Chapter 29
AVERY’S POV:
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Finally, we stopped. The cage crashed onto the floor of an empty cell with a heavy clang, the vibrations rattling through my body like an electric shock. One of them unlocked the door and yanked me out, their grip rough and uncaring. Pain ripped through me, every bruise and cut roaring back to life. My legs wobbled, half–numb and trembling after the cramped ride, the blood returning to my limbs in a fiery cascade. I bit down hard on my lip to stop myself from crying out, the taste of iron filling my mouth.
I crumpled. My knees gave way, and I hit the floor, curling in on myself instinctively. But they weren’t done.
“Up,” barked one of the men, his voice sharp and impatient. He grabbed my arm and hauled me to my feet, the movement sending a fresh wave of agony coursing through me. My legs refused to hold me, but they didn’t care. They dragged me to the wall and clamped cold, heavy chains around and ankles, binding me in place.
my wrists
The chains left me spread out, vulnerable. They moved around me like predators circling prey, their steps deliberate and mocking.
My head pounded, my throat raw and dry, but I forced out the words. “Can I at least get some water?” My voice came out as a rasp, every syllable scraping against the rawness in my throat.
Laughter erupted from both of them, sharp and cruel.
“You think you’re in a position to demand anything?” sneered the man with piercing blue eyes. He stepped forward, yanking the chain on my wrist so hard the cuff bit into my skin, breaking it. Blood dripped down my arm, warm and sticky, as he watched with satisfaction.
“Vacation? No, darling, this is the kind of hell you earned,” said the other man, his hazel eyes glinting with mockery. “When the boss is done with you, you won’t even remember what water tastes like.”
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Hazel Eyes shot Blue Eyes a smirk, but it carried tension as if there was an unspoken competition between them.
“And if he passes you down to us,” Hazel added, his voice colder now, “I’ll be first in line, Robin, Excel, and Brady–your foolishness cost them their lives It’s time you paid.”
Before I could process his words, Blue Eyes shoved me back. My head slammed against the wall, and pain exploded at the base of my skull, sending my vision spinning. I blinked, struggling to focus, stars dancing in my peripheral vision.
They stepped away in unison, their laughter fading as they moved to the side of the room. I was left trembling, my body betraying the steely defiance I tried to project.
Then I heard it.
The footsteps started faint, deliberate and steady, each one echoing through the corridor like a slow countdown. The muffled sobs and groans from nearby cells fell silent, swallowed by an air so heavy it seemed to crush the life out of the room. Every nerve in my body screamed in warning, my breath growing shallow.
I didn’t need to see him to know who it was. His presence hit me long before his figure came into view–a suffocating energy that pressed against my skin, cold and unrelenting.
The footsteps stopped just outside my cell.
“You two, out,” came the command. The voice was calm, almost too calm, yet so sharp it could’ve cut through the chains binding me. There was no hesitation in his tone, no room for questions.
The men didn’t argue. They obeyed like clockwork, stepping out as though the mere thought of defying him was unthinkable. “I would like a moment here with little Mrs. Runner,” he added, shrugging off his overcoat and handing it to Hazel eyes, who received it without a word. Hazel eyes watched brielly in silence, his gaze colder than the chains binding me, but his bands shook ever so slightly as he took Axel’s overcoat and left.
The door creaked shut behind them, leaving me alone with Axel Blackwood.
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Chapter 29
Even without his overcoat, he was a commanding presence. His white shirt stretched over broad shoulders, his loosened tie hinting at a man who was always one step away from unleashing the beast beneath the businessman aura he exuded.
One thing that caught my eye, even from a distance, was the tattoo that wound its way along the side of his neck. It flashed as he flexed, the taut muscles beneath shifting like the coils of a serpent. The ink seemed alive, dark against his skin, trailing down into the collar of his shirt, disappearing where l
sofas couldn’t follow. But what truly held my attention was the one that stretched down his arm.
It started at his wrist, a twisting design that spiraled down to his fingers, tracing over every joint and vein with eerie precision. The lines were bold, forming patterns that almost seemed to tell a story, though I couldn’t make out the details from here. Was it a snake? A chain? A weapon? It wasn’t just the design that unsettled me–it was the way it seemed to complement him, like it was less decoration and more a reflection of who he was.
Dangerous. Unrelenting. Not someone who needed words to make a statement.
His copper eye glinted under the dim light, unrelenting and piercing. And then there was the eyepatch, a dark void on the right side of his face, hiding something far more menacing than the rest of him.
straightened as best I could, ignoring the sharp pull of the cuffs and the ache in my limbs. My head high, stared him down.
I had survived hell before. Chase had beaten me down, stripped me of everything, and still, I stood. Chase taught me pain. Prison had tested every shred of my sanity, but I walked out breathing. Axel might think he could break me, but there was nothing left for him to take.
My life? He could have it.
My dignity? Never.
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“Get it over with, moron,” I snapped. The words were a challenge, hanging in the air between us like a dare. My chest rose and fell, adrenaline and defiance warring within me.
Axel’s expression remained still, unreadable, but the tension in his jaw betrayed him. His lips pressed into a thin line, his copper eye narrowing, and then it came the firestorm of rage, cold and calculated, yet burning beneath the surface.
My gaze dropped for a moment, landing on the eyepatch. A chill ran through me, but it wasn’t fear. It was something darker, an unsettling curiosity about the secret he kept hidden. If this was the fury he revealed, what kind of monster lurked beneath the veil?
“Well,” he said, his voice a low rumble that sent a shiver through the air. “You’ve got some fight left in you, Mrs. Runner. Let’s see how long it lasts.”
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