11. Mila
MILA
T he 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.
I hated this. I hated Cipher for what he’d done. Hated Soul for her placating words. Hated myself for the part of me that wasn’t entirely repulsed by him.
This wasn’t the first time I’d been trapped. Yulian had locked me away too, back when I still naively believed that he wouldn’t hurt me. His version of cruelty came wrapped in harsh lashings and a gilded cage that turned into a living nightmare.
I shivered, curling my arms around my knees as memories clawed their way to the surface. Yulian’s voice, his hands, the way he’d look at me like I was both his salvation and his prey. He’d stripped me of my freedom, piece by piece, until there was nothing left of the woman I used to be.
But Cipher, he was different in his abuse. His hands weren’t cruel like Yulian’s, his eyes, although dark, were filled with concern and worry. He didn’t seem a violent man, although his actions said otherwise.
I didn’t want to admit it, but Soul’s words echoed in my mind. The people they love or care about. Could Cipher care about me? He barely knew me, and yet he’d tied me to that bed, crossed every line, and justified it all in the name of protecting me.
My hands trembled as I remembered the way his fingers brushed my cheek last night, the way his voice softened when he said my name. His touch was firm but not cruel, and for a moment—a fleeting, treacherous moment—it hadn’t felt like control. It had felt like…something else.
No. I shook my head, the tears falling once again. I couldn’t think like that. Cipher wasn’t my savior. He was just another man who thought he knew what was best for me, who thought he had the right to decide my fate.
And yet, no matter how much I tried to hate him, the memory of his touch lingered, a delicate warmth against my skin. And I wanted…no I needed to feel that again.