Chapter 166 Given Up Hope

Kieran’s POV   The chains were cold metal biting into my wrists and ankles, a relentless reminder of how completely unable I was to act in any way. There's the damp wall of stone pressing into my back, and I can feel its roughness scraping my skin. The darkness around me is absolute—no light, no sound but for a faint, dripping somewhere off in the shadows. It's a silence with something almost live about it, weighing down on me like a burden I can never escape. I've lost track of the time I've been here. Days? Weeks? Time doesn't exist in this hellhole. All I know for sure is that I'm utterly alone. No hope. No mercy. The cold, unyielding silence goes on, and with it the pain I've come to accept as part of my even existence now. For the moment, the Sterling brothers had left me alone. I can feel the still faint echo of their steps going away, their cruel whispers fading into the background as they decide to leave me to my thoughts. Good. I wouldn't care if they ever returned. I wouldn't