Page 158 of Sinful Pleasure

“You will not die by my hands.” She stepped back, trying to regain control.

“If I ever get out of here, I can’t promise you won’t die by my hands.” I nodded toward her. “So you’d better do it first.”

I saw her face shift, the color draining from her skin. I need her to fear me. Hate me. I need her the hell away from me.

For my own damn sake.

The temperature in the room dropped to zero and the atmosphere between us shifting.Then, just like that, she did what I was begging her to do with my eyes. She turned and ran, not sparing me a single glance.

And once again, the room fell silent.

Seconds blurred into minutes, minutes into hours.

It felt like an eternity, chained to this chair.

All I see was black and to say I was raging would be an understatement.

Beaten, tortured, cut open with a knife—and yet none of the wounds carved into my fucking body over the last twenty hours can even begin to compare to the pain inside me.

The pain of Allyn’s betrayal.

This pain was fucking different. It’s bitter and suffocating, drowning out everything else.

She played her cards well—I’ll give her that. Fucked me just to lower my guard, only to drive the dagger into my back with precision.

I admit it. I never saw it coming. Not from her.

For the first time in my life, I didn’t think several moves ahead of my enemy—because I never saw her as one.

That was my fatal mistake.My brain didn’t function properly around her. All I saw, sensed, and felt was her. And when she’s naked, I’m done for.

I’ve never felt such a sharp, hollow ache from betrayal.Never.

I don’t care if I die now, tomorrow, or days from now.

Death was always coming for me—I’ve earned it. After all the lives I’ve taken, it’s only fair for someone to take mine.

But what I do care about—what burns more than the knife wounds—is that I’ll die betrayed by the one person who made me feel something in the empty void inside me.The one person who brought my dead heart back to life, only to rip it apart in the end.

Fucking idiot.I should’ve known better.

The door creaked open, and when I lifted my head, my bloodshot eyes locked on Mikael Romano.I want to erase that disgusting smirk plastered across his face as he watches me, savoring the sight of blood trailing down my body and the marks his men left behind.

“Maddox,” he drawled my name, his voice dripping with mockery, “We meet again.”

“Not by choice.”

“Of course not,” he replied, dragging a chair across the floor to sit directly in front of me.

No doubt he wanted an up-close view of my battered face. I refused to flinch or show any weakness. His eyes roamed over me, lingering on every cut and bruise, his expression smugly pleasedwith the damage.

“You know,” he began, leaning back with an exaggerated sigh, “we could’ve skipped this ugly ordeal if you’d just told my men where your father is hiding. After everything he’s done, you’re still willing to protect him with your life. Your loyalty is… impressive.”

“You can go fuck yourself, Mikael,” I spat, venom lacing my words. “I won’t tell you a damn thing.”

He leaned in, his disgusting face inches from mine, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial murmur.

“If it were up to me, you’d already be dead.” Thelack of sympathy in his tone was chilling. “But my daughter insists I keep you alive—for business purposes, of course,” he added quickly, the disdain in his voice making it clear how much he hated her involvement with me.

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