Page 113 of Cruel Deception
Hope.
Hope that he’s not Luca.
Hope that the way he walked away instead of breaking my ribs...
The way he saved Vincent, even after betrayal... means something.
Maybe his restraint is a warning.
Or maybe it’s mercy in a twisted disguise.
Either way, I can’t afford to believe in it.
Not when I’m one breath away from breaking.
But I don’t let go.
Not yet.
Is Cassian the monster Vincent says he is?
Will he torture me forever, just like he promised—starving me, chaining me, breaking me until I beg for death?
Or is there a crack in his ice?
A chance he’ll see my regret, my love, buried beneath fear?
I sob harder, aching for what we shared—that first night, his kiss, the thrill of the race—now tainted by my betrayal.
By the bullet.
The door creaks.
My breath catches.
I brace for him—his punishment, his wrath.
But it’s only the wind. Curtains swaying. The city’s glow, a faint taunt of a freedom I’ll never touch.
My sobs echo into the dark, my chains a heavy requiem.
And I wonder if I’ll ever be Charlotte again...
Or if I’m his forever—a broken thing in a monster’s cage, stripped of name, will, and light.
Chapter 18
CHARLOTTE
When I woke up, I didn’t even realize I had passed out. I was still in the same room—still naked, still stained, still chained like some beast dragged in from the gutters. My flat chest was exposed to the cold air, raw and vulnerable. The pain in my legs throbbed where the chains had bitten into them. My entire body ached—my bones, my pride, my sanity.
I lay there, still. Hollow. Stripped of every ounce of dignity.
Then I heard the door creak open.
Panic seized my chest. I curled into myself, heart racing, terrified Cassian had returned to inflict more of his dark punishments. But instead, someone else stepped in.
A woman. Young. Maybe in her early twenties. Beautiful, dressed in soft neutral colors that didn’t belong in this brutal place.
