Chapter Ten – Devotion & DescentSplit POV: Xavier & Rayna
777 Words
Xavier’s POV
She didn’t scream anymore.
That’s how I knew she was breaking.
Not shattered.
Not ruined.
Molding.
Into what she was always meant to be.
Mine.
---
I sat at the foot of the basement steps for hours, listening through the crack of the door.
I could hear her shallow breaths.
The occasional choke of a sob she tried to hold back.
Even in pain, she was so considerate.
So careful not to give me more than I asked for.
That’s why she deserved everything.
---
I entered slowly—bringing water, a blanket, and her favorite hoodie.
I had studied her enough to know which one it was.
The oversized navy one with worn sleeves and a faint citrus scent.
She blinked when she saw it, flinching like I’d returned with the whip.
“Shh,” I whispered, kneeling beside her. “No more of that. I hated doing it.”
Her voice cracked. “You… liked it.”
“No, sweetheart. I didn’t like hurting you,” I murmured, unfastening the cuffs gently, brushing her wrists with trembling fingers. “But I love reminding you what happens when you run.”
---
She didn’t speak.
Didn’t meet my eyes.
Good.
Obedience always comes before affection.
Even wolves are tamed with time.
And fear.
---
I helped her drink the water. Her throat trembled against my hand.
Then I slid the hoodie over her shoulders like I was dressing a bride.
She looked like salvation in chains.
I pressed my lips to her temple. “You’re safe now.”
She tensed.
But she didn’t pull away.
It was enough.
---
We sat in silence for a while. She leaned into the corner, small and shaking, but breathing.
When I moved to brush her hair back, she didn’t resist.
“Tomorrow,” I whispered, “I’ll take you outside. Just you and me. A picnic. Something sweet. No pain. Just us.”
Still, she didn’t speak.
But I saw it.
That flicker of doubt.
Hope?
Either way, it meant one thing.
She was beginning to believe me.
---
Detective Monroe – Rayna’s POV
“I found a cabin.”
Charlie’s voice buzzed through the static as Monroe paced the dim precinct hall.
“You found Xavier?” He asked, spinning toward the map wall cluttered with photos, red threads, and scribbled notes.
“I said a cabin,” she corrected. “One that hasn’t shown any public utility use in ten years, owned by a shell company that links back to his bank account in New York.”
Monroe cursed under his breath. “Coordinates?”
“Sending now.”
---
As soon as the message came through, Monroe stared at the blinking dot on the GPS.
Just east of the river.
Deep in the woods.
Perfect for hiding.
Perfect for hurting.
“We move in twenty-four hours,” he said, grabbing his badge and firearm.
Rayna’s voice tightened. “That girl doesn’t have twenty-four hours.”
“I know.”
He looked back at Amara’s file—her college photo pinned to the board.
So bright. So alive.
That light was fading by the hour.
---
Back in his office, Monroe pulled open the drawer where he kept his personal files.
One name sat on top.
Xavier De Luca.
He’d seen men like him before.
But Xavier wasn’t just a killer.
He was a collector.
And Amara?
She wasn’t his first.
She was just the first one he wanted to keep.
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Xavier’s POV
She laughed.
Just once.
Soft and broken and bitter as we sat on the porch the next day.
I had fed her strawberries, peeled oranges with my hands, even braided her hair.
Like we were children playing house.
Like I wasn’t the monster who had shackled her in a basement the night before.
But when she laughed, I knew.
I still had her.
Even if it was just the last piece of her humanity clinging to hope.
She looked at the trees.
“Will you ever let me go?” she whispered.
I placed a kiss to her knuckles.
“I let you go once. You ran straight into pain. I won't make that mistake again.”
---
She looked away.
But not before I saw it.
Tears.
Not from fear this time.
From knowing I wasn’t lying.
---
Rayna’s POV
“We go at dawn,” Monroe ordered.
“Alone?”
“No backup. No red tape. If we wait, he’ll disappear.”
Ryan nodded grimly, pulling his gloves tighter. “You think she’s still alive?”
“I think she’s the only reason he hasn’t vanished already.”
---
- Writer
