(Flashback)
(Lucien's POV)
I woke up choking.
The air was heavy, damp, like the basement itself was sweating. My head throbbed. My throat burned. My wrists were scraped raw from rope burn, even though I wasn't tied anymore. The taste of chemicals still lingered on my tongue.
Then I heard the sound.
Boots.
Sharp, deliberate steps echoing off concrete.
And then—the voice.
"Bunny."
No.
I would've preferred hell.
Silas stood under the single flickering light, sitting in a rusted chair like a king on a throne of rot. Same smug smile. Same sculpted arrogance. Still handsome, in that venomous kind of way. Neat dark hair, expensive coat even here in this shit hole. He was thirty-four now. Slightly older than I remembered. Not taller than me, not broader. But still enough muscle to intimidate. Still enough darkness to freeze air around him.
And those eyes—black as void.
He stood slowly, unhurried. Walked toward me like I was a meal. I was chained to the support beam in the middle of the room, my arms above my head, the cold biting into my skin.
His fingers reached out. Brushed the side of my neck.
I recoiled.
Too slow.
He grabbed my throat. Lightly. Like a twisted lover.
"Why did you leave me, Bunny?" he murmured. "For him? That f*ker? Huh? Did you also touch him? Did he moan for you the way I used to do or not?"
"F*ck you," I spat. "Let me go."
He didn't.
His hand tightened.
Then he smiled. That terrifying, broken smile.
"Don't push me away. Don't you ever do that again. You belong to me."
I wanted to scream. Instead, I growled, "I paid you everything. Every cent my father owed. I was your f*cking dog for years. What more do you want?!"
He leaned in close.
"You."
My vision went red.
I headbutted him first.
Then punched him. Once. Twice. Three times. My knuckles split open, the pain glorious.
He didn't stop me.
Didn't even block me.
His guards took a step forward, but he snapped a hand up, silently ordering them to stay back.
I punched again.
"You nearly killed him!" I screamed. "Arin! You poisoned him, you sick f*ck! He almost died! You used him to punish me!"
Blood trickled from Silas' lip.
He laughed. Softly.
"You looked so feral just now. It's turning me on, darling. Don't... stop."
He licked blood from his teeth.
I hit him again.
Harder.
That one made him stumble.
His body sagged back in the chair.
He coughed blood.
I didn't care.
I lunged, but the chains on my wrist yanked me back like a leash.
"LET ME GO!" I shouted, thrashing, screaming. "I'll kill you, you f*cking bastard! I swear I'll rip your throat out!"
He smiled from the floor. Weak. Yet satisfied.
"You still care," he whispered. "That's why you're here."
This FUKER and his delusions.
I wanted to bite him.
Rip his skin off with my teeth.
He stood slowly, stumbling a little.
Wiped his mouth with a silk handkerchief.
"Next time," he said, "I'll bring you flowers."
The guards rushed forward finally, wrenching me down, chaining me tighter against the post.
My lungs burned.
My heart screamed.
I saw Arin's face in my head.
His sleepy eyes. The way he laughed when I called him pretty. The way he snuck into my shirt at night just to bury himself in my chest.
This man had tried to destroy that.
And I would never forgive it.
Not in this life.
Not in any.
Silas leaned down one last time before leaving.
His lips brushed my ear.
"You think this is punishment, Bunny? This... this is foreplay."
Then he left.
And I was alone in the dark, chained, breathing like a beast again.
Planning how to end him.
It was mine Fuking Fault to love that monster
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