OWNED BY THE BIKER KING

Chapter 7

The mansion was completely wrapped in silence. Only the muted, rhythmic sound of rain tapping softly against the glass windows filled the heavy darkness of the bedroom.

I tossed and turned restlessly against the sheets, my breathing uneven as another terrifying nightmare dragged me deeper into the shadows of my past.

“Don’t make me angry again, Elena!”

A loud, shattering crash echoed violently through my mind. In the dream, my body flinched, bracing for the impact.

“You belong to me. You will never leave.”

“No!” I gasped softly, my eyes snapping wide open.

Darkness. Cold, unfamiliar darkness.

For a few agonizing seconds, I couldn’t breathe properly. My chest rose and fell rapidly in the quiet room as cold sweat covered my skin. The phantom echo of his voice still lingered in my ears, making the nightmare feel terrifyingly real.

Slowly, trying to calm my racing pulse, I pushed the heavy blanket away and carefully stepped out of bed. My head still throbbed with a dull ache from earlier, but the suffocating silence inside the bedroom felt even worse than the pain. I needed to move. Maybe a glass of water would help clear the lingering horror from my throat.

Quietly, I creaked the bedroom door open and walked downstairs, my bare feet making no sound on the grand staircase.

The mansion remained dim and freezing at that ghostly hour. Soft golden lights illuminated the long, empty hallway while the storm continued to pour outside, wrapping the palace in an isolated bubble.

“Having a nightmare?”

I froze instantly on the bottom step, my breath hitching in my throat.

Ryder was sitting alone in the expansive living room. He was leaning back against the dark leather couch, one arm resting lazily against the armrest while a glass sat loosely in his hand. The dim amber lights above cast sharp, dramatic shadows across his rugged features.

I swallowed nervously, suddenly feeling very small in his oversized sweater. “I didn’t mean to wake anyone up.”

“You didn’t,” Ryder replied, his deep voice smooth and grounding in the quiet night. He slowly placed the glass onto the marble table before turning his head toward me. His dark eyes studied me carefully, cataloging every tremor. “But you look utterly terrified.”

For a moment, I looked away, staring at the polished floor. I hated how easily he noticed things, how his gaze seemed to read the secrets I worked so hard to hide.

“You’ve been scared since the moment I saw you step off that bus,” Ryder continued, his voice remaining calm, devoid of any judgment. He shifted slightly, giving me space. “People don’t usually run into dark, back-alley bars like Hell’s Throttle unless they’re desperate to hide from something. Or someone.”

My fingers tightened instinctively around the long sleeve of my shirt, pulling it over my knuckles.

Silence stretched between us. A heavy, loaded silence. But Ryder didn’t pressure me to fill it. He simply sat there, patiently waiting, giving me the control I had been denied for so long. And somehow… that quiet respect made it harder for me to stay silent. The wall of secrecy I had built began to crumble under his steady gaze.

Finally, I lowered my eyes, my voice barely above a whisper. “I left everything because of my boyfriend.”

Ryder's expression remained unreadable, but I saw his shoulders tense.

“He wasn’t always bad…” I continued quietly, a bitter, hollow smile touching my lips as the memories flooded back. “At first… he was incredibly kind. He treated me like I was his entire world.” I let out a weak, painful laugh. “At least, that’s what I was stupid enough to believe.”

The rain echoed softly outside the towering windows as I forced the suffocating truth out of my chest. “My parents warned me about him. They saw right through his mask, but I was too blind, too infatuated to listen. I ignored them.” My voice trembled slightly, tears burning the back of my throat. “I left everything for him. My family… my home… everything.”

I could feel my eyes turning glossy, blurring Ryder’s silhouette. “But the moment he had me completely isolated… he changed.”

Beside the table, Ryder's jaw tightened so hard a muscle flexed aggressively in his cheek.

“He locked me in that golden cage, monitoring every single step I took. But looking back… every time he yelled at me to stay inside, his hand would shake. Every time he gave me that cold, heartless glare, I could have sworn I saw a flash of pure agony in his eyes. I thought he was just angry. I thought he wanted to break me. But maybe… maybe I was just too blind to see what he was actually hiding behind that mask.” My breathing became uneven again, the trauma clawing at my throat. “And when things don’t go exactly his way… when I don’t obey…”

I stopped speaking. I couldn’t bring myself to voice the physical terror that followed. I didn’t need to. The sudden, heavy silence in the room said more than enough.

A dangerous, predatory look slowly swirled in Ryder’s dark eyes. “And the money?” he asked, his voice deathly calm.

