Riley’s POV

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    I could feel Selene Ashford’s gaze drilling into Maddox, like she had just seen the most ridiculous fool alive.

    “Maddox,” she hissed, voice sharp as a de, “you really believed a word I said? Every syble was bait-to find out everything about Riley Vale from your own mouth.”

    Her smirk widened, cruel and calcting. “Otherwise… how would I have known one of her kidneys was inside Scarlett? How would I have known she’d thrown Scarlett into the mountains to rot for revenge? How would I have tracked her here, waited until she reimed the kidney, and struck when her body was weakest?”

    I felt a cold tremor run through him. Maddox’s face drained of color, disbelief etched into every line. “You… used me?”

    Selene’s eyes glinted with merciless amusement. “You, in college, weren’t you the same? Using me, using her, loving only yourself? Men like you are all the same, Maddox-selfish beasts.”

    Maddox’s hands shook, rage and shame twisting through him. He lunged, swinging to strike Selene, but she was as slippery as a serpent. She dodged effortlessly, and before he could recover, her hand struck him with a smack that made his skull rattle, his ears ringing.

    “You dare waste your pity,” she spat, “don’t forget, Maddox, we’re trapped on the same rope here. Helping me won’t earn Riley Vale any gratitude.”

    I didn’t flinch. I just sat there, caged, silent. Every word, every motion they made, burned into me. My wolf stirred beneath my skin, muscles coiling and ws itching beneath my fingertips. My pulse slowed. My senses sharpened.

    Maddox turned toward me. His gaze met mine, and my chest tightened. I could feel his remorse, his longing, as if some invisible hand gripped his heart. His words came, raw, broken, a plea dressed in love:

    “Riley… I loved you too much. That’s why I tried to take you for myself. Don’t hate me, please. I swear, as long as you stay with me, I will never hurt you again.”

    8:29 pm ED

    Iughed coldly, low and bitter. “Hypocrite.”

    It was enough to set him off. Maddox wheeled himself closer to the cage, clenched, voice rough with fury and despair.

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    teeth

    “Riley Vale! What do you want from me? Look at me! Do you know what I’ve lost because of you? These legs… broken. If it weren’t for you, no one could have done this-Lucien, that monster-he would never have touched me!”

    He shook, chest heaving. “I lost my legs because of you, and I’ve never hated you for it. But you… five years in a cage, and now you’re whole, intact, unharmed. You don’t see how much worse my life has been? Even if I made mistakes, even if I wronged you once… I’ve already paid in full. So why do you punish me with your silence?”

    My eyes narrowed, ice recing any warmth I had once felt. I saw him for what he truly was-entitled, selfish, blind to the real consequences of his actions. My wolf’s growl rose deep in my chest. He had no idea. No idea what it meant to survive the darkness, to w through the rubble of my own life.

    ‘You speak as if your suffering cancels mine,” I said, voice low, deliberate, my ws pressing into my palms beneath the skin. “You have no right.”

    Maddox’s chest heaved. His words spilled like venom: “Back at the Ebonw… we were close. You were kind, innocent. Why have you be so petty, so exacting? You’re unbearable!”

    I smiled. Cold. Empty. My wolf curled tight inside me, alert, sensing every twitch of his body, every spike of fear.

    That was his truth, the part he never admitted: he had never understood me, never truly seen the cost of his own selfishness. And now he came here, crawling for forgiveness, expecting me to bow.

    I turned my face away. I would not give him the satisfaction of my gaze. I would not waste my energy on him.

    “Riley!” His shout ripped through the room, hoarse and ragged. “What more do you want? You’ve gone too far! I’ve never seen anyone so… dramatic.”

    I ignored him. My ears tuned instead to the movement behind the cage. Selene, silent now, was retrieving something. The metallic clink of the kitchen echoed ominously.

    8:29 pm ED

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    She returned, holding a basin of scalding water, steam curling like smoke around her.

    “Riley Vale,” she hissed, grin wicked and triumphant, “kneel and beg. Admit your faults, admit you’re a worthless piece of trash, and maybe… just maybe, I’ll let you go.”

    I didn’t respond. My wolf growled low, tailshing against the cage floor.

    She had lost patience. “Stubborn, are we? Fine!”

    The water tilted. The heat hit me like fire. I flinched, tried to move, but the iron bars trapped me. My wolf howled inside me, ws scrabbling, teeth grinding. Sia roared in my mind. I should have shifted, but because I had just had the transnt surgery and the wolfsbane suppressed my body, I had no strength at all.

    Pain red, burning hot, but I endured. Pain was nothing new. Survival was everything.

    And I would survive.