Later that night, he found the key. It was hidden beneath a stack of forgotten cufflinks in the top drawer of his father’s study. It looked old. Brass. Slightly bent. He tried it in every lock he could find. None of them worked. Until he reached the cabinet under the old bookshelf. The one no one ever touched. The key slid in. Turned. And inside there were, papers, photos and a birth certificate issued in a different state. Name: Cazien M. Wolfe. Except the date was wrong. And the parents listed? Not Mrs. Wolfe. Not Mr. Wolfe. He stared at the paper until the lines blurred. And for the first time since waking up, he was afraid.********************* They wanted the world to believe I was crazy. I saw it first on a screen above a gas station. It was one of those muted news feeds that scroll between weather warnings and celebrity gossip. I was walking past the corner mart, one hand stuffed deep in my coat, the other clutched around a half-dead phone, whe
I should’ve known the building would turn against me too. Wolfe Tower used to feel like power. The scent of it was still in the polished marble floors, the brushed gold elevators, the sleek blue accents that ran like veins through the architecture. Every inch of that place had whispered prestige when I first walked in months ago, clutching my resume like a lifeline. Now it stood there like a vault I would never be allowed back inside. And still… I came. The morning air was thick with exhaust and the sting of distant rain. My clothes were wrinkled from sleep. My shoes barely fit anymore with the swelling in my ankle, but I wore them anyway. I needed to look like I belonged. As I pushed through the revolving doors, the rush of cold air wrapped around me. The scent hit me first - the sweet familiar scent of fresh citrus cleaner and perfume but all the warmth was gone. The woman at the reception desk didn’t look up at me the way Sasha used to. Her smile was default. Her posture
I’ll never forget how the cold hit me the moment the glass doors slid open. It was that kind of hospital cold like the air itself had been stripped of feeling. The type of cold that told you, you were just one body among thousands, and nobody would notice if you disappeared into it. I stumbled out onto the sidewalk, arms clutched tight across my chest, the robe barely doing anything against the wind that slapped across my cheeks. My bare feet hit pavement, rough and wet from an earlier drizzle. Every step was a punishment. The city around the hospital looked different than it did in daylight. It always did. The coffee carts were gone. The sidewalks were emptier. Lights blinked in distant towers like eyelids too tired to stay open. I ducked beneath the overhang, found the bench that curved beside a manicured planter, and sat down. The chill soaked through me instantly but I didn’t move. I couldn’t. I pulled my knees up and tucked them under the fabric. My skin was sticky wi
The hallway swallowed me completely. The first step past my door was like stepping off the edge of a cliff into a void. The lights overhead were fluorescent and too bright, casting pale rectangles across the floor like prison bars. My bare feet were cold against the tile, every touch sharp, every movement jarring. I pressed one hand against the wall for balance. My ankle throbbed, and my ribs pulled with every breath. The robe I wore gaped at the back, and my hospital gown flapped against my knees like something dead but, I didn't care. I had to find Cazien. I had to know if he was okay; so, I walked like a ghost barefoot, silent and unnoticed through the hospital. A nurse walked past pushing a cart of supplies. She didn’t look at me. No one did. At the end of the corridor, I saw a glowing sign above the elevator bay. I turned away from it, toward a small nurses’ station tucked beside a vending machine buzzing faintly. There were two nurses behind the desk. One was reading a cha
The air outside the Wolfe estate was sharp, cooler than expected, tinged with pine and distance. Like the house behind us had exhaled, and now the world was holding its breath. The wind cut sharper out here, away from the lights of the Wolfe estate. Trees crowded the road like they wanted to hide it. The path was narrow, curved, and long - leading nowhere familiar. I let it press against my skin, trying to shake the chill of Margot’s voice, the tap of her knife, the pressure of her finger between my shoulder blades like a threat disguised as etiquette. “Tell them not to follow us,” Cazien had said, back at the estate. The driver had looked confused, so, had the butler, but he made it clear - no security, no escort and no one else. “I’ll drive,” he said to me, already unlocking the passenger door. I had stared at him for a beat too long. He didn’t blink as his hand hovered at the keys. Something in his jaw said he needed to be in control of something tonight, so I nodded, si
The car ride was too quiet. This silence had a certain type of weight, like something sharp was sitting between us - unsheathed but untouched. Even the city outside seemed to sense it wasn’t welcome here tonight. The blur of lights, the pulse of traffic - it all moved around the Wolfe car like a current avoiding something too dangerous to touch.I sat beside Cazien in the backseat, both of us cushioned in leather that was too soft to be comforting, like we were being swaddled for sacrifice. My fingers curled tight around the edge of my coat, the thick wool bunching under my grip. I didn’t realize how hard I was holding it until I felt the strain in the seams. I didn’t let go.Cazien hadn’t said a word since we left the building; since his mother dropped her dinner invitation like a guillotine and walked out, offering no room for protest, only consequences. Her words were still echoing in the back of my skull, “Dinner. At the estate. Bring her… if you must.”Now, the sun was bleeding i