The King Of War Returns (Jaden Rift) novel Chapter 168

A jolt of terror shot through Selena’s spine the moment Declan Raze uttered those vile words. Her heart skipped a beat, and for a brief second, her breath caught in her throat.

Without thinking, she spun around and bolted toward the door like a panicked deer.

But the two gorilla-sized bodyguards moved faster.

Thick, calloused hands clamped down on her delicate wrists like iron cuffs, yanking her backward. She stumbled, heels scraping against the marble floor, as they restrained her effortlessly.

“Let me go! Help! Somebody help me!” she screamed, desperation cracking her voice.

Declan Raze let out a wheezing chuckle, his jowls quivering with amusement. “Scream all you want, sweetheart,” he said, licking his cracked lips. “I picked this time on purpose. Your office is empty. Your staff clocked out an hour ago. This building is a tomb now... and you're the only living thing inside.”

His words landed like a sledgehammer. Selena’s legs buckled, tears pricking her eyes as fear crashed over her like a tidal wave. Her fight instinct turned to despair. She was cornered, caged.

Declan moved closer, his stench hitting her like a wave of rot and cigar smoke.

“Aww, don’t cry now,” he mocked, reaching to stroke her face. “Daddy’s here. You should feel special, you know. I don’t make time like this for just any woman.”

Selena recoiled, her face twisted in revulsion. She wanted to vomit.

Declan's grin stretched wider, revealing yellowed teeth. “Pinned down and powerless. Just how I like my girls.”

Then—

Bang!

The steel-reinforced meeting room door exploded off its hinges, crashing to the floor like thunder. It landed inches from Declan’s feet, the tremor silencing the room.

The bodyguards froze.

Declan's eyes went wide.

And then he stepped in.

A tall figure emerged through the smoke and splinters. Broad-shouldered. Impossibly fit. With sharp eyes that could slice through stone and a jawline carved by God himself, the man’s presence sucked the oxygen from the room.

It was Jaden.

He didn’t speak. He didn’t blink. He just walked forward with the calm of a man who'd already buried too many people to flinch.

Selena's breath caught.

Her knees gave out—but not from fear this time.

It was him.

Five years.

Five goddamn years.

The man who had haunted her dreams and tormented her memories stood before her like a ghost from hell and heaven at once. A man she once saved, who later took everything from her.

Tears finally broke loose, flooding down her cheeks. Not from weakness, not anymore—but from shock, rage, grief, confusion. A cocktail of emotions no woman deserved to carry alone.

And Jaden... he saw it. That pain in her eyes twisted something deep inside his chest.

He hadn’t seen her since that night. Since that night.

The night he violated the one woman who had shown him mercy. A crime born from drunken delirium and deep scars. A sin that had eaten at him every single day since.

Now, seeing her again like this—broken, vulnerable, at the hands of a pig like Declan Raze—it made his blood boil.

Selena opened her mouth to say something, anything, but her voice failed her.

Jaden’s jaw clenched. His eyes never left her face.

Then he spoke.

“Come with me,” he said, his tone low and cold.

It wasn’t a question.

Selena flinched like he’d struck her.

Come with me? After five years of silence? After destroying her life and walking away? That’s all he had to say?

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify