{"canonical":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me","locale":"en","author":"Anna Zaires","type":"work","modified":"2026-11-06T00:00:19.590938+00:00","data":{"title":"Hold Me","author":"Anna Zaires","authorUrl":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/authors/anna-zaires","year":2015,"heat":5,"isbn":null,"seriesTitle":"Twist Me","seriesOrder":3,"seriesUrl":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/series/anna-zaires/twist-me","tropes":["Antihero","bdsm-power-exchange","Captivity","Dark Romance","dark-captor-captive-romance","Forced Proximity","found-family-under-threat","hurt-comfort","morally-gray-heroine","possessive-morally-gray-hero","trauma-bonded-couple"],"summary":"Captor and captive. Lovers. Soulmates.\n\nWe’re all that and more.\n\nWe thought we were past the worst of it. We thought we finally had a chance.\n\nWe thought wrong.\n\nWe’re Nora and Julian, and this is our story.","pitch":"Hold Me by Anna Zaires is a 2015 romance. Tropes: Antihero, bdsm-power-exchange, Captivity, Dark Romance, dark-captor-captive-romance, Forced Proximity, found-family-under-threat, hurt-comfort, morally-gray-heroine, possessive-morally-gray-hero, trauma-bonded-couple. Heat 5/5. Book 3 of Twist Me.","publisher":"Mozaika Publications","ownRecap":true,"englishUrl":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me","chapters":[{"n":2,"title":null,"summary":"Julian Esguerra wakes in a Swiss clinic with his lover Nora, both recovering from a violent rescue in Tajikistan. His body bears fresh wounds—cracked ribs, a broken arm, and the recent loss of his left eye—while Nora battles resurgent nightmares and a bruised face from her captors. As she cries out from a dream of his torture, Julian's fury ignites, directed both at the man who risked her life to save him and at his own helplessness. He lays down a brutal command: anyone who endangers Nora again will die. Their moment of reconciliation shatters when Nora requests the morning-after pill, revealing she is not ready to bear his child. Stung by her fear and rejection, Julian retreats into the bathroom, leaving the chapter on the raw edge of unresolved desire and unspoken hurt.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-2"},{"n":3,"title":null,"summary":"Nora boards Julian's private jet with a new birth control implant and quiet relief that he did not object to her taking the morning-after pill. But as they fly over the Swiss Alps, fragile peace shatters when Nora suffers a panic attack, reliving the horror of the Tajikistan torture and her own lethal violence. Julian grounds her with steady hands and possessive tenderness, their intimacy escalating from comfort to intense heat in the plane's rear cabin. Yet after their encounter, Julian retreats into cold silence, leaving Nora to confront his shuttered expression and the unresolved question of why their child-free future still feels emotionally precarious. The chapter closes on that unresolved tension, his abrupt departure hanging in the cramped space.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-3"},{"n":4,"title":null,"summary":"Julian grapples with unexpected tenderness toward Nora after she took the morning-after pill, interpreting it as rejection despite their captive-captor dynamic. Returning to his childhood estate in the tropics, they reconnect amid the humid jungle air, though Julian's injuries from Majid still ache. When Nora wakes screaming from a nightmare-induced panic attack, Julian's rage threatens to overwhelm him—but instead of gentle comfort, he employs brutal dominance, using a flogger and rough intimacy to anchor her back to reality. Their violent coupling leaves Nora sobbing but subdued, and Julian holds her afterward, calculating that binding her in her most vulnerable state secures her devotion. As they drift to sleep, Julian vows never to let her go, embracing the darkness that defines their bond.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-4"},{"n":5,"title":null,"summary":"Nora shares news that her art instructor has connected her with a Paris gallery owner eager to display her paintings, prompting her husband Julian to suggest a trip to France once the Al-Quadar threat is fully neutralized. During a video call with her anxious parents, she learns to hide her exhaustion and nightmares, masking her trauma with the security of Julian's trust fund and lighter college load. At dinner, tensions flare when Julian forbids her from visiting Chicago alone and reveals he monitors her email, discovering messages from Peter Sokolov demanding a list she promised him. Despite Julian's threats and demands that she finish her meal, Nora resolves to betray his wishes and deliver the list, her loyalty torn between her savior and her dangerous husband.