I looked up, surprised for a second by his question. “He’s already rich,” I answered softly, wiping a stray tear from my cheek. “Billionaire status. But somehow… money is never enough for him.”

Ryder leaned forward slightly, his expression growing darker, more lethal with every word I uttered.

“He always wanted more,” I whispered, lowering my gaze back to my trembling hands. “More power. More control. More money.”

For the first time that night, Ryder finally understood the raw, unadulterated terror he had witnessed in the rain. I wasn’t just a girl looking for a motel. I was a survivor escaping a golden cage. And the realization made something vicious flare up inside him toward the man who had dared to break me.

For a long moment, neither of us spoke. Only the violent downpour outside filled the space between us. I lowered my head, squeezing my eyes shut as the tears finally spilled over, burning my skin.

“I really thought he loved me…” I choked out, my voice cracking completely as the weight of my regret crushed me. “I gave up my whole life for him. But in the end… I lost everything instead.”

Something inside Ryder’s chest tightened painfully at the sound of her broken sob. He had seen violence, he had seen blood, but the sight of this girl weeping over her shattered innocence struck a chord deep within him.

Before I could pull away to hide my tears, Ryder suddenly stood up. His large frame moved silently across the room until he stopped directly in front of me.

I looked up slowly, my tear-stained eyes wide, my breath catching for a split second as he towered over me. “Ryder? What are—”

Without a word, Ryder reached out and gently, deliberately pulled me into his arms.

I froze instantly against him. He was massive, his body radiating a solid, comforting warmth that smelled of cedarwood and rain. Safe. For the first time in a year, someone was holding me without the intent to control, suffocate, or hurt me.

That single, unconditional act of comfort completely shattered the fragile wall I had been fighting to hold together.

A soft, broken sob escaped my lips. Then another. Within seconds, I collapsed against his chest, my hands trembling violently as my fingers gripped the fabric of his shirt like a lifeline.

Ryder remained completely still, absorbing my pain. He wrapped his large arms around me, one hand resting protectively against the back of my dark hair, pinning me safely to his chest, while his other hand rubbed my back in a slow, calming rhythm.

“It’s okay,” he murmured into my hair, his deep voice a solid anchor in the storm. “You’re safe now. I’ve got you.”

And somehow, those simple words only made me cry harder, releasing years of accumulated fear, regret, and agony. Everything I had been forcing deep inside finally broke apart in the safety of his embrace.

Ryder’s jaw tightened, his eyes flashing with a lethal, dark promise as he listened to my muffled sobs. That bastard had systematically broken her piece by piece. The sheer thought of it made a violent urge for revenge flicker inside his soul. He wanted to find the man. He wanted to destroy him.

But right now, looking down at the shivering girl in his arms, he knew she needed comfort far more than she needed a war.

Slowly, as the minutes ticked by, my cries became quieter. My ragged breathing smoothed out, and my tense body relaxed little by little against his solid frame, my weight leaning completely into him.

Then finally—absolute silence.

Ryder looked down. I had fallen fast asleep against his chest, exhausted from the emotional purge. My face looked peaceful now, though my eyelashes were still damp with tears. I looked so fragile, yet I had survived a monster.

Carefully, trying not to disturb me, Ryder slipped one powerful arm beneath my knees and lifted me effortlessly into his arms. I stirred slightly, murmuring something incoherent as I snuggled closer into the crook of his neck, but I didn’t wake up.

The mansion remained deathly quiet as Ryder carried me up the grand staircase. When he reached his bedroom, he laid me down onto the soft mattress with extreme gentleness, pulling the thick duvet carefully over my shoulders.

He knew he should turn around and leave now. He should let her rest.

But strangely, his feet refused to move.

Instead, Ryder slowly sat down at the edge of the mattress. For a long moment, he simply watched her sleeping peacefully under the dim golden light of the lamp. Then, acting on an instinct he didn’t quite understand, his hand slowly reached out to slide into hers.

Her hand was so warm. So small against his scarred palm.

His fingers wrapped loosely, protectively around hers, while his dark eyes remained fixed on her face. A strange, haunting feeling began to settle deep in his gut. Something about this girl… about the way she fit into his arms… felt exceptionally familiar.

Not just familiar. Close. Too close.

It felt as if their lives hadn’t just intersected tonight by chance. It felt as if they had been inextricably connected long before she ever stepped off that bus at Hell’s Throttle.

And Ryder Kane was going to find out exactly why.

To be continued