Bonds

Chapter 53

-Alex’s POV-

Eight years old.

That was the first time the crimson color of blood stained my world. It wasn’t a scrape from a fall, a burst lip from a careless tumble. No, this blood flowed freely, painting a gruesome scene etched forever in my memory.

win I wasn’t supposed to see it. Tucked away in a forgotten corner of my father’s study, hidden amongst towering bookshelves and leather–bound tomes, I became an unwilling witness. The man on the floor wasn’t fighting back. There was no struggle, no desperate pleas for mercy. Just a look of utter defeat etched on his face, his eyes wide and vacant, staring sightlessly into the distance.

pool beneath the man’s body. A guttural growl ripped from his throat, a sound primal and terrifying. “Get him out of my

from the shadows, their faces obscured by the gloom. Without a word, they grabbed the now lifeless body. the man’s limbs dangling limply as they dragged him away, leaving a trail of

have been my first reaction. But as I huddled in my makeshift hiding place, a strange calmness washed over me. Curiosity, perhaps, or maybe a sense of detachment

father’s voice, still laced with raw anger, echoed

corner, the musty scent of old paper the only witness to my presence. It might be considered stupid hiding from the person who I didn’t want to find me but right under his nose but even at my age, I understood the term, keep your friends close and my enemies closer. Damon Thome was a man I considered my enemy right from the moment

Moulding. Shaping me into a reflection of his own monstrous being. Anything but that. I was

the shadows, a new conversation snagged my

my m

Chapter 53

soft voice startled me. A petite nurse with a dazzling smile and a blush creeping up her cheeks stood in front