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-5"},{"n":6,"title":null,"summary":"Julian finds himself drawn into a quieter intimacy with Nora at their estate, despite the storm of trauma that continues to haunt her. After another night of screams and hyperventilation, the weight of his past mistakes presses on his chest as he watches her frailty deepen—she’s barely eating and refuses the medication meant to steady her. When she returns from the bathroom, Julian sets aside thoughts of punishment and pulls her into his lap, desperate to shield her from the wounds he caused. Though their bond has darkened into a dangerous dance of pain and pleasure, tonight his hunger is layered with fierce tenderness. He demands verbal affirmation of her love before yielding to a gentle, healing embrace, ending the night with Nora safely cocooned against him as sleep finally claims them.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-6"},{"n":7,"title":null,"summary":"Nora wakes beside a sleeping Julian, driven by a secret mission despite her exhaustion. Battling nausea, she steals his laptop, cracks the password she filmed him entering, and sends a hit list to Peter Sokolov—repaying a debt for the murder of Peter's family. When Julian kicks down the bathroom door and catches her red-handed, the confrontation turns physical until she vomits, summoning Dr. Goldberg. Though Julian initially rages, the discovery that she hacked his computer softens into dark amusement, promising punishment later. As he fetches her tea, the doctor returns with blood test results revealing Nora is six weeks pregnant—a revelation that lands amid the unresolved tension of her betrayal and Julian's pending reckoning.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-7"},{"n":8,"title":null,"summary":"Julian arrives home carrying tea for his wife Nora, only to find Dr. Goldberg delivering devastating news: despite the morning-after pill and a recently removed implant, Nora is six weeks pregnant. The revelation shatters Julian's composure, dredging up traumatic memories of his abusive father and forcing him to confront whether he can break the cycle. When Nora accuses him of sabotaging her contraception, he denies it, but her subsequent tears trigger a dark, possessive rage. He pins her down and assaults her in a violent display of dominance, claiming what he believes is already his. The chapter ends with Julian collapsed atop her, finally tasting remorse as he confronts the brutality of his own nature and the uncertain future of the child she now carries against her will.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-8"},{"n":9,"title":null,"summary":"Nora grapples with devastating news: she is pregnant despite birth control, a statistical rarity explained by Dr. Goldberg. While she processes the trauma of her recent violent intimacy with Julian, her husband vehemently rejects abortion, insisting they keep the child conceived by \"two killers.\" After her implant is removed, the morning brings a fragile calm—breakfast in bed and tender gestures from Julian mask the lingering pain of the night before. Their dynamic shifts to playful banter by the pool, where water games escalate into a passionate, tender kiss that forces Nora to confront her conflicted feelings. She is torn between the monster who hurt her and the man she loves, knowing the darkness in Julian's soul will never fully disappear, yet choosing to surrender to the present moment and the life growing inside her.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-9"},{"n":10,"title":null,"summary":"Julian spends the day with Nora at his estate, setting aside his dangerous arms-dealing business—cartel demands, Interpol investigations, and terrorist bids—to focus entirely on his pregnant wife. Their morning is shadowed by his guilt over hurting her the previous night; he struggles with the knowledge that she now belongs to him completely, no longer needing conditioning, yet he caused her pain. When housekeeper Ana reveals she knows about the pregnancy, Julian vows to protect the child at any cost, hiring an obstetrician and suppressing his rage at any suggestion of harm. Later, during a walk to a secluded lake where he once faced a jaguar as a child, their tension ignites into a passionate encounter on the grass, Julian restraining his darker impulses to avoid hurting her again. The chapter closes with him confessing that last night was a mistake, seeking forgiveness as they lie together by the water, the weight of impending fatherhood and lingering trauma still pressing between them.