweetheart."

"If he doesn't know me, how the hell did you know my name is Delaney?" My fingernails dug into my palms. "Kill me if you want. But when he comes looking for payback, you're the dead men walking."

"Oh yeah?" Scarface mocked, clearly treating me like a joke. "Tell us, princess. What makes you so special to him?"

"He forced his mouth on mine, and I slapped him across the face," I lied smoothly, staring right into his eyes. "He's just throwing a petty tantrum. But once he cools off and wants his toy back? You think he's going to let any of you breathe?"

The laughter faltered.

A scrawny thug stepped out of the shadows, looking nervous. "Yo I overheard Slade on the phone the other day. Sounded like Kael actually did bump into some chick on the highway. Think about it. When the hell does a cold-blooded psycho like Kael ever bring up a girl?"

The room went dead silent.

"Yeah, shit. We can't mess with that demon. Let's just drop it," Scarface conceded.

The bloodlust in the room completely evaporated. After a hushed, tense argument, they dumped me off to a grunt from Kael's inner camp for a measly hundred bucks.

It didn't take long for me to cross paths with Kael again.

He emerged from the dense, humid jungle, flanked by a squad of heavily armed mercenaries. It was the first time I saw his face clearly without the storm or the helmet. He was dressed in tactical camo, towering a full head above the men surrounding him.

He had a harsh military buzz cut, and the combat knife gripping in his massive hand was dripping thick, fresh blood onto the dirt.

His dark eyes locked onto me. He froze for a fraction of a second, his gaze dropping to take in my pathetic state. Slowly, he crouched down to my level and tossed the blood-soaked blade right at my knees.

"Wash it," he ordered.

"Okay." My hands shook as I grabbed a canteen, pouring water over the slick, red steel.

A heavy, calloused hand suddenly gripped my jaw, his fingers digging into my skin as he forcefully tilted my head up.

"Did anyone ever tell you," he murmured, his voice dangerously low, "that water makes steel rust?"

"I didn't know. I'm sorry." The apology spilled from my lips in a desperate rush.

He leaned in closer. I could smell the sharp tang of copper and gunpowder on his clothes. "Can you swim?"

"No." My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird.

"Take one more step near my territory, and I'll drown you in the river myself." He released my jaw with a rough shove, standing up without a single ounce of hesitation to walk away.

"You you still owe me a bag of chips!" I blurted out.

The ungrateful bastard.

He halted. Slowly, he turned his head, looking at me over his shoulder. "Oh? Is that all?"

"A-and the rest of my snacks." The words died in my throat.

The sheer, murderous intent radiating from his pitch-black eyes nearly suffocated me.

The corner of his mouth twitched, but the dark smirk didn't reach his eyes. "I'll be sure to leave them on your headstone." His expression went dead, a terrifying mask of pure stone. "You don't belong here."

Five minutes later, one of his trigger-happy guards took it upon himself to toss me straight into the raging river.

The freezing water flooded my lungs, dragging me down into the suffocating darkness until I blacked out. If it weren't for a local fisherman hauling my limp body out of the currents, I would have died right there.

Chapter 6

The fisherman who dragged me out of the water was a grizzled local scavenger. He asked if I wanted to be his "wife," and if I said no, he'd just sell me off to the highest bidder.

I asked him if he knew Kael.

"What's your connection to him?" The old man trembled the second the name left my mouth.

"He asked me the exact same question. I said no, so he threw me in the river."

The old man looked like he had seen a ghost. Terrified of the cartel fallout, he scrambled to find a crew, burning his own cash just to ship me right back to Kael's territory.

I realized right then that Kael's name was a literal shield. Desperate to find a way back home, my mind started spinning with a new survival plan. I laid low in his camp, scrubbing floors and doing grunt work for a few days.

Then came the day he and a convoy of heavily armed, dangerous-looking men had a standoff deep in the jungle.

I just happened to be washing clothes by the riverbank, caught dead center in the crosshairs right before the bloodbath.

Adrenaline spiked through my veins. I wanted nothing more than to dive straight into the muddy river and pray to God I turned invisible.

But the rival gang's leader, a bald brute covered in prison ink, curled a finger at me.

"Why are you still washing clothes, sweetheart? Want us to blow up some fish for you?" he taunted.

The entire rival crew erupted into ugly, roaring laughter.

"I-I'll just go back now. You guys carry on," I stammered.

I whipped around to run.

A hunting knife suddenly whizzed past my ear, sinking deep into the dirt right in front of my boots.

"Damn, Kael! You got a piece of meat this prime and you actually make her wash clothes?" the bald guy taunted. "Come here, baby. If he won't treat you right, Daddy will."

I stood paralyzed.

"I suggest you go home and look in a mirror. If you can't afford one, I'll have my men burn one for your grave," Kael drawled, his voice deadly calm. He shot me a single, penetrating look. "Come here."

