Chapter SevenMikaela:I heard a soft knock, then checked through the peephole. It was Samuel, Ethanâs personal driver for years. Trusted. Quiet.I opened the door just slightly.He held a first-aid box, a food pack, and a black bag. âBoss said to bring this and wait.ââWait?â I raised a brow.âIn case you need to leave,â he continued. âHe booked a safer hotel on the outskirts. No cameras. Third floor. Cash paid. Clean.âI nodded and opened the door fully.He walked in quietly, set the bags on the table, and walked back outside.I cleaned the wound on my shoulder, biting into a towel to stop from screaming. Samantha didnât wake up. She was exhausted.I changed into fresh clothes I found at the motel closet. A black long-sleeve and jeans. Light, easy to move in. Then I opened the food pack and ate. Slowly. Every bite felt like I was chewing stone, but I needed strength.Ethan called again. âYouâre moving to the new hotel. Samuel knows the way.ââI canât risk switching rooms yet. I need
Chapter SixMikaela:The womanâs voice was low, but commanding. She wasnât yelling, which meant she had done this before. She wasnât afraid. She was cold. Calculated. And just below.My hands gripped the edges of the vent but I fell back down inside. I fucking failed. I pulled myself together quickly, my back pressed against the wall just under the vent. I could hear the footsteps fading, orders being given. Keys. Samatnthaâs little footsteps above.If I didnât get out of here now, theyâd pin me in like a lab rat. I was either going to die or crawl through that damn vent with one arm and just rage.I reached up again. My arm trembled, but I didnât stop. I got one elbow into the frame, then the next. This time, I didnât slip. This time, I did ot give the woman a chance to pull me down. I folded my knees up tightly. By the time I got through, my shirt was shredded, but I was out. Out into the night.Samantha rushed over, trying to pull me further away from the vent.âCome on, come on,
Chapter FiveMikaela:For a full minute, I couldnât move. I couldn't even exhale. I just stared at this⌠girl, this ghost of Samantha Abrams.I buried her. I buried her. I buried her.They let me stand over a casket. Cry. Mourn. Collapse. They showed me the body and watched me crumble.What the fuck did they bury? What the fuck did I cry on?âYouâre lying,â I whispered, but I didn't even believe myself.Samanthaâs head slowly turned toward me. âNo.âThe ache in my chest broke wide open.I crawled towards her, my hands shaking.The blood from my shoulder soaked through my sleeve. My body didnât care. Pain didnât matter anymore. Not when my daughter, the one I thought I lost, was sitting in front of me, looking like what's left of Samantha. Only skeleton.I reached for her. She flinched.âDonât,â she whispered. âThey said if I talk, theyâll take my eyes.âI pulled my hands back slowly. âNo oneâs taking anything else from you ever again.âA sound echoed from the corridor. Fast footsteps,
Chapter FourMikaela:I didnât just scream. I tore instead. I couldn't take this anymore. I was tired of proving tough and unbreakable.And their mission was to break me? Well, they got it.It wasnât fear. It wasn't a weakness.It was rage. Hot, boiling, endless rage. Like a volcano erupted in my chest, struggling to burst out.The kind of volcano you donât cry through. The kind that makes your skin itch to be peeled off. The kind that comes when everything you ever trusted flips on you like a fucking backstabber in a mask.I trusted the detective. Now who else was left to betray me? Ethan?I just knew there were still loyal people out there but the Blacks always made sure to either get me to meet the evil ones or they'd bribe the good ones to get on their side. Or maybe threaten them.I screamed until the sound of it didnât even sound like it belonged to me anymore. It didn't sound like it was coming out of my throat anymore.I stopped.Not because I was calm.But because my chest hu
Chapter ThreeMikaela:I stared at the screen long after it went black. Kevin.Bloody. Beaten. Chained. Alive.He was supposed to be in jail. Or maybe that was jail?And he said not to trust the one person I had given everything to. The one person who had promised to protect my daughter.The detective.I staggered back, my legs hitting the chair behind me. I didnât sit. I couldnât. My mind was spiraling too fast for my body to catch up.This couldnât be real. No. It had to be a manipulation tactic. A lie. A trick to make me panic. Right?Right?!!But there was something in Kevinâs voice. Something I recognized.That wasnât a setup. That was a man who had nothing left but the truth. A man who had been forced to watch everything we were doing from jail.And that scared me more than anything else.The door opened behind me and I turned around immediately, eyes blazing.It wasnât the man from earlier.It was a boy.Young. Probably not older than fifteen. He had shaky hands. His eyes were
Chapter TwoMikaela:The car came to a halt in the middle of what felt like nowhere. I could hear the crickets screaming. There were no lights. No buildings. Just trees, cold air, and the sound of my heart threatening to break through my chest.The driver got out. Walked around. Yanked the door open. Still no words. He tied a blindfold around my face, tight enough to remind me who was in charge. Then I felt the cold steel of a gun press against my back."Walk."I walked.Leaves crunched beneath my feet. The ground was uneven. Sloped. A door creaked open somewhere in the distance. Then more silence. Then a hand on my shoulder, pushing me down a set of stairs.Underground.Basement.I was being buried alive in advance.A single room. Concrete walls. Metal chair. Camera in the corner.And him.He wasnât masked. He didnât need to be. Power made people bold.Gray hair. Scar on his left cheek. He smiled like I was his favorite thing to watch."Youâve grown up well," he said.I didnât speak.