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-10"},{"n":11,"title":null,"summary":"Nora navigates the early weeks of an unexpected pregnancy while maintaining a facade of normalcy under Julian’s suffocating protection. Though prenatal care and twice-weekly therapy with Dr. Wessex have stabilized her anxiety—pregnancy hormones apparently making her stress feel temporary—she chafes against his gentle restraint in bed and the ban on her self-defense training, craving the intensity she once shared with him. During a morning walk with Rosa, Nora confesses her terror that her violent past and Julian’s criminal empire make her unfit to parent, only to learn that Rosa herself killed two attackers as a child to protect her family. Rosa’s philosophy that one can choose not to let darkness define them challenges Nora’s conviction that evil inevitably leaves a permanent stain, leaving her grappling with whether she can embrace the baby without being consumed by the world that created it, and dreading the eventual confrontation with her parents.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-11"},{"n":12,"title":null,"summary":"Julian returns from training with Lucas, discussing Peter Sokolov's brutal revenge campaign across Europe. Lucas arranges for the interrogation of Yulia Tzakova, the interpreter who betrayed them, which Julian permits with dark amusement. Later, Julian finds Nora in the library wearing his shirt and researching Stockholm Syndrome for a paper—a taunt that stirs his possessive arousal, which he suppresses to protect her pregnancy. At dinner, their conversation turns to the impending announcement of her pregnancy to her parents and the bleak reality of raising a child with a man who has no conscience. Julian confesses that learning of the pregnancy brought him pure joy, and despite his ruthless nature, he promises to do his best for their child. The chapter closes on the fragile tension between his violent worldview and the new vulnerability of impending fatherhood.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-12"},{"n":13,"title":null,"summary":"Nora, eight weeks pregnant and confined to Julian Esguerra's Colombian jungle compound, indulges her maid Rosa's morbid curiosity about a new captive. Together they spy on the quarters of Lucas Kent, Julian's fearsome right-hand man, discovering a bruised blond woman bound naked to a chair in his living room. The sight nauseates Nora, but what chills her more is her own disturbing numbness to the brutality—a sign that the violence of her gilded cage is eroding her. Later, she finally confesses her pregnancy to her mother over video chat, receiving weary but conditional acceptance. As sleep claims her, a dark vision intrudes: a dark-haired pregnant captive occupies the same chair, hinting that her own future may mirror the girl's helplessness. The chapter closes on this unresolved dread.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-13"},{"n":14,"title":null,"summary":"Julian returns home late to find his pregnant wife Nora asleep, and though they cannot risk full intimacy, they share a tender, sensual encounter that leaves them both breathless. The next morning, Nora reveals she spoke with her mother about the pregnancy, a step toward acceptance though fear still lingers beneath her bravado. Her concern shifts when she discovers a female traitor—the Russian interpreter whose betrayal caused the deadly plane crash—is being held captive on their compound by Lucas, with whom the woman had an affair. Nora struggles with her desire for vengeance against the woman who nearly killed her husband, clashing with her moral compass as Julian washes her hair in the shower, soothing her turmoil while acknowledging his own terror about the future.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-14"},{"n":15,"title":null,"summary":"Nora grapples with her moral erosion while pregnant in Julian's isolated estate, horrified to realize she now craves vengeance against Yulia Tzakova, the interpreter who once threatened Julian's life. Desperate to reclaim her perspective, she begs to visit her parents, but Julian pins her against the shower wall, declaring ownership and threatening consequences for disobedience. After a tense breakfast standoff, he relents on one condition: she must complete her online exams within two weeks before traveling to Chicago, and any deviation means punishment. Their explosive argument dissolves into passionate reconciliation as Nora vows obedience, leaving her trapped between her love for her husband and her dwindling autonomy, with the weight of her pregnancy and his tracking implants sealing her fate.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-15"},{"n":16,"title":null,"summary":"Nora boards a private jet with her husband Julian Esguerra and best friend Rosa Martinez, heading to Oak Lawn to meet her parents after two weeks abroad. The flight is tense; Julian's controlling behavior during turbulence reminds Nora of their captor-captive dynamic, though she remains devoted to him. Upon arrival, they face a fraught dinner where her father Tony bristles at Julian's presence and his dismissal of the claim that Nora's pregnancy is destroying her life. The tension breaks when Julian reveals that a prestigious European collector has offered €50,000 for five of Nora's paintings, transforming her from a struggling student into a sought-after artist. As her parents process the news, Nora privately questions whether Julian is truly capable of love, leaving the chapter on an unresolved note of emotional uncertainty despite the professional triumph.