Sweet Hatred
Chapter 58: A visitor in heels(Chaos wrapped in smoke.)

Chapter 58: A visitor in heels(Chaos wrapped in smoke.)

Trigger warning! (Attempted S.A)

My wrists were raw from the chains.

The floor beneath me was hard and cold. My body ached—my head throbbed from whatever drug they’d used to knock me out. It took everything just to open my eyes, to lift my head. My vision swam, but then I heard it.

I heard it before I saw her.

Click. Click. Click.

The sound of heels. Slow. Purposeful. Like a metronome counting down to something dreadful.

Then came the laugh—low, smooth, feminine. My stomach turned.

Someone was enjoying this.

A tall silhouette appeared in the doorway, bathed in the weak, flickering light of the bulb overhead. I could make out the outline of long legs, a fitted dress, cascading burgundy hair. She stepped forward slowly, hips swaying like she was walking a runway. Her perfume hit the air like poison—familiar and sharp.

And then I saw her face.

My heart dropped.

"...Mia."

She tilted her head, a cruel smirk spreading across her perfectly painted lips. "Well, well... so the bitch wakes up."

My breath caught in my throat.

"You," I whispered. "You did this?"

She tilted her head, her eyes scanning me like I was some sort of sad little art project. "Of course I did. Who else would?"

"I should’ve known," I muttered bitterly.

She took another step closer. "You should’ve," she agreed. "But then again... you never were very smart, were you? And you never did know your place too."

I clenched my jaw, refusing to let her see how shaken I was. "You’ve gone too far. Over a man like Kael?"

She stopped a few feet away, eyes narrowing. "Don’t you dare say his name like you understand him."

"Mia, listen to yourself. This is sick." My voice cracked slightly. "He’s not even—I didn’t steal him," I said through gritted teeth. "It’s not even real—it’s a fucking contract—"

"SHUT UP!" Her hand snapped across my face, her voice echoing off the walls.

I gasped, my head snapping to the side. My cheek stung. Her hands returned to her side in a tight fist, trembling.

I flinched.

"You think I care about your pathetic little excuse?" she spat. "He was mine first and he is still mine. Until you came running along in your little heels like some desperate slut thinking you could change that."

I stared at her, stunned.

"Mia... I never tried to take him from you. I didn’t even want—"

"Save it," she snarled. "You already did. Every time he looks at you, every time he speaks to you... you stole him. You took what was mine. But now I’m going to take him back."

I looked at her, finally seeing the full madness behind those eyes. "You’re insane."

She smiled. "Probably."

I tried to sit up straighter, even if my arms were numb. "Fine. Let me go. I’ll walk away. That’s what you want right? You’ll never see me again."

"You seem to be misunderstanding me Aria." Mia chuckled.

My throat was dry. The air felt thick.

"What are you planning to do to me?" I asked quietly.

She smiled then. A cold, wicked smile. "Don’t worry, sweetheart. It’s a surprise."

She turned to the door and clapped once.

It opened.

The boss walked in. That same sick bastard from before. Behind him were his men, all of them grinning like they’d just won something.

Mia didn’t even glance at me as she spoke, her voice as calm as someone placing an order at a café.

"Have fun with her. Take turns if you want. And when you’re done, kill her. Dump her body in the river."

My heart stopped. Was she for real?

"No... no, wait—Mia!" I screamed, struggling against the chains. "You don’t have to do this. I’ll leave Kael. I’ll disappear!—I’ll do whatever you want—"

She finally looked at me. Amused.

"Even now, you’re still speaking with so much pride, like you have options" She tsked softly. "You really are pathetic Aria. Even though like to act tough. You and I both know you’re such a weak little bitch."

"Mia!" I yelled, my voice cracking under the weight of desperation.

She turned her back to me like I was nothing.

"Mia!"

The men stepped forward.

And I realized—

She was really going to let them do this.

I watched as the men unchained my legs and arms from the chair lifting me up forcefully and then pushing me to the floor with my hands tied again. The sound of a belt unbuckling made my stomach twist.

The rustle of fabric and zippers. A low, perverted laugh. One of the men hovered over me, his breath hot and sour against my cheek as his shadow loomed, blocking out what little light remained in the godforsaken room.

I couldn’t move. My wrists burned from the tight chain biting into my skin, and my legs were completely numb beneath me. I was trembling, but it felt distant, like I was watching myself from above—detached, like my body no longer belonged to me.

This was it, wasn’t it?

This was really going to be how it ended? My mind dazed back to my mother, Sarah, Olivia, Kaleb and his little sister, if they were doing alright, if they knew I was about to lose my life? And Kael—

A shaky breath escaped my lips as I forced myself to look up at the man, to memorize his face in case I somehow survived this nightmare. Maybe I wanted to remember who ruined me. Or maybe I just didn’t want to look weak, even now. Even when I was crumbling.

