Page 1 of Knot Made to Break: Part One

prologue

KITANIA

At some pointin my life, my biggest fear was the monster under my bed. No one ever told me that the real monsters were the ones with plain faces, who stood in the light of day, not hiding at all.

Like the one I heard coming down the stairs, his footsteps slow and methodical, meant to draw out and enhance my fear.

And it worked like a charm…

Each thud sent my anxiety spiraling. My breathing came faster as I scrambled back against the headboard of the shabby old bed.

It was one of the few pieces of furniture in the room, if you could even call it that. The walls were made of cinderblocks, the floor hard, cold concrete. This prison, thiscage, had been my home for the past eight months—at least, Ithoughtit had been eight months. There were no windows here, only a single, solid door that locked from the outside.

A door only my captors had the keys to…

But if the markings I’d scratched into the wall every day I was brought a meal accurately marked time, then it had been eight months, three weeks, and two days since I’d been bought. Sold like a pretty doll.

I still had nightmares about being kidnapped from my life and drugged, so I wouldn’t fight back. Of waking up in a cage. Of being stripped nearly naked and made to stand on a pedestal in front of an audience of Alphas at an underground Omega auction.

The memories were fractured, jagged things, but the terror I’d felt still hit me with sharp clarity.

And my life hadn’t gotten any less frightening since the Valentino brothers had purchased me. Antonio, Rocco, and Vincent were as cruel as they were powerful, and their favorite pastime had become trying to make me break.

They loved my tears.

My cries.

My screams.

The chain that kept me here rattled as I curled further into myself, the high-pitched metallic clanking the only sound in the room other than my ragged breathing. I strained to listen, praying that the man heading this way would turn around and leave me be.

But luck had never been on my side.

My heart pounded against my ribs like a trapped bird, desperate to break free. The stale air clung to me, thick and oppressive, making each shallow breath a struggle.

Panic rose swiftly, eating me alive. But nothing was as torturous as the raw, unfiltered dread that filled me at the sound of the key in the lock.

I swallowed, but my tongue was so dry it stuck to the roof of my mouth.

My stomach twisted.

No, please, not again. Not them.

It didn’t matter which brother showed up—each one was terrible in their own way.

I could almost feel their calloused hands on me again, groping, grabbing,hurting. I didn’t want more bruises, morepain. The brutal memories seared my soul like white-hot brands, scorching away any fleeting hope of escape.

I was their prized songbird, wings clipped, forever trapped.

A bead of sweat trickled down my spine as the door opened. I shrank back instinctively, my nails digging into my palms hard enough to draw blood as my pulse roared in my ears, thrumming with terror.

There was no hiding, no fighting—I’d learned that lesson long ago. And yet, some deeply buried primal part of me refused to give up entirely, even as I longed to disappear, to be anywhere else in the universe except facing off against the familiar silhouette that filled the doorframe, backlit by the hall light.

I flinched.

Rocco.

At least it was just one of them this time… But knowing I wouldn’t face them all didn’t quell the unease that stole my breath and made me dizzy. The twisted smile I’d seen contort his features countless times before split his shadowed face once again.

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