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-16"},{"n":17,"title":null,"summary":"Julian Esguerra clashes with CIA handler Frank over his presence in the U.S., where FBI agents are investigating a potential cover-up. Despite warnings to leave the country immediately, Julian refuses, insisting he is only visiting his wife Nora. Back home at their Palos Park residence, he finds Nora arguing with Rosa over post-dinner cleanup while hosting Nora's parents, Gabriela and Tony Leston. Julian steps in protectively, concerned about Nora's ten-week pregnancy and exhaustion, and insists they leave early. The evening ends with plans for dinner at their house the next night, though the lingering threat of federal investigation and Julian's fierce protectiveness keep the tension simmering beneath the domestic surface.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-17"},{"n":18,"title":null,"summary":"Nora rides home from an unthinkably civilized dinner with her parents, where her former captor sat as their son-in-law and the father of their grandchild. The absurdity of Julian's dominance follows her into the limo, where his possessive scent and touch offer both comfort and unease. Instead of a rental, Julian has purchased a secluded luxury home in the wealthy enclave of Palos Park, gifting Nora a fifty-percent stake in the shell corporation that holds the deed—a gesture that blurs the line between care and control. In the bedroom, the evening shifts into a charged display of power: blindfolded and restrained to the bed, Nora surrenders to Julian's unpredictable intensity, navigating the razor's edge between fear and desire that defines their bond. As they fall asleep entwined, Julian's whispered vow to give her the world so long as she remains his leaves the chapter hanging on the dangerous, delicious weight of their possessive love.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-18"},{"n":19,"title":null,"summary":"Julian wakes beside Nora in their Palos Park home, wrestling with dark impulses he has vowed to suppress after previously injuring her. Their morning run through the neighborhood tightens their bond but stirs old anxieties when Nora mentions meeting friends at the Chicago Ridge Mall—the site of a past betrayal involving Al-Quadar. Julian firmly redirects her to a secured restaurant in Oak Lawn instead, assigning a dozen unobtrusive guards to watch over her haircut and lunch. As he prepares to leave for a city meeting, he checks on her wellbeing, noting her flat stomach and lack of nausea, revealing his hope for a future family. Their parting kiss masks the tension beneath: his desperate need to control her safety versus his fear of losing control of his own violence.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-19"},{"n":20,"title":null,"summary":"Nora escapes the gilded cage of the Esguerra compound for a rare day of normalcy, complete with a salon visit and lunch with high school friends Leah and Jennie. While she revels in the illusion of freedom—texting Julian \"love you\" and defying him with a fresh haircut—the shadow of his empire never leaves her. When Julian crashes their lunch, his charm disarms Jennie but leaves Leah wary, forcing Nora to confront the gap between her friends' perception and the dangerous reality of her marriage. As Julian claims her with a possessive smile and reveals exciting news about her art gaining traction in Paris, Nora realizes that even in moments of joy, she belongs to him. The chapter closes on the bittersweet comfort of being claimed, leaving unresolved tension about her pregnancy and the cost of her happiness.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-20"},{"n":21,"title":null,"summary":"Julian collects his pregnant wife Nora from her friends' company, reassuring her that he doesn't expect her to run. In the car, Nora confesses she hasn't told her friends about the pregnancy, fearing judgment for being a mother at twenty, while Julian struggles with his possessive attachment to her. Later, a dinner at the Leston home proceeds smoothly, with Nora's parents Rosa and Gabriela serving a Colombian feast that contrasts sharply with Julian's violent world. He arranges for Nora to spend her Saturday birthday alone with her parents so she can enjoy normalcy without his presence. The domestic peace shatters when Julian checks his phone to find an email from Lucas Kent: Yulia Tzakova has escaped, reigniting the hunt and threatening to pull Nora back into danger.