Page 49 of Haunted

“She doesn’t deserve this,” I choke out, my fists clenched so tight my nails dig crescents into my palms. “Let me take her place.”

“There’s no chance any other man is laying a hand on you,” Xavier’s voice cuts through the speakers with deadly finality. “You’re mine now. I’ve caught you, and no one else will touch what belongs to me.”

His possessive words send a shiver down my spine that I hate myself for feeling. Even now, even with Cora in danger, my body responds to the dark promise in his voice.

“I don’t belong to you,” I spit at the walls, though we both know it’s a lie. After what happened in that room, after how completely I surrendered to him, the claim feels branded into my very soul.

"Don't you? Your actions say otherwise. The way you took my cock in your mouth begged me not to stop—that was surrender. Complete and total surrender."

Heat flames across my cheeks as the memory crashes over me. The taste of him, the way I’d moaned around his length, how desperately I’d wanted more, even as my mind screamed that it was wrong.

“That doesn’t mean anything,” I lie.

“It means everything. You’re mine now, and I don’t share what’s mine.” His voice hardens. “There will be no taking her place. No heroic sacrifices. Corabelongs to those men now—all three of them—and there’s nothing you can do to change it.”

The screens around me flicker, and suddenly, Cora’s face fills every surface. She’s pressed between two of the massive men now, her head thrown back as hands roam over her exposed skin. The third man watches patiently, waiting for his turn.

“No,” I whisper, pressing my palms against the nearest screen. “Please, she’s innocent in this. She doesn’t understand what she signed up for.”

“Neither did you, yet here we are.” Xavier’s voice carries a dark satisfaction. “She signed the same contract you did. Gave the same consent. What happens to her now is what she agreed to.”

My legs give out, and I sink to my knees, the cold stone biting through the thin silk. The screens tower over me, forcing me to watch as my best friend is taken by men who will use her however they please.

“This is what you wanted, isn’t it?” Xavier’s voice drops to a whisper. “You wanted the truth about what happens here. Now you have it.”

This is my fault. All of it.

My obsession with uncovering corruption, being the journalist who breaks the biggest story, brought me here. My relentless pursuit of the Blackwoods led me straight into Xavier’s web, and I dragged Cora down with me.

I didn’t pay attention to the warnings. Didn’t listen when people told me to leave it alone. I pushed and pushed because I needed to know, needed to exposethem, needed to prove I was brave enough to take on Ravenwood’s most dangerous family.

And now Cora is paying the price for my arrogance.

“This is what happens when you dig too deep,” I whisper to myself, my voice breaking as I stare at the screens surrounding me. “This is what happens when you think you’re untouchable.”

I thought I was so smart, so clever. I convinced myself I could outmaneuver Xavier Blackwood, that I could use him to get what I wanted and walk away unscathed. I believed my own bullshit about being fearless, about justice mattering more than safety.

But I wasn’t fearless. I was reckless. And the difference between those two things is now crystal clear as I watch my best friend become the victim of my choices.

“You wanted the truth so badly,” I choke out, tears streaming down my face. “Look what your precious truth cost.”

Every lead I followed, every question I asked, every boundary I crossed—it all led here. To this maze. To these screens. Cora is trapped between three men who see her as nothing more than an object to be used.

My hands shake as I press them against the cold stone floor, trying to ground myself. The red silk clings to my sweat-dampened skin, a reminder of how completely I’ve been stripped of everything—my clothes, my dignity, my illusions about being in control.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, my voice echoing off the walls. “Cora, I’m so fucking sorry.”

But sorry doesn’t undo the contracts we signed. Sorrydoesn’t free her from those men or erase what’s about to happen to her. Sorry is another useless word in a place where words have no power.

I destroyed everything because I needed to know the truth. And now I know exactly what that truth costs.

The sound of footsteps echoes through the corridor behind me, slow and deliberate. My blood turns to ice as I recognize the confident stride, the way each step seems calculated to maximize the psychological impact.

I don’t need to turn around to know who it is.

Xavier.

Adrenaline floods my system as fight-or-flight kicks in. I dart to my feet, the silk riding up as I scramble to stand and start running without looking back.