Chapter 3:

VERA

“The earlier you confess, Ms. Vera, the better for you. I’m afraid all evidence points to you. There is no going back from this.” The officer’s words had been repeated a hundred times already, each repetition embedding itself into Vera’s mind, twisting her chest with dread. The words were like iron chains, binding and suffocating her, reminding her over and over that she had nowhere to hide.

“And I’m telling you, officer… I have no idea what these companies are. Fraud? Money laundering? I… I don’t even know what you are speaking of.” Vera’s voice trembled, raw and hoarse, her throat dry as sandpaper. Tears had long since dried on her cheeks, leaving streaks of salt and dust. Her body vibrated with numbness, every limb heavy and uncooperative. Her heart felt like it was being crushed from all sides. The day, the hours, the endless betrayals—it couldn’t have been worse. She didn’t know what to do or where to turn.

The officer’s pen scratched against the file. He didn’t look up. “Then explain how your name appears on all these documents, Ms. Vera. It says here you spent a total of 750 million dollars purchasing a company. When my colleagues went to the listed address, nothing was found. That is fraud, Ms. Vera. Misuse of company funds.”

Vera wanted to scream, but no sound came out. Her chest heaved with silent sobs. She felt invisible and unheard, as if the world had decided she didn’t matter. Yes, her name was on the papers, yes, her accounts and passwords were tied to them—but she had never authorized any of it. She had never even heard of these companies before. Seven hundred and fifty million dollars. Numbers so absurd they made her head spin. She had never been that rich. 

She tried to make him understand, her voice cracking with desperation. “I swear, officer, I never did this. I don’t know any of these companies. I never spent this money. It isn’t mine. Please… you have to believe me!”

The officer finally looked at her, his expression flat and almost clinical. He leaned back slightly and shrugged. “I’m working on the evidence, Vera. Nothing you say or do will get you out of this. The papers, the transfers, your accounts… they all point to you. Words won’t change that.”

“This is absurd. This is unfair.” Vera’s voice cracked as the words spilled out of her. “I was kidnapped for two years and six months. These frauds, these transactions, they happened during that time. I wasn’t even around when they happened, and now I’m the one being blamed?”

Her tears came again, hot and uncontrollable. Her chest felt tight, her head heavy. She knew if she stayed one more hour in this cold, dark room, she was going to collapse. The walls felt like they were closing in on her, stealing the little air she had left.

The officer only shrugged. “Who knows if you were really kidnapped, Ms. Vera? Maybe you disappeared on purpose. Maybe you were living comfortably wherever you were hiding, committing these crimes and planning to deny everything once you were caught. We’ve seen cases like this before.”

Vera gasped, the breath knocked right out of her lungs. She stared at him in disbelief, her hands shaking violently. She could not believe the words coming out of his mouth.

“How dare you?” she seethed, her voice rising, sharp and furious. “I withstood torture. Starvation. Pain. Fear.” Her chest heaved as she leaned forward. “And you sit there like some kind of god and tell me I orchestrated everything?”

She laughed bitterly, tears streaming freely now. “What about you, officer? Aren’t you just trying to pin all of this on me? Shouldn’t you be out there actually finding who did this instead of forcing lies down my throat?”

Her voice broke completely as the anger poured out of her. “God! I have had it up to here with humans today. Fuck all of you.”

“Sit back down, Vera.” The officer’s voice was sharp and cold.

Vera hadn’t even realized she had stood up. She let herself collapse back into her chair, her body trembling, exhausted and emotionally stripped bare. She felt hollow, as if someone had scooped out the last of her strength. How had she escaped one prison only to fall straight into another? Life felt like one cruel, endless joke.

“Do you want to get out of this?” the officer asked, his tone deceptively casual, like discussing the weather. Vera slowly lifted her eyes to him, her chest tightening with confusion and suspicion.

“What?” she whispered, voice trembling.

“You could leave this place, right now, Ms. Vera. As a free woman.”

Her heart skipped. She swallowed hard, licking her dry, cracked lips. “I don’t… I don’t understand,” she admitted, her voice barely a whisper.

The officer’s expression did not change. “All you have to do is say yes, Ms. Vera.”

“Yes… to what?” she asked, her voice breaking again, the fear and exhaustion leaking out in waves.

“Say yes to whatever we tell you to do.”

Vera shook her head, panic rising like a storm in her chest. “I can’t say yes to something I have no knowledge about.”

“But you want to leave here, right?”

She nodded slowly, her hands gripping the edge of the table, knuckles white.

“Then I suggest you listen very carefully,” he said, his voice low now, deliberate. “Because what we are about to offer you is your only way out.”

———-

“Ms. Vera. You have a visitor.” The officer’s voice was shaky and almost brittle, his words trembling as if he himself feared the name he had just spoken.

Vera’s chest tightened. Relief flitted briefly through her, but it was fleeting. All the warnings. All the threats. Everything she had been told by the other officer—the “only way out”—now weighed heavier than ever. She didn’t know if she should be terrified or hopeful.

“Who is it?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper, dry and cracking.

The reporting officer’s eyes darted nervously from her to his superior. His hands shook slightly as if he was struggling to hold himself together. A minute of understanding passing through them. The officer who had been questioning her rose from his chair abruptly. 

The chair scraped against the floor, falling backward in a loud clatter, but no one seemed to care. Papers were shoved into folders with a frantic, urgent speed, like a man trying to erase himself from a dangerous equation.

“Do not forget, Vera,” he said over his shoulder, his voice no longer steady “This is your only way out of this.”

And then he was gone.

Vera’s head swirled. She had no idea what that meant. She didn’t know why both men were so scared, so tense. Her stomach twisted with unease, but before she could ask another question, the door exploded open with a gust of cold air that rushed over her trembling body, raising goosebumps on her arms.

She lifted her eyes.

And there her visitor stood.

Even standing perfectly still, he filled the room. His presence was impossible to ignore, tall and commanding, almost suffocating in the way he occupied the space. Vera felt her stomach drop and her hands shake. Every instinct in her screamed at her to run, to hide, or to escape, but she could not tear her gaze away.

His eyes met hers for the first time, calm and assessing. A faint, almost imperceptible smile brushed his lips, but it carried no warmth. Only power. Only control.

“Orion Blackwood,” he said smoothly, his voice low and measured, yet it filled every corner of the room. “Nice to meet you.”

Vera froze. Her words lodged in her throat. The deep timbre of his voice made her heart slam hard against her ribs, like it wanted to escape. She pushed herself to stand, abrupt and shaky. At five foot seven, she barely reached his shoulder, and yet she felt as if the room itself had shrunk around him.

“I—“

Her words died on her lips as he stepped further into the light. His face was magnificent . Strong and Perfect. Something about it made her stomach twist and her knees threaten to buckle.

“You must be Vera Macthorn. I’ve heard a lot about you,” he said.

Vera’s pulse jumped. Heard a lot about me? How?

“You don’t worry about the how, Vera,” he said, his tone dry. Her lips parted in shock, realizing she had spoken her thought aloud. “You just worry about how you’re going to pay me for wiping your slate clean.”

“I—I don’t understand. Who are you?” she asked, voice trembling, a mixture of fear and disbelief threatening to overtake her.

“All in due time, Vera,” he said, the emphasis on her name sending shivers racing down her spine.

He studied her then, and she felt it, a quiet weight pressing down like a force she couldn’t resist.

 “I’m guessing you must be hungry. Shall we grab a bite?”

Even as he spoke, there was no smile, no softness, just soft command, and an unspoken promise that her life was about to change, whether she wanted it to or not.