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-21"},{"n":22,"title":null,"summary":"Nora wakes from a violent nightmare in which the deceased Majid threatens her and her unborn baby, only to find comfort in Julian's arms. As they navigate her lingering trauma, Julian admits he scoped out the very park they visit today specifically to kidnap her two years ago, offering no apology. Their walk is punctuated by a moment of unexpected tenderness with a precocious toddler, offering a glimpse of the normal family life Nora dares to imagine. Despite Julian's continued possessiveness and armed security detail that imprisons her even as it protects her, Nora clings to the fragile hope that their life together might become the peaceful norm rather than the exception, closing on her wistful fantasy of raising their child with the man who once stole her freedom.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-22"},{"n":23,"title":null,"summary":"Julian wakes beside Nora on her twentieth birthday, gifting her a private morning of intimacy and a crescent diamond pendant that marks her as his. After breakfast with their housekeeper Rosa, he takes the pregnant Nora to a prix fixe dinner at an exclusive Chicago restaurant, where her probing questions about his past in the city stir jealousy and old obsessions. He reveals he met her in a nightclub two years prior and has wanted no one else since, while she confesses her longing for the freedom she lost before him. By evening, Julian plans a surprise night out at the very club where they met—a calculated risk given the threats from Al-Quadar—to give Nora a taste of the life she fears she'll never have, with Rosa joining them later. The chapter balances tender domesticity with simmering danger and possessive desire.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-23"},{"n":24,"title":null,"summary":"Nora spends a rare evening out with her husband Julian and their friend Rosa at a crowded Chicago nightclub, savoring the intimacy of a normal date despite the constant security detail. When Rosa vanishes near the restrooms, Nora discovers her discarded shoe and follows the trail to a back room where she finds her friend under attack. Drawing on combat training Julian taught her, Nora incapacitates one assailant, but a second attacker overpowers her, leaving her vulnerable as the chapter ends on a brutal cliffhanger. The scene balances the couple’s possessive, sensual connection with escalating danger, shifting from romantic tension to survival stakes.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-24"},{"n":25,"title":null,"summary":"Julian waits outside a crowded nightclub restroom while Nora uses the facilities, his protective instincts sharpened by the charged atmosphere of the dance floor. When a frantic text reveals that Rosa—another woman under his protection—has vanished, Julian’s unease escalates into alarm as his tracking app leads him past a body and into a back room where Nora fights for her life against a violent assailant. In a surge of lethal fury, Julian subdues the attacker, only to learn from a shaken Nora that a second man has abducted Rosa and fled toward a waiting car. Torn between securing the injured Nora and pursuing Rosa, Julian makes the split-second decision to chase the kidnapper alone, ordering Nora to hold her position and defend herself with his gun. The chapter ends on a knife-edge of suspense as Julian races into the night to rescue Rosa while Nora remains vulnerable and waiting.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-25"},{"n":26,"title":null,"summary":"Nora waits alone in a dim room after Julian departs to rescue Rosa from attackers, clutching a gun and battling nausea. She discovers blood on her skin and recognizes the dead assailant nearby, feeling a cold satisfaction at his death rather than horror. Her terror shifts to rage at the thought of Rosa suffering, then to primal fear when she realizes her pregnancy makes her vulnerable. As seconds stretch into agonizing minutes, Nora’s sanity frays—alternating between hope that Julian will return and dread that the rescue has failed. When the door finally creaks open, she raises the weapon, ready to fire at whoever enters, her body trembling between love for her unborn child and the instinct to protect her family at any cost.