Page 21 of Throttle All the Way

The way she said it—it was like a dagger stabbed into my chest. My hand moved on its own, brushing her hair back from her face. She flinched at first, then froze, her body trembling under my touch.

“I don’t want things to be this way,” I murmured, my thumb tracing the delicate curve of her cheek. She turned her face into the pillow, hiding from me, and I let out a ragged breath.

“Mila.”

She didn’t look at me, didn’t say a word, but her body betrayed her. The rise and fall of her chest, the subtle shift of her hips beneath the sheet—it was as if her body was warring with her mind, just like I was.

My gaze dropped, lingering on the bare curve of her shoulders, the tops of her breasts peeking from under the sheet. My hand moved before I could stop it, the tips of my fingers grazing the fabric, tracing the edge where her skin met the cool linen.

Her breath hitched, her eyes snapping to mine.

“Cipher…” she warned, her voice trembling.

“I’ll be back,” I said, reluctantly pulling my hand away and stepping back. “I’m here to keep you safe, Mila. Even if it means keeping you safe from me.”

Her gaze followed me as I moved to the door, her eyes filled with a mixture of fear and something else I couldn’t name.

I closed the door behind me, leaning against it for a moment, my chest tight with emotions I couldn’t afford to feel.

How the fuck had it come to this?

I’d called Ray a coward earlier, but what did that make me now? Standing here, leaving her tied to that bed—vulnerable, exposed, utterly at my mercy. I’d crossed a line I couldn’t uncross, done things I couldn’t undo.

And yet, as monstrous as it was, I couldn’t bring myself to regret it.

Because keeping her safe was all that mattered. Even if it made me the villain in her story.

MILA

The early morning light seeped through the thin curtains, casting streaks of pale gold across the walls. I stretched and realized I was no longer bound. My wrists ached; ghostly impressions of the bungee cords I had been tied with that night still burned into my skin like phantom hands. I rubbed them absently, my mind replaying the night over and over like a broken record.

At some point, I must have fallen into a deep sleep, tied up and helpless. When I woke, the restraints were gone, and Cipher was nowhere to be seen. It didn’t matter, though. His presence lingered like smoke in the air, suffocating, inescapable.

I shot up when the lock clicked. My heart raced, and I realized I was still naked under the sheets. I scrambled for the robe hanging on the back of the chair.

The door creaked open, and Soul entered, balancing a tray of food in her hands. She closed the door softly behind her, her expression a careful mix of sympathy and resolve.

“You could try and run,” she said, setting the tray on the nightstand, “but I wouldn’t suggest it. Cipher put out word and there’s several Royal Bastards outside lined up at your door and at all the entrances to the Inn today.”

Tears welled in my eyes, spilling over before I could stop them. “How could you let them do this to me?” My voice cracked, raw and heavy with the weight of betrayal.

Soul sighed, pressing her palms together as if she were praying. “You have to understand—our men don’t do things without a meaning. Noel Garcia is a detective?—”

“A detective?” I snapped, disbelief cutting through the haze of my despair.

She nodded. “Yes. He’s working on a case that’s very close to the President of the Royal Bastards. If he’s done this, it’s for a reason. Oh, believe me, I hate keeping anyone trapped like this. Please don’t hate me.”

I stepped forward, my anger flaring. “So that’s it? I’m stuck here?”

Soul took a step back, guilt etched into every line of her face. “I’m sorry. I know what he’s doing is for the best. Noel Garcia isn’t the type to hurt anyone.”

I barked out a bitter laugh. “These are malicious bikers. I’ve heard of them, what they do, how they con people.”

“No.” She shook her head, her voice firm. “You don’t know them. And you also don’t know what extremes they’ll go to for the people they love or care about. Just think about that.”

Before I could respond, she turned and left, the lock clicking into place behind her.

I sank into the chair in the corner, my body folding in on itself as the sobs came. Each tear felt like a piece of me breaking away, crumbling into that emptiness that Yulian had carved into my soul long ago.

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