Chapter 2: Emily dies

The water was so cold. It burned my lungs. I coughed and choked. I tried to sink again. But strong arms pulled me up.

“Stop fighting!” a deep voice said.

I blinked. My eyes were wet with tears and water. A man held me. His jacket felt rough under my fingers. He smelled of leather and smoke. His hold was hard, not kind.

“Let me go,” I whispered. My voice shook. “Please… let me go.”

“Not tonight,” the man said. “You are not dying here.”

My head felt dizzy. My hair was wet. “I don’t… I don’t even know you—”

“You don’t need to know me,” he said. “My name is Jaxon. Now be quiet and breathe.”

I coughed again. I shook in his arms. “Why… why save me?”

“Because he told me to.”

My wet eyes opened wide. “H-he?”

I heard footsteps. They were calm and steady. Another man came from the dark. He was taller. His suit was very clean for this place. His eyes were a cold, steel blue. They froze me where I sat.

Jaxon stood up straighter. “Boss. She is alive.”

The man in the suit did not blink. He looked at my face like I was a thing to look at.

I shook under his look. “W-who are you?”

“Victor Blackwood,” he said. His voice was calm.

The name meant nothing to me. But everything about him said danger.

Victor came closer. He saw the blood on my head. I hit it on the bridge. “You are bleeding. Your face will scar if we don’t fix it.”

I touched my face. It hurt. “I… I don’t care. Just let me go. Please.”

Victor bent down. His eyes were level with mine. “No.”

My mouth opened. “No? You don’t even know me!”

Victor tilted his head a little. “Then tell me.”

I froze. I held myself tighter. “W-what?”

“Your name,” Victor said. “If I am to pick your life, I want to hear it from you.”

My voice shook. “Why does it matter?”

“Because names have power,” he said. “I need to know the one you tried to throw away tonight.”

I swallowed. My throat was dry. My lips shook before the sound came out. “E… Emily.”

Victor’s look got sharper. “Emily what?”

I waited. I looked at the ground. “Emily Hart.”

He said it again, slow. “Emily Hart.” Then he leaned in closer. “And why, Emily Hart, did you want to throw that name away?”

My throat felt tight. I looked away. I felt shame. “You don’t get it.”

“I do.” His voice got hard. “You are nothing now. Weak. Bleeding. Easy to throw away. But I can change that. I can fix that face. Fix that fear in your eyes. I can make sure no one laughs at you again.”

I shook my head fast. “Why? Why would you do that for me?”

Victor’s eyes got narrow. “Because I see something. You think you are worth nothing. But you are not. You are a weapon. And I make weapons.”

Jaxon moved. He did not look happy. “Boss, she is just a —”

“Quiet,” Victor said. He did not look away from me.

I held myself. My voice was small. “I… I don’t trust you. I don’t even know you. You talk like—like a bad man.”

Victor’s lips moved. It was not a smile. “Good. You are not dumb. Yes, I am dangerous. Yes, I take what I want. And now, I want you alive. Not as Emily Hart, broken and crying. But as something new.”

My breath caught. “Something new?”

“You can die as Emily Hart,” Victor said, slow. “Or you can live as someone new. A girl with a new face, a new name. Someone no one dares to touch.”

My eyes filled with tears again. “I… I don’t know… I’m scared.”

“You should be.” His voice was like steel. “This choice is not easy. If you say yes, Emily Hart is gone for good.”

I turned my head away. “I don’t want to be gone…”

Victor leaned closer. His voice got softer. “You already are. They killed Emily Hart when they laughed at you. When they threw your heart away. That girl drowned before you hit the water. What is left is your anger. Your pain. That is what I can use.”

I cried softly. My hands shook. “You talk like you know me. But what if… if I say no?”

Victor’s look got hard. “Then Jaxon puts you back on that bridge. You can finish what you started.”

My breath caught. I looked at Jaxon. He did not move. He just looked back. His face showed nothing.

My voice broke. “I… I don’t want to die.”

Victor’s eyebrow went up. His voice was sharp. “Strange. Were you not about to jump off a bridge?”

My throat closed. My eyes filled. “Not weren’t… I did. And your man jumped in after me.”

Victor looked at Jaxon, then back at me. “So you wanted death, but you got me instead.”

I shook my head. I was so cold. “I thought I did… I thought I wanted the water to take me. But now—”

“But now you are afraid,” Victor cut in. His voice was calm. It had no mercy. “Afraid because you saw that death does not wait with open arms. It pulls you down. It chokes you. It burns your lungs. And it is not so nice anymore, is it?”

My lips trembled. “No… it’s not…”

“Good,” Victor said. His eyes glinted. “Fear of death makes you hold on to life. And that fear, Emily Hart, is what I will use to build you again. So now, pick. Live as Scarlett Blackwood. Not forgotten. A storm. My storm.”

I froze. My heart beat hard. “Scarlett…?”

“Yes. Scarlett.” Victor stood up. His shadow was big over me. “I will pay to make every scar go away. Every bruise will fade. But know this. If I give you this, you will belong to me.”

My lips shook. “Belong…?”

“Every breath. Every step. You will owe me.” His words cut like a knife. “Say it now. Or I will walk away.”

My eyes fluttered. Water fell from my chin. I swallowed hard. My chest was tight. “If… if I am Scarlett now… does that mean you will forget Emily Hart?”

Victor’s eyes stayed on me. “Emily Hart never was. Not anymore. Scarlett will never cry on a bridge again.”

My lips quivered. “And you will… keep me safe?”

“No,” Victor said, cold. “I will shape you. Keeping safe is for the weak. You will keep yourself safe.”

Jaxon moved again. He spoke low. “Boss, you are scaring her.”

“She should be scared,” Victor snapped. “Fear is what makes you sharp.”

I let out a shaky breath. “But… I don’t know how to be Scarlett.”

Victor leaned in close. His voice was a whisper in my ear. “You will learn. Under me, you will learn all of it. How to walk. How to talk. How to make the world bow, not laugh. But only if you say yes.”

My fingers curled in my wet dress. “And if I can’t…?”

“Then you die.”

I looked at the dark water. I felt the cold on my skin. I felt the hurt in my heart. I was nothing. I was no one.

But he saw something.

I looked up at Victor. My voice was a whisper.

“Yes.”