Page 72 of Cruel Deception
Maybe these were the real monsters all along.
And now... I was all alone with them.
No one was coming.
The walls of the cell were bare, the corners thick with shadows that crept and grew longer as time dragged.
Hours? Days? I couldn’t tell. The overhead bulb flickered like it was deciding whether to stay alive. The cold concrete pressed into my skin, and the cuffs on my wrists chafed like shackles in some medieval dungeon.
I sat there, numb, staring at nothing, and realized:
Cassian probably thinks I ran.
I broke his rule. Left the estate without permission. Went straight into the arms of the man he warned me about.
Why would he come for me?
The silence bled into my bones. My throat was dry, lips cracked. I hadn’t eaten. Couldn’t eat. Not after what Luca did to me. Not after the belt.
The pain burned across my shoulder, the welt rising like a cruel reminder. I hadn’t cried. Not because I was strong—because I was empty.
Eventually, my eyes drifted shut. Sleep came not as peace, but as surrender.
And in that sleep, I saw her.
Mama.
I was nine again. We were in the garden behind our old house. She was kneeling in front of me, her hands in my hair, weaving tiny braids with lavender tucked between the strands. Her smile was the kind that made everything quiet. Her eyes, soft and bright, were full of secrets only mothers could know.
“You’re the most special girl in the world,” she whispered, her voice like sunlight on water. “And someday, someone will try to cage you... But don’t ever let them keep your fire, Charlotte.”
I woke up with tears crusted on my cheeks. My chest ached—not from Luca’s belt—but from that memory. I curled into myself and wept quietly.
And I wondered—
Was I wrong about Cassian? His torture of my rapists, his vow to ruin me—was it protection in his twisted way?
He hunted those monsters for me, carried me when I broke, yet his rules caged me. His hatred, his knowledge of my mother, his cryptic vow—“You’ll be mine, until I’ve taken back everything your bloodline stole”—it’s a puzzle I can’t solve.Maybe he was shielding me from Luca, from this trap I walked into.
My defiance, my desperation for my mother, led me here, and now I’m alone, a pawn in their game.
The door creaked open.
Luca entered.
His walk was slow. Confident. Like he owned the fucking world. Like he owned me.
A tray dangled from his hand—on it, some stale bread and a chunk of meat that looked grey and cold. He placed it on the ground beside me, crouched low like he was doing charity.
“I brought you something,” he said with fake warmth. “Better eat it while it’s still not moldy.”
I didn’t move.
His voice shifted—colder, flatter. “Still proud, hmm?” He chuckled. “You always were a little difficult. Just like your mother.”
He knows about my mother too?
“Don’t you dare speak about her,” I croaked, voice hoarse.