"The fuck are you acting so arrogant for, Kael?!" the bald guy roared.

"Go ask the devil in hell," Kael replied smoothly.

Kael flicked two fingers. Instantly, a swarm of heavily armed cartel soldiers poured out from the surrounding tree line, completely encircling the rival crew. The enemy panicked, their cocky grins vanishing.

"What the hell are you waiting for?" Kael warned, his voice dropping an octave. "Get over here."

This time, I didn't hesitate. I scrambled through the dirt, practically throwing myself behind his massive frame.

But the cornered rats didn't just roll over. In a desperate, suicidal final play, one of their men broke rank and charged.

A jagged combat knife flew through the air.

I swear to God, I never planned on taking a blade for Kael.

But that damn knife seemed to have eyes, burying itself straight into my stomach.

My knees buckled. I collapsed right against Kael's chest.

That night, an underground medic stitched me up. Afterward, an old woman helped me wash the blood off and escorted me directly to Kael's private quarters.

"He hasn't shown interest in a girl in a very long time. Don't talk back. Just be obedient, and you'll suffer a lot less," the old woman advised.

I recognized her instantly. It was Martha, the same old woman who had handed me the laced umbrella that day in the rain.

"Why are you doing this to me?" I asked.

"There is no 'why' here. In this compound, his word is the law," Martha stated firmly.

She gave me a strict rundown on how to keep him pleased, drilling his preferences into my head and ordering me to memorize them all.

I lay alone in his massive bed. The sheer horror of my reality crushed my chest until I violently trembled, but I didn't dare let a single tear fall.

"He hates criers. The last one who bawled her eyes out got tossed into the fighting dog pits," I remembered Martha warning me.

Late that night, the heavy mahogany door swung open. He walked in, reeking of expensive whiskey. His dark eyes locked onto me, his jaw tightening in immediate irritation.

"Get out," he ordered.

"I can't get up" I stayed glued to the mattress.

The truth was, the searing pain radiating from my stitched stomach made it physically impossible to move.

"Who told you to be in here?" He struck a match, lighting a cigarette.

"I wanted to come." I forced the lie through my teeth. Martha had made it explicitly clearhe despised forcing women.

He exhaled a cloud of gray smoke, his eyes narrowing. "What exactly do you see in me?"

"You're hot."

"Heh" A dark, genuinely amused chuckle rumbled in his chest.

Chapter 7

"Heard you've been running your mouth, telling everyone I've got my eye on you." His dark eyes pinned me down, a dangerous, unreadable smirk playing on his lips.

"No. I didn't. I swear to God." The denials tumbled out of my mouth in a panicked rush.

"No? Because word around the compound is I'm taking revenge because I couldn't get you into my bed," he stated.

My blood ran freezing cold. My brain flatlined.

He tapped the side of my cheek with the hand holding his cigarette. The burning ash was inches from my skin. "Parading around under my name like it's a goddamn shield. How many lives do you think you have to burn through?"

"I'm sorry. Please, just let it go. I'll do anything," I pleaded.

His gaze dropped to my stitched stomach. He reached out and pressed his thumb directly against the bandage.

A fresh layer of dark red blood instantly bloomed through the white gauze.

"What do you want?" I gasped, my teeth gritted together as a sharp, agonizing spike of pain shot through my torso.

"If I don't make the rumors a reality, I'm the one taking a loss here," he murmured.

"Make them a reality?" My mind was spinning out of control.

"Take the initiative. Show me how sincere you are." That dark smirk returned.

My heart hammered against my ribs. Biting the bullet, I forced my aching body upward and pressed a desperate, terrified kiss to his lips.

He didn't move a muscle. Just waited for me to perform. I leaned in and kissed him again.

By the time I forced my fifth kiss, he finally crushed his cigarette into the ashtray and clamped his massive hand around the back of my neck.

"Can't even kiss right," he cursed under his breath. "Guess I have to do it myself."

He crushed his mouth against mine, completely stealing the air from my lungs.

I tried to push back, gasping out a reminder that I was bleeding, that I had literally taken a knife for him. I foolishly hoped he'd show an ounce of restraint. But I had completely forgotten I was dealing with a cartel warlord. He didn't do reasoning.

"You took a blade for me. That's a massive achievement. Means I need to reward you properly." His grip tightened. "Stop squirming. If you rip those stitches open, that's on you."

After that night, I was moved into his private cabin. I became his personal marionette.

When he was in a good mood, he'd toy with me. When he was pissed off, he'd have me dragged down to the compound's freezing basement.

I watched silently as other lieutenants shoved a revolving door of women at him. I never cried. I never threw a tantrum. I even helped organize the logistics. Because of that, I became the woman who lasted the longest by his side.

