With Him

CHAPTER THREE — Scarlett POV

For a moment, nobody moved.

The silence in the hall after he said those words felt heavy, like the air itself had been pressed down on everyone’s shoulders.

I could still feel the shock in my body and my stepmother was still holding my arm, but her grip had loosened slightly.

Ryan Carter stood a few steps away from us, likenone of this was difficult for him.

My stepmother was the first to recover, her  face twisted with irritation as she looked at him properly for the first time.

She did not look impressed, she did not look afraid either, she looked  like she had been offended.

“This is a family discussion,” she said sharply. “You are interfering where you do not belong.”

Her voice carried across the hall, bouncing off the walls.

People were still watching, still frozen in place, but she seemed to have forgotten they were there.

Ryan did not react immediately.

He simply looked at her with a calm observation, like he was trying to understand something that made no sense.

Then he spoke. “If a family discussion involves violence and force,” he said evenly, “then it is my honor to be invited.”

The words landed heavily, a few oeople seems to be enjoying the show...

My stepmother narrowed her eyes. “You have no idea what is going on here,” she snapped. “This is between family and we do not invite anyone to tell us what to do... Yoi can just join everyone and watch the show"

I flinched at the word familyc It never sounded like something I belonged to when she said it.

Ryan’s gaze moved past her and straight to me and  suddenly the entire place  felt quieter, like  everything else had faded.

His voice was lower now, he was looking at me now “Do you want to go with them?”

The question hit me harder than anything else that had happened today, it It was so simple, so  direct but  had never asked me about my decision becore, when they decided my contract., not when they arranged my future, nor  when they planned to send me to that Alpha. People always decided for me, alway  spoke over me but  now.

Now someone was waiting for my answer.

My throat tightened, my  hands were still shaking.

I looked at my stepmother, I looked at my stepsister, they were trying to win me to me, but no.

Then I looked back at Ryan.

Something in my chest broke open.“No,” I said.

My voice was low at first.

But it became firmer the second time.

“No, I don’t want to go with them”

The room went completely still again.

Ryan nodded once, just  once, like  that was all he needed.

Then he turned slightly and looked toward the guards standing nearby.

His voice changed.“Take them away.”

For a second, nothing happened.

My stepmother stared at him in disbelief.

“You cannot order us around,” she said, her voice rising. “Do you even know who we are?”

Ryan did not respond, he  simply held the guards’ gaze, that  was enough.They moved.

The moment they stepped forward, everything changed.

My stepmother tried to pull me again with them, but the guards separated us immediately.

Her expression twisted.

My stepsister’s confidence cracked.“This is a mistake,” she said quickly. “You are going to regret this.”

Nobody listened.

As they were pulled toward the exit, my stepmother turned her head sharply toward me.

Her eyes burned with anger.

“This is not over,” she said.

My body went cold.

“You think you can just disappear?”

My stepsister added quickly, her voice sharper now.

“You always come back.”

The guards continued moving them, their voices faded as the doors opened and closed behind them and then there was nothing.

Like the room did not know what to do now that they were gone.

Slowly, people began to leave.

My legs felt weak, everything inside me felt exhausted at once.

The fear, the  shame, the  anger, the relief.

It all mixed together until I could not separate anything anymore.

I wiped my face quickly.

I hated crying.i  hated being seen like this but  my body was no longer listening to me.

Footsteps approached again.

I turned slowly.

Ryan was standing there, he was closed  now.

The noise in my head quieted the moment I saw him.

For a moment, neither of us spoke.

Then he asked a simple question. “Do you have somewhere to go?”

The question should have been easy.

But it wasn’t, because the truth was that, I had nowhere.

No home I could return to, no place that felt safe.

No future waiting for me anywhere.

Just an empty path I did not want to walk back into.

I lowered my gaze.

And shook my head. “No.”

Ryan studied me for a moment.

Then he nodded again.“Follow me.”

I blinked.

My voice barely came out.“What?”

His expression did not change.

“I will take you somewhere safe.”

Safe.

I hesitated, my body wanted to refuse, my  mind wanted answers.

But my life had already been decided for me too many times.

This time, I chose differently.

I picked up my bag slowly.

Ryan had already started walking.

He did not look back immediately.

But after a few steps, he stopped.

And waited for me.