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-26"},{"n":27,"title":null,"summary":"Julian races from a nightclub into a rain-slicked alley, desperate to rescue Rosa after receiving a distress message. He spots her being dragged into a white SUV and sprints to intercept, catching her as the attacker shoves her toward him. Though the assailant escapes, Julian ensures Rosa's safety and carries the injured woman back to the club, where his wife Nora waits anxiously with a gun. Reunited, Nora's fierce protectiveness calms the traumatized Rosa, but Julian's own rage simmers beneath the surface, directed at the faceless attackers. As they prepare to flee to the hospital, Lucas tracks the getaway car while displaying an unexpected gentleness toward Rosa. The chapter closes on a tense note as Nora clutches her belly and turns pale, hinting at a devastating revelation that threatens to unravel everything.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-27"},{"n":28,"title":null,"summary":"Nora suffers a sudden, violent cramp that sends her collapsing into Julian's arms as they rush from a dark alley to the hospital in Lucas's car. Bleeding heavily, she fears she has lost the baby, and at the hospital Dr. Cobakis confirms the first-trimester miscarriage while assuring her the bleeding has stopped. Rosa, her friend who was assaulted at the club earlier, lies in the next room; she declines to press charges, and Julian insists on taking her home. Haunted by guilt, Nora believes the loss is her fault for insisting they go out, despite the doctor's statistical reassurance that most miscarriages are unavoidable. The chapter closes with Julian promising to take her home, their hands clasped amid the wreckage of her grief and the unresolved trauma of the night.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-28"},{"n":29,"title":null,"summary":"Julian brings his gravely injured wife Nora home from the hospital, battling overwhelming bloodlust to care for her bruised and unconscious body with tender precision. While tending to her wounds and tucking her into bed, he learns from his associate Lucas that their attackers are the Sullivan brothers—sons of a powerful Chicago crime boss—and that they have captured the family's teenage nephew Jimmy while holding Brian captive. With their child Rosa safely sedated elsewhere, Julian suppresses his urge for immediate vengeance, choosing instead to evacuate Nora and her parents to the estate before confronting the ruthless Sullivan clan, who will stop at nothing to protect their legacy of violence.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-29"},{"n":30,"title":null,"summary":"Nora wakes in physical pain to discover she has suffered a miscarriage following a violent attack at a club the night before. Her husband Julian reveals that the assailants were members of the Sullivan crime family and that he killed one of their sons in retaliation, making them targets for vengeance. With the police compromised, Julian insists that Nora’s parents, Tony and Gabriela, relocate with them immediately for protection, despite Tony’s furious objections and distrust of his son-in-law. Consumed by grief and guilt over losing the baby—and believing she manipulated Julian into the dangerous situation—Nora watches her parents reluctantly agree to a temporary stay. The chapter closes on the unresolved threat of mob retaliation and the family’s precarious new arrangement.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-30"},{"n":31,"title":null,"summary":"Julian is consumed by violent guilt after Nora’s assault at a nightclub, blaming his own indulgence for letting her out of his sight. To vent his rage, he abducts Jimmy Sullivan—the nephew of crime boss Patrick Sullivan and cousin to the attack’s architect, Sean—holding him in a soundproof van. Despite Jimmy’s terrified cooperation, revealing access codes and Sean’s haunts, Julian’s bloodlust only deepens; he murders the boy in cold blood, yet the killing leaves him emptier than before. Obsessed, he checks Nora’s tracking app and finds her still sequestered in Rosa’s room, too afraid to face her bloodied. As he retreats to work, a chilling email from his CIA contact Frank arrives, tightening the vise of dread around an already fractured psyche. The chapter closes on the unresolved tension of Nora’s safety and the ominous intelligence to come.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-31"},{"n":32,"title":null,"summary":"Nora nurses Rosa back to strength in her bedroom, offering tea and comfort as her friend reveals the horrific assault she suffered at the hands of the Sullivan brothers—a trauma that awakens Nora’s own grief over her lost baby and fuels a burning desire for vengeance. When Julian bursts in with urgent news that a survivor has sketched their faces for the local FBI, the danger escalates: the Sullivans are closing in. Julian orders Nora to evacuate her parents to the airport within the hour while he and Lucas stay behind to neutralize the threat. Though fear grips her at the thought of leaving him to face the killers alone, Nora swallows her protests, resolving to do whatever it takes to ensure they both survive the night.