I heard Mia laughing from outside the room, distant and unhinged. As if she hadn’t just sentenced me to hell and walked away without a second thought.

My throat was too dry to scream. I wasn’t sure I had it in me anyway. Some part of me wanted to scream, cry, beg. The other part—the part of me that still clung to dignity like a dying flower—wanted to bite my tongue until I choked on my own blood.

"Look at you," the man muttered, kneeling beside me. "Still trying to be proud. That bitch said you had fire, but you just look like another broken doll to me."

My skin crawled at his words. His hand reached for the edge of my torn dress and I squeezed my eyes shut—

BANG!

The sound shattered through the room like a bolt of lightning.

Everything froze.

Another gunshot. Bang. Screaming.

"Fuck! We’ve been compromised!" one of the men shouted.

I blinked rapidly, heart racing so fast it felt like it might give out. More gunshots—close, terrifying, echoing against concrete walls. Then a voice. Mia’s voice—screeching something incoherent before it was abruptly cut off.

One of the men yanked me upright by the arm, dragging my body like a ragdoll, and shoved the barrel of a gun to my temple.

"You move, and your brains’ll be decorating this wall," he snarled into my ear, pressing the cold metal harder into my skin.

I shook. God, terror shot through my veins I thought I might throw up. My chest heaved, and tears burned behind my eyes, waiting to be shed. But beneath all that—under the terror and the numbness—I laughed.

Not out loud, but inside.

Some dark, bitter part of me couldn’t help it.

So this is how it ends? Tied up. About to be gang-murdered by a bunch of thugs in a warehouse, because I got tangled in a web spun by men with too much power and women too obsessed to see the truth?

I must’ve been cursed in another life.

The room was chaos now. Men running to the door, shouting to each other, loading weapons. The man with the gun to my head didn’t budge, his fingers twitching over the trigger. My pulse thundered in my ears so loud I barely heard the next gunshot. This one was farther away.

And then, suddenly—silence.

Not a single sound.

No gunshots. No screams. No footsteps. Just stillness, cold and unnatural.

That silence was worse than the noise.

Then... footsteps. Heavy. Slow. Deliberate. Coming closer.

Every man in the room turned toward the door.

My breath caught.

And the guy holding me tightened his grip.

"Who the fuck is that?" someone whispered.

They all raised their guns.

My heartbeat was pounding like war drums in my chest.

Who’s coming? A savior? A killer? Or something else entirely?

The silence after the footsteps was the kind that makes your skin crawl—like something ancient and dangerous had just stepped into the room and held its breath.

I couldn’t see the door clearly from where I was tied, but I saw the way the men froze, guns raised, eyes narrowed. One of them was breathing too fast. Another was muttering something under his breath. And me?

I was still kneeling on the cold floor, my wrists aching, a gun pressed hard against my temple like a cruel promise.

Then—clink.

A tiny, metallic sound tapped against the floor near the door. My heart lurched. One of the men reacted immediately.

"Grenade!" he screamed.

And then the world vanished in white.

A blast of smoke exploded into the room, swallowing everything. I coughed violently, blinking back tears, vision reduced to a thick, blinding fog. Panic surged through me like a scream that never made it to my throat.

Gunshots erupted. Loud, deafening cracks splitting the air. I flinched hard, instinctively ducking as much as I could. My knees scraped against the floor, my muscles screaming in pain, but I couldn’t do anything except pray I wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire.

They were screaming. The men. Guttural, shocked cries—cut off mid-shout. Something heavy slammed into the ground beside me with a wet thud.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

More gunshots. More chaos. Shadows moved through the fog, fast and deliberate. I opened my eyes just long enough to see masked men in black, storming the room like ghosts of war. Efficient. Lethal.

I wanted to scream.

I needed to scream.

But nothing came out.

My throat felt locked. My lungs hollow. I was trembling, my whole body shaking like a leaf in a hurricane. All I could do was watch—frozen—while the last man standing near me raised his gun, tried to fire—

And was shot square in the chest before he could even breathe.

He crumpled to the ground, his lifeless eyes wide, blood pooling fast.

Then—stillness.

No more screams. No more bullets.

The smoke began to thin, slowly revealing the wreckage left behind. Bodies sprawled around me. Blood smearing the floor. Guns discarded mid-fight.

And then...

Footsteps.

Heavy. Slow. Measured.

The masked men stepped aside like they’d been waiting for him. Like the real threat hadn’t even arrived until now.

I looked up. My heart stumbled in my chest.

Through the smoke, a tall figure emerged, wrapped in black, framed by the wreckage like the very devil who’d come to collect.

I knew that walk.

Even before I could make out his face... I knew.

The way his presence shifted the air. The deadly calm in his stride. The rage barely hidden under the surface.

And when the smoke cleared...

It was Kael.

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