Claimed by My Bestie's Alpha Daddy novel Chapter 198

Simon didn’t look at me when he keyed in the override code. His fingers moved over the panel with practiced precision, methodical and restrained, like he didn’t want to assign intention to the moment.

The containment ward, which had cast a steady glow across the room for weeks, flickered once, a shiver of blue. light, before collapsing inward in a soft crackle of static.

Then the hum vanished, the one that had defined the space, leaving the room in unnatural quiet. The silence didn’t feel calm, it felt like her presence had changed the air itself, like the next sound would shatter something.

She didn’t move, and I didn’t either.

Amelia stood barefoot on the cold concrete, her spine straight and her chin high. Her arms hung loosely at her sides, but her posture wasn’t relaxed, it carried tension behind the stillness, a coiled readiness waiting for the first opening. Her gaze skimmed the spot where the barrier had been, as if expecting it to reappear, and then her eyes landed on me, not curious, not confused, just precise.

She took a single step, barely shifting her weight, but it was enough for me to notice her angling her body to keep the door behind me. It was calculated. She wasn’t looking for a way out yet, but she was keeping her options open, making sure she had control of the terrain. If she needed to move, she’d already mapped the path. If she needed tostrike, I was exactly where she wanted me.

1 lowered myself to the floor, settling cross-legged with my palms resting loosely on my knees. I let my spine relax and allowed my breathing to slow. My posture was open and defenseless by design, a deliberate exposure I wanted her to see clearly, no threat, no provocation, just me.

Her brow furrowed, like she didn’t recognize what she was looking at.

“You’re not going to fight me?”

“No.”

Why not? Don’t you think I’ll kill you?”

“If that’s what you came for, you wouldn’t need my permission, and you certainly wouldn’t hesitate.”

She tilted her head slightly. “Maybe I’m waiting for the right moment. Maybe I want it to hurt.”

“You want it to mean something.”

She let out a breath that wasn’t quite a laugh. “God, you’re still so sanctimonious. Still talking like this is a fucking poem or a confession.”

“I think you want to hurt me because it would make you feel like someone else. Someone they created. Someone who never needed me.”

“Don’t talk like you know me.””I do. Even now. Especially now.”

She scoffed. The sound was flat. “You sound like a priest.

Or a man who thinks love is a spell you can repeat until it sticks.”

“Or someone who remembers how your voice used to crack when you couldn’t find the right words, how you’d pick at your nails during awkward silences, or how you used to whisper the answers to questions in meetings like it just mattered to you if you got them right.”

She froze for a beat. Blinked once. I saw it, even if she tried to bury it.

Then she began to move again. She walked around me, slower this time, her steps silent and measured. She wanted to feel in control, to stretch the tension between us like wire and see if I would flinch.

“So this is your plan? Remind me I used to be soft? You think that’s going to break me?”

“No. I think it already is. You’re listening. You wouldn’t be circling like this if you weren’t.”

She leaned down, her mouth near my ear, her voice pitched low enough to pass for something intimate.

“They showed me everything. You laughed while wolves burned. You signed off on the execution of girls younger than Jenny. You didn’t even blink.”

“None of that is real, Amelia. They gave you a truthwrapped in a lie. Enough to cut, but not enough to kill.” She moved to crouch in front of me, her eyes locked onto mine.

“Tell me it’s not true. Go-on. Lie to me.”

“It’s not true. And it stings because part of you knows it.

You can’t un-hear their voices, but you also can’t make mine go quiet.”

She didn’t speak. Instead, she reached out and touched the cut at my temple. Her thumb dragged blood down my cheek.

“You looked better when you were silent.”

“You said that once. In the war chamber. After I wouldn’t stop talking about Jenny. You shoved me into the wall and told me to shut up. Then you kissed me like you needed to erase what I’d said with your mouth.”

She brought her thumb to her lips and sucked the blood away. When nothing happened, she smiled, visibly pleased with herself.

I wiped the blood from my cheek with two fingers and placed them gently on the ground between us.

“You were six when Jenny cheated at cards. You saw it, said nothing, and moved the deck under your leg like you were carrying a secret.”

She didn’t respond, but she didn’t look away either.”You bit the inside of your cheek whenever you were about to cry. Every time. You said it helped keep you focused, even though it hurt.”

“Shut up.”

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