เข้าสู่ระบบ❁✿❀ It’s crazy how a traumatic experience from just a couple of months ago can already feel so distant, even though the memories still remain very vivid in your mind.Two months had passed since that nightmare basement, yet some mornings I woke up expecting the cold concrete under my back and the bite of ropes around my wrists. The memories didn’t fade, they sat clear like photographs I couldn’t put away but the feeling of it had started to loosen its grip, like a nightmare that still haunted my dreams but no longer owned my days. Life in its unpredictable ways had moved forward in small, stubborn steps. The mansion felt like home again instead of a place where monsters had once waited in the guest suite. Caroline was gone—arrested, charged, locked away somewhere I never asked to know about. Gage had made sure of that. Reyes too. The security breach Noah started had been contained, the company still standing, though the board meetings Gage attended now carried a heavier weight. A
I didn’t look back as I stepped into the hallway. The corridor felt longer than it had on the way here, the fluorescent lights too bright, and the beeping of monitors too loud. I reached the elevators and pressed the button, leaning against the wall for support as I waited. The doors slid open, and I stepped inside, the mirror reflecting a girl who looked pale and tired and still carrying the shadows of the basement in her eyes. But I was here. And that… that was something.When I came out Gage was already waiting for me in the lobby, just like he promised. His eyes found mine the second I stepped out, and the way he looked at me made the tears prick at my eyes again. Without any hesitation he crossed the space between us in a few quick strides, pulling me into his arms without a word. I let myself sink into him, breathing in the familiar scent of his cologne, and feeling the steady beat of his heart under my cheek.“Ready?” he asked softly, his hand stroking down my back.I nodde
For a moment we just stared at each other, the air thick with everything we hadn’t said in the basement. I stood there in my hospital gown, bare feet on the cold tile, feeling small and exposed all over again, but I didn’t look away this time. “Thea,” he let out, voice rough and surprised, like he hadn’t expected me to come. “You… you shouldn’t be up yet. You look like hell.” A weak, bitter laugh slipped out of me before I could stop it. “Yeah, well, a couple of days in a basement will do that to a girl.” I took another step closer, my legs trembling but holding. “I just… I needed to see you. To say thank you.” Noah’s brow furrowed, confusion flashing across his bruised face. “For what?” I swallowed, the words feeling heavy on my tongue. “Gage said that you were the reason—” “You know that’s not why you’re here,” he cut in, voice low as he shifted against the pillows, wincing as he did, but his eyes never left mine. I sighed, the sound long and exhausted, and let the air leav
The next day the crushing weakness that was pinning me down was gone, replaced by a dull, manageable ache in my muscles and a quiet emptiness in my stomach that no longer felt like it was eating me alive. Someone — nurses, probably, while I slept — had hooked me up to another IV, and the steady drip of fluids had worked its magic. My throat also no longer burned like sandpaper and I could actually move my fingers without them trembling like they belonged to someone else. I turned my head slowly on the pillow and there he was. Gage. Still in the same chair, still holding my hand like he hadn’t moved an inch since I drifted off. His eyes were closed, dark circles heavy underneath them, but his thumb kept tracing those slow, soothing circles on the back of my hand even in his sleep. Then he stirred when I squeezed his hand, his eyes fluttering open. For a second he looked lost, but then his gaze found mine and the tension in his face melted into a familiar softness. “You’re awake
THEA°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:・ I woke up to the soft beep of machines and the faint smell of antiseptic. My eyelids felt heavy, like they’d been glued shut for days, but I forced them open anyway. Every part of my hurt, my wrists were bandaged, my throat raw, my body weak and heavy like it belonged to someone else. But none of that mattered the second my eyes found him.He was right there beside the bed, sitting in a chair pulled so close his knees touched the mattress. His head was bowed, dark hair falling forward, and my hand was clasped between both of his in a prayer-like way. His lips stayed pressed against my knuckles like he was trying to breathe life back into me through that single point of contact. He looked exhausted with shadows under his eyes, jaw tight, with the same charcoal sweater he’d been wearing when he left me with Caroline now wrinkled and stained with something dark I didn’t want to think about.I don’t remember what happened. I don’t remember when I passed out. The last
God, I hate him. He then straightened his shoulders, the mask sliding back into place like it had never cracked, and said in that same cold, measured tone that always made my blood boil, “Wear your clothes. You’re taking me to her.” “I said I don’t know where the fuck she is,” I snarled, stepping closer until I was right in his face, close enough to smell that fucking sandalwood cologne that still clung to Thea’s things like a brand. “You think I’m hiding her somewhere?” He didn’t move. Didn’t step back. Didn’t raise his voice again. He just looked at me, then exhaled, a long, controlled sigh through his nose—and said in that same infuriatingly calm tone, “Then call Caroline. I’ll have someone track the call. Thea is in trouble and I’d rather not have you make another mistake that you’re going to blame on me.” And with that he turned and walked out of the room, the door closing behind him with a click. I sank back onto the edge of the bed, head in my good hand, the pain in
Mrs. Harlan paused.The room seemed to hold its breath with her.“Maybe,” she said finally after a while. “But it’s still only a maybe.”She let the word settle between us, simple and unadorned. No attempt to reassure or defend or explain him away.Just… acknowledgment. That doubt was allowed. T
THEA ⋆✴︎˚。⋆ .☘︎ ݁˖⋆⭒˚.⋆ I didn’t know how to feel. Last night had been a whirlwind of forced reconciliation, the kind where you swallow your pride and your hurt because holding onto it feels heavier than letting go. Mia had cried, swearing up and down that she hadn’t meant to tell Amelia, tha
NOAH ❁✿❀ I pushed open the door to Thea’s bedroom with the heel of my hand, the familiar creak of the hinges sounding louder than it should. The room still smelled faintly of her citrus perfume mixed with the candles she used to burn when she studied late. The morning light slanted through t
MIAI sat on the familiar beige couch in Dr. Harlan’s office, the one with the slight dip in the middle from all the people who’d sat here before me. The room smelled like old books, the kind of scent that was supposed to calm you down but mostly just reminded me I was in therapy. I’d been coming







