Chapter 169\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then I took a deep breath and started trying to compress my hand enough to slip it through the metal circle that was holding me to the wall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The pain was immediate and intense and I had to bite my lip to keep from screaming because I didn\u2019t know if anyone else was in the building and I\u00a0<\/p>\n
couldn\u2019t risk alerting them to what I was trying to do.\u00a0<\/p>\n
70\u00a0<\/p>\n
I could feel bones shifting in my hand and wrist and I knew I was doing serious damage but I kept pushing and twisting and trying to force my way out\u00a0<\/p>\n
of the chain because this might be my only chance to escape and I wasn\u2019t going to waste it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The wolfsbane was making everything worse and I could feel my vision going dark around the edges but I forced myself to stay conscious and keep working because passing out now would mean giving up and I couldn\u2019t do that when so many people were counting on me to survive this.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My thumb popped out of joint with a sound that made me want to vomit but suddenly my hand was smaller and I could feel it starting to slip through\u00a0<\/p>\n
the metal and I knew I was almost free.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I pushed harder and twisted my wrist in a way that sent lightning bolts of pain up my arm but finally, finally, my hand slipped through the chain and I\u00a0<\/p>\n
was loose.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I sat there for a moment holding my broken hand against my chest and trying to catch my breath while waves of pain washed over me. My wrist was definitely broken and probably my thumb too but I was free from at least one chain and that was progress.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The other hand was going to be even harder because I would have to use my broken hand to work on the bolt and I wasn\u2019t sure I had the strength or the pain tolerance to do it but I didn\u2019t have a choice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was just reaching for the other bolt when I heard footsteps on the stairs and I froze in place with my broken hand still pressed against my chest. Someone was coming down here and I needed to hide what I had done or they would chain me up even tighter and I would never get another chance to\u00a0<\/p>\n
escape.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I quickly moved back against the wall and positioned my broken arm so it looked like it was still chained up and I closed my eyes and tried to look unconscious so whoever was coming wouldn\u2019t suspect that I had been working on getting free.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The footsteps reached the bottom of the stairs and I heard the door open but I kept my eyes closed and my breathing steady even though my heart was pounding so hard I was sure they would be able to hear it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I know you\u2019re awake Athena,\u201d a female voice said and my blood ran cold because I recognized it immediately even though I had been hoping I was\u00a0<\/p>\n
wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I opened my eyes and looked toward the door and there she was, standing in the dim light like she belonged here.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Seraphine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Surprised to see me?\u201d she asked and her voice was different now, colder and more confident than it had ever been when she was pretending to be the broken victim who needed Tristan\u2019s protection.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou,\u201d I said and my voice came out as barely a whisper because I was so shocked and confused and terrified all at the same time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMe,\u201d she confirmed with a smile that made my skin crawl. \u201cDid you really think Daxon was doing all of this alone? Did you really think he was smart enough to fake his own death and set up this whole elaborate plan without help?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stared at her and tried to process what she was telling me but it didn\u2019t make sense and I couldn\u2019t understand why she would be working with the man\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
15:24 Sat, Jan 10 G MR\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 169\u00a0<\/p>\n
who had nearly killed me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
31 70\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d I asked because it was the only word I could manage to get out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Why?\u2018 she repeated like she was surprised I had to ask. \u201cBecause Tristan was supposed to be mine and you stole him from me just like you steal\u00a0<\/p>\n
everything else you want.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her voice was getting louder and angrier and I could see the madness in her eyes now that she wasn\u2019t bothering to hide it anymore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019ve been in love with him since we were in high school and I waited and I planned and I positioned myself perfectly to be there when he needed comfort after his mate died and then you came along and ruined everything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She was pacing back and forth in front of me now and her hands were clenched into fists like she wanted to hit something.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to watch him fall in love with you and mate with you and choose you over everything else and it made me sick because you don\u2019t deserve him\u00a0<\/p>\n
and you never did.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you decided to help Daxon kill me?\u201d I asked and I was trying to keep her talking because I needed to understand what I was dealing with and I needed to figure out how to get out of here alive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I decided to help Daxon get back what was rightfully his,\u201d she corrected. \u201cAnd in exchange, he promised to help me get rid of you permanently so that Tristan could finally see that I was the one who had been there for him all along.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not how love works,\u201d I said and I could hear the desperation in my own voice. \u201cYou can\u2019t force someone to love you by eliminating their other options.\u201d What was wrong with the both of them?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWatch me,\u201d she said with the same cold confidence that Daxon had used earlier.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She walked closer to me and I tried to shrink back against the wall but there was nowhere to go and I was still chained up by my left hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is he?\u201d she asked and I could smell the wolfsbane on her breath which meant she had been breathing it in for a while and it was probably affecting her judgment and making her even more dangerous than she already was.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is who?\u201d I asked even though I knew exactly who she was talking about.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Don\u2019t play stupid with me Athena,\u2018 she snapped. \u2018Where is Tristan and when is he coming to rescue his precious little mate?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I don\u2019t know. I should be asking you shouldn\u2019t I?\u201d I said honestly because I had no idea where he was or what his plan might be. Wasn\u2019t she the one\u00a0<\/p>\n
that saw him last.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a knife that gleamed in the dim light and my broken hand automatically moved to protect my throat even though the movement sent fresh waves of pain through my arm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
S\u00a0<\/p>\n
212\u00a0<\/p>\n
15:24 Sat, Jan 10 GMR\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland\u2019s breathtaking cold.<\/p>\n
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 169 Chapter 169\u00a0 Then I took a deep breath and started trying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-second-gear-of-love-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26326\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}