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-32"},{"n":33,"title":null,"summary":"Julian navigates a tense extraction of Nora and her parents from their home, coordinating a heavily armed convoy while managing the family's panic about sudden departure. At the Lestons' chaotic household, he clashes silently with Nora's father Tony over hospitality and control, then soothes Nora's grief from her recent miscarriage in the sanctuary of the limousine. As the motorcade pulls onto the highway toward a private airport, Julian's protective instincts sharpen when his driver Lucas reports a hostile tail closing fast. The chapter balances domestic friction with escalating external threat, ending on a cliffhanger as armed pursuers force an evasive acceleration, leaving the family's safety hanging in the balance.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-33"},{"n":34,"title":null,"summary":"Nora’s seemingly routine limo ride with her parents erupts into chaos when automatic gunfire rains down on their motorcade. Protected by Julian, a security operative who reveals a hidden arsenal beneath the limousine seat, Nora and her family are thrust into a high-speed battle against fifteen pursuit vehicles. As bullets shred the highway and an SUV explodes in their wake, Julian distributes bulletproof vests and weapons, forcing Nora to confront her fear and take up arms. The adrenaline-charged chase escalates when a police blockade suddenly appears dead ahead, trapping them between the pursuing attackers and an impenetrable roadblock. With the odds stacked against them, the chapter ends on a knife-edge, leaving Nora and her family racing toward an uncertain collision.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-34"},{"n":35,"title":null,"summary":"Julian faces a lethal ambush when SWAT-geared assailants in police cars block his armored limo, trapping him, Nora, and her parents on a high-speed highway. With nowhere to turn, driver Lucas rams the barricade at 120 miles per hour while Julian shields Nora with his body against the violent impact. Though bullets pepper the vehicle, Julian climbs through a roof hatch and turns the tide with heavy ordnance, systematically destroying a dozen of Sullivan's pursuing vehicles in a blazing exchange of fire. From terrified rage to grim focus, he fights to keep Nora alive, reducing the enemy convoy to three vehicles—only to spot a police helicopter approaching on the horizon. The chapter closes on a knife-edge: salvation or annihilation may arrive from the sky, leaving the survivors racing toward an uncertain fate.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-35"},{"n":36,"title":null,"summary":"Nora rides in an armored limo under siege during a high-speed chase, explosions rocking the highway as a hostile police helicopter and Sullivan's forces exchange gunfire with Julian and Lucas. When the vehicle is hit and Julian bleeds from a head wound, he forces Nora to flee with her shock-stricken parents toward a waiting plane at a private airport, sacrificing his position to ensure their escape. Racing through a hangar under fire, Nora frees her parents from seatbelts and shepherds them toward the aircraft while Julian and Lucas hold off attackers, eliminating four gunmen. Relief turns to dread when Nora turns back to urge Julian to join them and the wall beside the limo detonates, throwing both men into the air and leaving their fate uncertain.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-36"},{"n":37,"title":null,"summary":"Julian regains consciousness amid burning wreckage in a private hangar, disoriented and wounded, only to spot Nora—his charge—under fire from four armed assailants in tactical gear. With the limo ablaze and a police helicopter disabled nearby, the ambush has left them exposed. Grabbing machine guns from the vehicle’s stash, Julian charges into the firefight, his protective fury overriding his injuries as he and Nora systematically take down the attackers. He’s relieved to see Lucas alive nearby, though injured. After the final shot rings out and silence falls over the smoking tarmac, the chapter closes on the uneasy stillness—the immediate threat eliminated, but the larger confrontation with Sullivan’s forces still looming.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-37"},{"n":38,"title":null,"summary":"Nora survives a deadly hangar ambush alongside Julian, finding him bloodied but alive amid the chaos of the explosion. After capturing Patrick Sullivan and his son Sean—the man who assaulted Rosa—Nora witnesses Rosa execute her attacker while Julian kills the unconscious Patrick, permanently ending that threat. Flying home, Nora collapses from exhaustion and adrenaline crash, waking in their bedroom where Dr. Goldberg treats her wounds and confirms the devastating reality of her miscarriage. Overwhelmed by grief and guilt over the lost child, Nora breaks down in Julian's arms; for the first time, they share mutual devastation rather than conflict. Though she fears he blames her for the loss, their embrace becomes a lifeline, binding them closer as they confront the irreversible tragedy together.