All because I was waiting. Biding my time for the perfect chance to run.

But after three agonizing years of waiting, I finally escaped, only to find the real world had completely moved on without me. Everyone had built their own new lives. I was the only one still frozen in place, a ghost haunting my own timeline.

After a long, suffocating night of overthinking, I forced myself to swallow the bitter reality.

I started going to lectures alone. Eating alone. Hiding in the back aisles of the library alone. I made it my mission to stay as far away from Piper and Carter as physically possible.

I lasted a full week before Carter suddenly tracked me down.

"Why did you block me on socials?" he asked.

"I didn't block you. I just haven't logged in for three years," I replied.

"Delaney, can we really not even be friends anymore?" He blocked my path, his face twisted in pure agony.

"What kind of friends?" I stared at him, stripping every ounce of polite filter from my voice. "You can't have your cake and eat it too, Carter. Don't be so greedy."

I didn't even wait for a response. I turned on my heel and walked away.

By the time I hit the library, a heavy, dull ache throbbed in my chest. There was a time when Carter, Piper, and my parents were the sole anchors keeping me tethered to sanity.

My mind violently dragged me back to the time Kael's rivals had snatched me. They chained me to a chair, interrogating me for cartel intel. I kept my mouth shut.

So they took a glowing, red-hot iron brand and pressed it directly into my waist.

The stench of my own burning flesh filled the room. I truly thought I was going to bleed out and die on that filthy floor.

But right as the excruciating pain made me violently dry heave, my brain snapped, throwing me into a deep hallucination

I saw Carter, his hand gently brushing my cheek, teasing me not to eat so much junk food. I saw my mom in our bright kitchen, pulling a massive, golden-brown turkey out of the oven. I saw my dad locked in his study, highlighting his college lecture notes.

See? They loved me. Someone out there loved me.

There were people in this world desperately waiting for me to come home alive.

That was the only reason I fought like hell to survive.

Chapter 8

When Kael finally arrived, he carried my unconscious body out of the jungle, absolutely losing his mind. I heard later that he had every single one of those rival men's arms ripped violently from their sockets.

He cursed me out the entire ride back to the compound.

"So what if you talked? You think those bottom-feeders could actually kill me? Are you out of your fucking mind?" he shouted.

I dragged out my weak, raspy voice. "As long as you're okay."

I felt every muscle in his massive chest violently lock up beneath me.

But at that moment, my mind was crystal clear. If Kael went down, I would die a thousand times worse without his protection. Because of my twisted display of loyalty, Kael actually softened towards me.

At the very least, whenever he was about to erupt, he'd rein in his murderous intent. Or he'd lock himself in his study until he cooled off enough to only growl at me.

"Delaney, I dare you to wander off alone again," he warned.

Wow. He actually didn't curse that time. That was a massive improvement.

When I didn't respond, he stood there with his hands planted on his hips, forcing himself to breathe for a few seconds. Finally, he bent down, his face inches from mine, and ground out through clenched teeth, "Could youpleasejust listen to me next time?"

"Sure." I managed a weak smile and popped a hard candy straight into his mouth.

"The hell? I don't eat sweets." He bristled immediately, trying to pull away.

I looked at him cautiously. "It's a reward."

He rolled the candy around in his mouth, fixing me with a dark, wicked smirk. "If you weren't stitched up right now, I'd give you a reward of my own."

Just the memory of that dark smirk and his twisted idea of a 'reward' sent a violent shiver down my spine.

A sudden chime from my phone snapped me back to the present. My cheeks were burning, practically radiating heat. I pulled out my phone and opened my old social accountthe one I hadn't touched in three years.

A harsh red banner flashed across the top of the screen: [Suspicious Login Attempt from New Location.] I clicked into my contacts. Every single male friend had been completely wiped out.

And sitting alone in the VIP "Him" folder was a brand-new, unknown contact. Clearly, some hacker had hijacked my account.

"What the hell do you want? You're bored enough to delete all the guys on my contact list?" I rapidly typed out the message.

His reply was instant.

"You don't need male friends."

What a psychotic creep. I instantly blocked the account, restored a few of my close friends, and changed my password.

But the very next morning, my phone buzzed with another warning. I forced the app open. That same nameless user was right back on my friends list.

Worse, he had forcibly linked our profiles as "In a Relationship."

"Why did you add them back? You don't need other men. You only need me."

This hacker was a total psycho. Annoyed and creeped out, I fired back.

"Are you my dad? Who the hell gave you the right to control me?"

"Don't make me mad," he sent.

The cold text instantly sent a spike of pure adrenaline through my veins.

My first thought went straight to Kael.

But I crushed the idea seconds later. He was dead. Scorched to fine ash in that explosion. It couldn't possibly be him. It was just some twisted stalker. I shoved the phone away, refusing to engage anymore.

