Trapped by Seven Mafia Wolves novel Chapter 125

The Boy in Chains

Aurora’s POV

The cell is a tomb.

I lay on the floor, chains dragging at my wrists and ankles like anchors. Every breath burns; every nerve screams.Pain throbs in every place a my body can hold pain–my ribs ache with each shallow breath, her skin stung with cuts and bruises, my wrists are nothing but raw, bloody fire where the metal dug in deeper each time I flinched or pulled. Every nerve feels scorched, my throat torn ragged from screaming so much I didn’t even recognize the sound anymore. It wasn’t mine.

It was an animal’s–hoarse, broken, feral.

I want to die.

The thought slithers in and I don’t even fight it. I want it over. I want it to stop. I need it to stop.

The pain.

The betrayals.

The loneliness.

The worst part?More than anything, I want them.

Andrei’s sharp steadiness.Jace’s dumb jokes. Raphael’s calming voice.Luka’s sarcastic smile.Leon’s dopey grin.Matteo’s unshakable calm

Even Nico’s angry stare.

I want them all–because wanting them hurts less than this endless drowning silence.

But they aren’t here.Maybe… Kira was right… maybe they were never who I thought.Maybe they have always been monsters in beautiful masks.My vision blurs with hot tears, sliding into the dirt beneath my cheek. I force my head up, just barely every muscle screaming in protest. The cell swims around me: damp stone walls, iron bars thick as my wrist, the stink of rot and mold clinging

to the air.

I curl against the wall, chains rattling as my body gives in, pressing my head against the cold wall, closing my eyes as if willing the darkness to swallow me whole.Please. Please just end it. Please

But then… movement.

A shift in the shadows across the cell. The sound

so soft at first I think I imagined it. A scrape. A chain dragging faintly.My lashes flutter, and for a second I think my vision’s gone wrong again my mind conjuring ghosts in the dark. But

Chapter 125

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no.Someone’s there. Not the man. Not Kira.

A boy.My head jerks up, heart lurching violently. I ink through my tears, eyes straining in the darkness around me.My breath hitches as my gaze harpens, focusing at the figure slumped across

from me.

For a second, I think I’m imagining him. He’s slumped against the wall, his wrists bound like mine, his face shadowed and beaten, but then his chin lift–slow, heavy, like it hurts. And I see his face.

I don’t know why my stomach twists, why my chest clenches, but it does.

Because even under the blood and dirt, even hidden beneath the bruises and cuts, I can tell–he’s

beautiful.

Not in a soft way. Not in the kind of way people whisper about with shy smiles. His beauty is harsher, like something carved out of stone and left to weather storms, like something the world

tried to ruin and failed.

Then his eyes find mine.

Green.

But it echoes in this silent prison.

“His tilts his head slightly, eyes skimming over my face as though memorizing it.

“Aurora,” he repeats, as if tasting it on his tongue.is eyes linger on me again for a long moment, as though testing the name in his mind. Then–finally–his mouth curves, the faintest shadow of a smile.

“Damion,” he says simply. “That’s mine.

“The silence presses heavy, but it was different now–less empty, less crushing.

I find herself watching him through the veil of her tears, the dim flicker of light catching the sharp line of his jaw, the hollows under his eyes.He didn’t look like someone who belonged here, but then again, maybe I didn’t either.My voice cracks as I force it out.

“How….how long have you been here?“Damion’s gaze lifts to the ceiling, chains scraping as he shifts slightly “I don’t even remember.

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He glances at me. “Somewhere between forever and yesterday. That’s what it feels like down here.

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“Because of him.

“Damion’s tone is dry, edged with bitterness that doesn’t quite cover the exhaustion underneath. “When your dad’s at the top of the food chain, people start getting ideas. And grabbing the kid? That’s an easy idea.

“He lets his eyes close briefly before flicking them back to me. “But…. I’m guessing you know a thing or two about people with power and other getting bad ideas.”

My throat burns as Kira’s face flashes in my mind.

“The world just hates us I guess,” Damion muttered, almost to himself, then sighed. “Because here we are. Two kids in a hole. Guess that says enough.

“Aurora’s chest felt tight, her tears hot again as she whispered, “Do you… Do you miss anyone?“He gives me a look, and for a moment I think he’d throw a sarcastic comment at me, but instead his

voice comes out quieter, steadier.