Chapter Ten

Kia

The ride to the mountain estate felt longer than it should have, like the road itself was stretching just to keep me trapped in it. No one spoke to me. 

Liam sat on one side, Kratavak on the other, and Ryder in the front like he couldn’t care less what I was thinking or feeling. 

I kept staring out the window anyway, even though all I saw were endless trees and cliffs and the kind of isolation that makes you feel like the world forgot you exist.

When the gates finally opened, I knew instantly this place wasn’t just another house. It was bigger, colder, more controlled. A full mansion carved into the mountain itself, stone walls rising like it was built to hold something in rather than welcome anyone. The air even felt different here, thinner somehow, like I was already running out of space to breathe.

“Get out,” Ryder said simply when the car stopped.

I hesitated, my fingers gripping the seat because for a second I really didn’t want to move. Liam reached over and pulled the door open, his patience already gone. “Don’t make this harder than it is,” he muttered.

“I didn’t choose this,” I said under my breath, stepping out anyway.

“No one asked you to,” Kratavak replied, almost bored as he followed behind me.

The moment my feet touched the ground, two guards moved in without a word, flanking me like I was already something contained. I looked up at the mansion again, its windows tall and dark, and something in my chest tightened because it felt less like a home and more like a lock.

Inside, everything was too clean, too quiet. The halls echoed in a way that made every step feel loud. They didn’t take me to a room I knew. Instead, they brought me down a corridor I hadn’t seen before and stopped at a heavy door at the end.

“This is it,” Ryder said from behind me.

I turned slightly. “This is what?”

“Your new room,” Liam answered flatly.

My stomach dropped. “No, I’m not staying here.”

Kratavak stepped forward and pushed the door open anyway. “You are.”

I tried to step back but a hand caught my arm and forced me forward. I stumbled inside and the door shut behind me immediately with a heavy click that made my whole body go still.

The room was bigger than the one at the manor but it didn’t feel like an upgrade. It felt like distance. Like they had intentionally placed me far away from everything. The windows were high again, almost unreachable, and when I looked closer I saw the locks on the outside.

They were serious.

“No,” I whispered, walking back to the door. “Open it. This is insane, you can’t just move me like this.”

That silence did something worse than yelling. It made it real.

My chest started tightening and I turned around quickly, scanning the room like maybe I had missed an exit, something, anything. But there was nothing. Just walls and space and the reality of being shut in.

And then it hit me.

My necklace.

My hand went to my neck automatically and there was nothing there. Nothing.

“No… no, no,” I said, backing up slowly. “Where is it?”

I spun around again, checking the floor, the bed, even my clothes like maybe it had fallen somewhere, but it wasn’t there.

That necklace was all I had left of my mother. The only thing she gave me that wasn’t taken or destroyed or turned into some memory I wasn’t allowed to keep properly.

My breath broke. “I had it.”

I rushed back to the door and started banging again, harder this time. “Hey! Someone open this! I left something! My necklace, I need it back!”

Still nothing.

My voice cracked. “Please, it’s important. It’s all I have left.”

Minutes passed or maybe seconds, I couldn’t tell anymore because everything started blending together. I slid down the door slowly, my hands still pressed against it like maybe if I held on long enough, it would open.

It didn’t.

“Please,” I whispered again, quieter now. “Just give it back.”

No answer came.

My throat tightened and suddenly I was angry again, not just sad, just completely overwhelmed. I stood up and kicked the door once, then again, then I started hitting it with my fists even though it hurt and didn’t change anything.

“You can’t just take everything from me,” I shouted. “You can’t just take everything and act like I’m nothing!”

My voice echoed through the room but there was no reaction from outside.

I kept going anyway, pacing, throwing things I could reach, pulling at the bed sheets, anything to make the feeling stop because it was too much. My chest hurt. My head hurt. Everything felt too tight.

Eventually my body just gave out and I stopped moving.

My breathing slowed even though I didn’t want it to. My legs felt heavy and I sank onto the floor again, leaning against the wall.

“I hate this,” I whispered to no one.

My eyes stayed open for a while, staring at nothing, and I kept thinking about the necklace, about my mother, about how easily it had been taken without anyone even bothering to explain.