On the third day, I was home alone for the weekend.

I walked into my bedroom and froze. The lilies sitting on my windowsill were perfectly fresh. Dewdrops still clung to the pristine white petals.

But I had bought those lilies over a week ago. They should have withered and died days ago. And my parents hadn't set foot in this house all week. There was absolutely no way they had swapped the water or bought fresh ones.

Was it that stalker? Did he actually break into my bedroom?

The realization hit me like a physical blow. Cold dread pooled in my stomach, making my hands shake uncontrollably.

That evening, Piper called, begging me to come over to Carter's villa for a backyard BBQ. I immediately said no. But she had somehow invited my parents too. And to my utter shock, both of them actually agreed to go.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, plunging the house into creeping shadows, the suffocating silence pressed in on me. The thought that some psycho had stood right here in my roomand could come back tonightparalyzed me.

In the end, pure, visceral terror won out. I dialed my dad and told him to pick me up.

Chapter 9

"I know it's hard to swallow, Delaney, but you have to let it go," my dad tried to reason with me, his hands tight on the steering wheel.

A hysterical, cracked laugh clawed at my throat. Let it go?

Since the day I got back, not a single person had asked if I was okay. Not one asked how I survived those pitch-black days in that basement. All they did was shove the same suffocating words down my throat: Move on. Forgive. Understand.

I hadn't thrown a tantrum when I found out they were together. I knew damn well that the broken, scarred version of me from that cartel compound was no longer good enough for Carter. So I kept my mouth shut while they flaunted their perfect relationship.

But expecting my blessing? I would rather swallow glass.

"You swore you only ever wanted one kid. You swore you'd never have a second," I said, the bitter taste of bile rising in my mouth. "So why are you having another baby with your new wife?"

See? People change.

My dad froze, his knuckles turning white. Finally, he let out a heavy sigh. "I fought it for three years, Delaney. But I compromised. They told me having another daughter at my age she would be just like the one I lost"

His voice completely broke. My stomach violently pitched. I snapped my head toward the passenger window, refusing to let the hot tears spill over my lashes.

He wanted a replacement. He was trying to breed a brand-new, untainted version of me. Where the hell did that leave me?

A massive, jet-black G-Wagon suddenly tore past us in the opposite lane. The heavily tinted windows were blacked out. I couldn't see a damn thing inside.

But the exact second the two vehicles crossed paths, a suffocating spike of pure dread slammed into my chest. The hairs on my arms stood straight up. It felt like a pair of absolute, predatory eyes were locked dead onto me through that glass.

When we pulled up to the sprawling estate, the backyard was a picture-perfect suburban dream.

My mom was flipping burgers on the grill. Carter was carefully helping Piper prep the skewers. My two-year-old half-brother was running in circles on the manicured lawn. I stood on the edge of the patio, a complete ghost haunting their flawless reality.

I couldn't stomach a single bite of the food, even as my dad kept awkwardly piling ribs onto my plate.

After dinner, Piper excitedly invited everyone upstairs for a grand tour of the newly renovated second floor. The entire group followed her. Terrified of being left alone in the encroaching dark outside, I forced my legs to follow.

"Watch your step." Carter walked closely behind me on the staircase, reaching out to grip my elbow.

"Don't." I violently snatched my arm away. "Go watch your pregnant wife."

He flinched, his face twisting into a mask of wounded pain. It made me want to physically gag.

We reached the top landing. Piper practically vibrated with excitement as she pushed open a set of custom French double doors. The room inside was stuffed floor-to-ceiling with expensive pink lace and high-end designer toys. It was a suffocatingly luxurious nursery.

"The doctor is pretty sure it's a girl, so we went ahead and decorated early!" Piper grabbed my hand, a radiant, sickeningly happy smile plastered on her face. "Isn't it gorgeous?"

I slowly lifted my eyes to Carter. He was staring hard at the floorboards, refusing to meet my gaze.

Delaney, we're going to have a little girl one day, he had once whispered to me, holding me securely against his chest. I'm going to build her a completely pink room. You and her will be my two princesses.

He really hadn't changed his mind. He was still getting his little girl and his pink room. The only difference was that the mother of his child was my best friend.

Pure battery acid burned the back of my throat. I couldn't stand in that room for another second. I mumbled an excuse about needing the bathroom and bolted.

Carter immediately shadowed me out the door. "I'll show you where it is."

I kept my head down, blindly rushing toward the staircase, when I slammed hard into a solid wall of a chest.

A sudden, chilling rush of gunpowder mixed with the scent of expensive cigars completely enveloped me. My muscles locked.

I jerked my head up, crashing straight into a pair of aggressively predatory, pitch-black eyes.

Kael.

I stood paralyzed. For a full sixty seconds, my soul separated from my physical body