Devil’s Cage
753 Words
Chapter 36 — Devil’s Cage
(Dual POV — Aria & Damian)
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Aria’s POV
Cold.
That was the first thing I felt. My skin prickled against the icy surface beneath me as I struggled to open my eyes. The room smelled of iron and damp stone, and a faint buzzing filled my ears like static.
When I finally blinked through the haze, I realized I wasn’t in Damian’s arms anymore. I was in a cell.
Chains clinked as I sat up, panic jolting through me when I saw the cuffs locked around my wrists, tethered to a steel bar. My breath quickened, heart pounding wildly.
No. No, no, no.
“Finally awake, darling?”
The voice slithered through the shadows before she stepped into the dim light. Seraphine. She looked even more terrifying up close — flawless, venomous, her crimson dress flowing like spilled blood across the stone floor.
My throat tightened.
“Where… where am I?”
She smiled like a cat that had cornered its prey.
“In my house. The Devil’s cage, as Damian likes to call it. A fitting place for the little lawyer who stole his heart.”
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Damian’s POV
“WHERE IS SHE?”
I roared so loud the walls shook, my fist slamming into Victor’s jaw with enough force to knock him back into the chair he was tied to. Blood smeared across his lip, but he only smirked, laughing through the pain.
“You think you’re still in control, Damian?” he taunted.
“Seraphine has her now. And trust me… she won’t give her back.”
Rage boiled inside me, white-hot, clawing at the surface of my control.
If Seraphine laid one finger on Aria—
I grabbed Victor by the throat, squeezing until his smirk faltered and his eyes bulged.
“You’re going to tell me where she took her,” I growled, each word a threat.
“Or I’ll carve the answer out of your corpse.”
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Aria’s POV
Seraphine circled me slowly, her heels clicking against the stone.
“You remind me of myself when I was young,” she mused.
“Bright. Ambitious. Foolish enough to believe love makes you strong.”
I flinched at her words, but forced myself to lift my chin.
“I’m nothing like you.”
Her smile sharpened.
“No. You’re weaker.”
She stopped in front of me, crouching until her face was inches from mine.
“You don’t understand the man you’ve fallen for, Aria. Damian isn’t your savior. He’s your ruin. Do you know what he hides from you?”
My chest tightened.
She was trying to break me. I couldn’t let her.
Still… a sliver of doubt slid into my heart.
What if she was right?
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Damian’s POV
Sofia burst into the room, her face pale but determined.
“I found something,” she said breathlessly, tossing a folder onto the table.
“It’s not much, but it’s a lead. She took Aria to one of her estates. The one Damian called…”
“The Cage,” I finished, my blood turning to ice.
I’d sworn never to return to that place. Too many ghosts lived there. Too many secrets that could destroy me if Aria ever found out.
But none of that mattered now.
Because she was there.
And I would burn the entire world to bring her back.
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Aria’s POV
Seraphine leaned closer, her voice dropping to a whisper.
“You want the truth about Damian? Ask him about the vault. Ask him what he keeps hidden there. And when he lies to you, remember this moment. Remember who warned you.”
She brushed a strand of hair from my face, almost tenderly.
“Your father is alive, Aria. And only I can give him to you.”
My heart stopped.
No. She was lying. She had to be lying.
But then she pulled out the photograph again and pressed it into my bound hands.
I stared at it through blurry eyes, my pulse screaming in my ears.
It was him.
Older, thinner, but it was him.
My father.
Alive.
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Cliffhanger Ending
Seraphine’s voice dripped like poison as she straightened.
“So here’s the choice, darling: help me open Damian’s vault… or watch me bury your father for real this time.”
Tears blurred my vision as the photograph trembled in my hands.
And for the first time since this nightmare began, I wasn’t sure who the real villain was—Seraphine… or Damian.
- Writer