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-38"},{"n":39,"title":null,"summary":"Julian keeps vigil over Nora as she drifts into exhausted sleep, his body aching from forty-eight hours without rest following the night of her birthday. In the darkness, he confronts the devastating loss of their unborn child, a ten-week pregnancy ended too soon, and the crushing weight of survivor's guilt that threatens to swallow him whole. Memories of past losses—Maria, Beth, his parents—crash over him in a torrent of grief that he can no longer suppress. Though desire for Nora still simmers beneath the surface, tonight it is drowned by anguish. He clings to her warmth as the only anchor keeping him from the void of madness, but the stark finality of death leaves him with no absolution in sight.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-39"},{"n":40,"title":null,"summary":"Two weeks after returning to their compound, Nora learns from Julian that her parents may return to Oak Lawn under heavy security, the Sullivan crime family having been eliminated and the CIA convinced to look the other way. Haunted by guilt over her recent miscarriage, Nora expects her husband's wrath but instead finds him tender and protective, a kindness that unsettles her more than anger would. After an intense training session, she tells her parents they can leave, only to watch them choose to fly home the next morning, their fear of the armed compound outweighing its comforts. Later, Nora confesses to Rosa that the doctor who treated her, Sara Cobakis, is married to a man on Peter Sokolov's revenge list—a revelation that leaves Nora paralyzed by the knowledge that her earlier decision to send the list has made her complicit in a potential murder. The chapter closes on her unspoken dread that she will once again be responsible for bloodshed.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-40"},{"n":41,"title":null,"summary":"Julian Esguerra grows increasingly consumed by suspicion as he monitors his wife Nora's every move through a location-tracking app, sensing a growing distance between them since her recent miscarriage. During her parents' final evening at their home, he retreats to the library and secretly activates a hidden audio feed, eavesdropping as Gabriela and Tony Leston confront Nora about the violence she committed during a recent plane attack. While her parents lament that Julian has changed their daughter, Nora fiercely defends his lethal protection of her, confessing she killed as well. When Nora murmurs she would only leave unless he wants her to, Julian misreads her words as a desire for freedom, igniting a dark possessiveness that resolves into a chilling vow that she will remain his forever.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-41"},{"n":42,"title":null,"summary":"Nora returns from confessing her new life to her parents, relieved they accept her, but anxious about Julian's unexplained departure from dinner. Finding him in the darkened bedroom, she mistakes his shadow for danger before recognizing his predatory stance. Their confrontation escalates into a physical struggle where Julian overpowers her, leading to a volatile, possessive encounter that blurs punishment and passion. When Nora asks if he hates her for losing their baby, Julian reveals his anger stemmed from fearing she would leave him, not from blame. He confesses his love, and she reciprocates, their bond reaffirmed amid lingering grief. The next morning, as her parents depart by plane, the couple stands united, though unresolved threats—Peter's revenge plans, a doctor's involvement, and the possibility of another child—loom over their fragile peace.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-42"},{"n":43,"title":null,"summary":"Three years after their ordeal, Julian watches from the audience as his pregnant wife Nora Esguerra crosses the Stanford University stage to receive her diploma. The morning sun catches her glowing face as the president calls her name, the small but visible bump of their unborn daughter hidden beneath her graduation gown. Despite the joy of the moment, paranoia lingers—Julian’s hand drifts to the gun at his waist while Nora keeps her own weapon tucked in her purse, a habit formed after last year’s Paris art show. Surrounded by elite guards, they smile for the cameras, united in their fierce devotion. As Nora descends the stage and their eyes meet, Julian is overwhelmed by possessive love for his wife, vowing to protect their family until the end of time.","url":"https://books.mozaikallc.com/en/works/anna-zaires/hold-me#chapter-43"}]}}