Claimed By The Mafia Rogue King (Snow and Cupid) novel Chapter 375

5

Snowflakes

I made my way quietly down the long, antiseptic corridor toward Mother’s ward, each step heavier than the last.

My heart heaved in my chest, raw, bruised, overloaded with the cascade of horrors that had unfolded in mere hours.

I paused just outside her door, hand trembling on the handle, drawing one steadying breath before I pushed it open.

Inside, Marlik sat at his mother’s bedside, gently wiping her face with a damp cloth.

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The tenderness in his movements, the careful way he dabbed at her brow, smoothed back a stray lock of hair made the scene feel almost sacred. Then he sensed me. His shoulders stiffened; he turned slowly.

For a long, wordless moment we simply stared at each other. His brow furrowed gradually, deepening with confusion, then dawning alarm.

He set the cloth aside without looking and rose, crossing the room in three strides.

He eased the door shut behind me, the soft click deliberate, as though sealing whatever devastation I carried away from his sleeping mother.

“Why are you here alone?” he asked, voice low, already edged with dread.

His gaze swept over me, searching, assessing and landed on the dark, sticky smears staining my jacket.

Blood. Yasmin’s blood. His eyes snapped back to mine, wide and questioning.

“Yasmin,” I confessed, the word fracturing in my throat. “She’s… she was stabbed. Claw marks. Deep. She was bleeding out on the roadside when I found her…”

I didn’t finish. Marlik was already moving, bolting past me like something feral had been unleashed inside him.

He tore through the ward corridors, scent–tracking with frantic precision, shoving aside curtains, peering into rooms.

Nurses startled and stepped back; he didn’t see them. He followed the trail until he skidded to a halt outside the emergency bay.

Through the half–drawn curtain, Yasmin lay on a gurney, pale, bandaged, IV lines snaking into her arms.

The nurses had stabilized her; they were preparing to transfer her to a private room. Marlik’s face drained of color entirely.

He staggered back a single step as though the sight had struck him physically. When the orderly began wheeling her away, he followed, silent, mechanical until we reached the quieter wing where she would recover

There, in the hallway outside her new room, he stopped. Simply stood Staring at the closed door as though it might open and, rewrite reality.

His hands hung limp at his sides; his breathing came shallow and uneven. I understood The speed of it all, the brutality, the impossibility was too much to process. My own mind spun in the same dizzying circle.

And Cupid… where was he?

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10:44 am PP

Chapter 375

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As if the universe had heard the question and decided to answer with cruelty, a television mounted high on the wall in the waiting area crackled to life.

A newscaster’s voice cut through the sterile hush, polished and urgent.

‘Breaking news: Cupid Godlike, adopted son of Alpha Ruis Godlike, has been arrested for the alleged sexual assault of his younger sister, Almira Godlike. Reports indicate the young woman was lured to a private residence when no one else was present. She was severely beaten and sexually assaulted. Cupid Godlike is currently in custody at H.O.W.L headquarters. Almira’s condition remains critical; should she succumb to her injuries, additional charges of murder may be filed…‘

My legs carried me toward the reception area almost against my will.

The words echoed in my skull, each one more obscene than the last. I stood frozen before the screen, watching footage of Cupid being led in cuffs from the pack compound, head bowed, expression blank, silver restraints glinting under the floodlights.

Cupid. Rape. The accusation felt like blasphemy. Worse than blasphemy. The man I knew, the man who had held me with such reverence, who had looked at me like I was something holy could never commit such violence. Especially not against Almira. His sister. His family.

He had been with me just hours ago, soft, thoughtful, drifting into exhausted sleep in my home. Then Beta Sky’s call. The frantic departure. The unanswered call to Desmond.

Desmond.

He had promised to bring Yasmin. Yet Yasmin had been found stabbed, claw–raked, bleeding out on the pavement like discarded trash.

What was happening?

My phone buzzed violently in my pocket. I jolted, yanked it free.

Eshan’s name glowing on the screen. I swiped to answer, but before I could speak, I felt the shift in the air. Eyes. Dozens of them. Turning. Pointing.

“Isn’t that Cupid’s girlfriend?”

“Of course. The rumors started when they were coordinating that festival charity event…”

Whispers rippled outward like poison in water. I turned my back to them, pressing the phone to my ear.

“Eshan…”

“Have you seen the news?” he asked before I could say another word.

I nodded uselessly.

“Listen to me, Eshan. Cupid is capable of many things, reckless, ruthless, dangerous but he would never sexually assault anyone.

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