**Elena**An aching sound hummed at the back of my skull, like a hammer striking metal over and over again. My eyes fluttered open.Blurry.The walls were up, but I was down. Everything was upside down… My body felt twisted, numb. The coldness beneath me wasn't unusual… the floor.Where… am I?Then I saw it. The rusted metal sheets, broken glass scattered everywhere, I was at a goddamn abandoned warehouse.“Good. You’re finally awake,” a voice came, his face looming above me, no, below…wait, no, I was the one upside down.Adolfo.A creepy smile formed on his face.My wrists ached, rope biting into my skin. The room smelled of dampness, sweat, and dried blood.My blood.My brain scrambled to connect the last memory.Water.. Slap..The dizziness. “You…” I spat at him, my saliva pouring right on his face. “Let me go, you bastard!”He flinched. Slowly, he wiped his face, his eyes narrowing, and then, he grinned. “Feisty,” he muttered, before grabbing the back of the chair and yanking i
**Elena**A cold breeze brushed across my face as my eyes fluttered open, aching like I’d been asleep for days. My head felt heavy, my thoughts swirling like fog.Where am I?And then it hit me… my mask.My hands shot up, but they didn’t move.What the…?I struggled, my wrists pulled tight behind me, tied to the back of a chair.Panic rushed through me like a shock.No. No.“Looking for this?” a deep voice interrupted my thoughts.My heart froze as he appeared, his face half covered. With my mask dangled between his fingers.God.His grin was sharp and cruel as he pulled the hood of his black hoodie lower before pushing it back so I could see him clearly.“Adolfo!” I screamed, my voice trembling.He just laughed… a cold, creepy sound that sent chills up my spine.My stomach twisted into knots as I jerked at the ropes, but they dug into my skin.It was of no use.“Why…” I gasped. “Why are you doing this?”He kept laughing like this was all some big joke.Was I a clown entertaining hi
**Elena**What do you mean I can’t come along, my king? The words burst out of me, louder than I intended. My chair scraped against the polished floor as I shot to my feet. My voice echoed across the dining hall.Xavier’s head snapped up. His eyes fixed on me like I’d crossed a line. I watched as his fist came down on the table with a loud thud, making the plates rattle.“You’ll obey me. And you will not talk back to me,” he said.His glare could have killed me in seconds.But damn it, I wasn’t going to sit there and take it.“Oh, don’t think you can scare me,” My hands balled into fists at my sides. My voice shook “I’ll come with you to the event. I’m your wife…for fuck’s sake!”A bitter laugh escaped his lips. “My wife in the eyes of the pack, Helena. Get that into your head. And like I said, it says family invites only.”Family invites? My blood boiled. My eyes darted across the hall, landing on Trisha. She sat there, acting all sweet and innocent, but I saw that smug little
**Elena**“He’s gonna come for me,” I whispered, pacing back and forth. My hands felt cold even though my face was burning.“He’s gonna come for me,” I repeated, heart pounding.“My queen, please,” Ivana’s voice broke in. “You’ve got to calm down. You have to think this through.”Calm down?I spun on her so fast my hair whipped across my face.“How do you expect me to do that, huh?” I snapped, my hands trembling. “When everything’s spun out of control?”Her lips parted as if to say something, then she closed them again.What could she say?Nothing could make this easier. Nothing could erase the knot of fear in my gut.“You don’t understand, Ivana,” I choked out. My eyes were already wet. “I’m scared I might not be able to save Lauren before it’s too late.”The words tasted bitter.That thought had been circling my mind since the incident.I glanced at the clock.8:45 PM.Time was slipping away.My hands moved before I could even think, gesturing at Ivana. “Put Nick on a call,” I told
**Elena**“Xavier!” I screamed as I watched his fist slam into Adolfo’s face.My heart jolted up into my throat.“What about his temper” ? The memory flickered in when Lauren had spoken about his temper..And here it was, exactly what she’d feared.I flew down the staircase, my hands gripping the railing so tightly my knuckles ached.Would Xavier lose himself completely?“Stop!” I called, my voice cracking as I rushed across the marble floor.The guards hovered nearby, tense but hesitant..they knew better than to jump in when Xavier was like this.Adolfo was smirking up at him, blood already trailing from the corner of his mouth, and that smug, innocent look on his face made my stomach twist.He wasn’t scared at all.And that scared me.“Please, stop,” I whispered as I grabbed Xavier’s arm, tugging him back.Before I could do more, a sharp voice cut through the air..“What’s going on here?”Aunt Lena.She appeared at the bottom of the stairs, her eyes flashing between Xavier and Adolf
**Elena**“What do you mean by a picture of me?” I asked to be sure I heard her correctly.But she didn't answer, just went on.“It was marked,” she said, fingers drawing shapes in the air like she could still see it. “Several red lines all over it. Maybe a pen, maybe a knife. It looked like someone stabbed it over and over.”My skin went cold.“You’ll have to run away,” she said, grabbing my hands as if to pull me somewhere, anywhere.“Look,” she whispered then, trembling as she showed me her eye.As though reminding me of the swelling, the blood clots in it. I already saw it.“I don't want something like this to happen to you”. She said as she grabbed my arm.And my chest felt tight “When did this happen?” I breathed.Her face crumpled.“Not long after I came back from the cemetery,” she sobbed.And then the rest came tumbling out.“I was drenched from the rain. I was just trying to get changed,” she said, her words quick and raw. “But then…it fell out of the closet. The picture.