One

CHAPTER ONE

ESTELL

I stood beside my luggage, checking my phone for the time while waiting for my sister.

We needed to leave as soon as possible. With the situation getting worse by the hour, I didn’t want to risk getting stuck in traffic or arriving at the Haven when the admission process had become even more chaotic.

My phone suddenly rang.

I glanced at the screen and immediately hissed.

Asher. Again?

This was probably his fifth call in two days.

I had ignored his previous calls, blocked one of his numbers, and even told him to stop contacting me. Yet he kept finding ways to reach me.

I reluctantly answered. “What is it this time, Asher?”

“Estell, please. Just listen to me.”

I shut my eyes briefly. “Don’t tell me you’re still on this.”

“Your sister and your boyfriend are together. How many times do I have to tell you before you believe me?”

I let out a dry laugh. “Listen to yourself, Asher. You’re so bitter about Audrey leaving you that you’ve decided to destroy my relationship too. Do you even hear how ridiculous you sound?”

“I’m not trying to destroy your relationship. I’m trying to save you from making the same mistake I made!”

“Well, I don’t need saving.”

“Ask Thorne where he was last night.”

I paused. “What?”

“Ask him where he spent last night. Ask him why he keeps making excuses whenever you want to see him. Ask him-”

“Enough!”

My voice came out sharper than I intended.

“You’re making a mistake. That man-”

I ended the call. I was tired of his nonsense.

For a moment, I stood there staring at my phone.

Asher was becoming unbearable.

I understood that he was hurt by his breakup with Audrey, but that didn’t give him the right to drag me into whatever bitterness he was carrying.

Audrey was my sister. We had been through enough together, and I trusted her.

As for Thorne, he had been nothing but good to me.

I lowered my phone and turned around.

Audrey was already standing a few steps away, waiting beside the car with her arms folded.

“Who was that?” she asked.

I slipped my phone into my handbag. “Nobody. Just someone disturbing me.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Someone?”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s nothing.”

I didn’t want to mention Asher. The last thing I wanted was to remind her of the man she had broken up with, especially when we had more important things to worry about.

Audrey shrugged.

“Alright. Are you done? We should get going.”

“Yes.”

She helped me put my luggage in the trunk, and we got into the car.

As we drove away, I glanced at the city through the window, wondering what awaited us at the Haven.

-//

By the time we arrived at the Haven, the sun was already beginning to set.

I stared through the windshield.

The facility was enormous, surrounded by high concrete walls and multiple security towers. Military vehicles were stationed around the entrance, while armed soldiers controlled the thousands of people gathered outside.

Some were crying. Others were arguing with security personnel. A few people were even on their knees, begging to be allowed inside.

My stomach tightened.

“There’s so much crowd,” I muttered.

Audrey parked the car in the designated area. “That’s why we need to hurry.”

We collected our bags and joined the admission queue.

Several soldiers were stationed at the entrance, checking identification cards, scanning fingerprints and confirming names against the official registration database.

Nobody was allowed to enter without verification.

I wasn’t worried.

Thorne had promised to register me and I also begged him to register my sister. 

After waiting for almost forty minutes, Audrey and I finally reached the front.

“Identification,” one of the officers demanded.

Audrey handed hers over.

The officer checked her details before asking her to place her finger on the scanner.

A green light flashed.

ACCESS APPROVED.

“You’re cleared. Proceed inside.”

Audrey picked up her belongings and stepped through the entrance.

I smiled at her. “Wait for me inside.”

She nodded.

I moved forward and handed my identification card to the officer.

“Fingerprint.”

I placed my finger on the scanner.

A red light flashed.

ACCESS DENIED.

I frowned.

The officer looked at his screen. “Your registration isn’t showing.”

“That’s impossible.”

He tried again.

The same red warning appeared. “Ma’am, your name isn’t on the admission list.”

I stared at him. “Can you please check again? My boyfriend registered me. He’s part of the security team here.”

“I’m sorry, but the system is showing that you’re not registered.”

“There must be a mistake.”

I turned towards the entrance, looking for Audrey.

She had already walked a few steps inside, but when she noticed I wasn’t following, she turned around.

“Estell? What’s wrong?”

“The scanner isn’t allowing me in.”

She looked confused. “What?”

“My registration isn’t showing.”

Before she could respond, I heard a familiar voice behind me.

“What’s going on here?”

I turned so quickly that relief washed over me.

“Thorne! My boyfriend”

He walked towards us in his security uniform, his expression unreadable.

I immediately approached him. “Darling, I am glad you are here. It’s not allowing me to enter. Can you tell him to do that again?”

Instead, he looked at the officer, then slowly turned his attention towards me. "He's right. You're not registered."

I frowned, thinking he hadn't understood what I was saying. "What do you mean? I know my name isn't showing, but that's why I'm asking you to help me. You registered me, remember?"

"I didn't."

I laughed nervously. "Thorne, please. This isn't the time for jokes."

"Who said I was joking?"

His expression remained cold, and something about the way he was looking at me made my smile disappear.

"Thorne, what are you saying?"

He slipped his hands into his pockets and looked at me as though I were someone he had never met.

"Yes, I didn't register you. So what?"

My lips parted. "What?"

"You heard me, Estell. I deliberately left your name out of the admission list. I never intended to bring you here."

For several seconds, I couldn't say anything. I simply stared at him, waiting for him to laugh or tell me there was some misunderstanding, but he looked completely serious.

"Why would you do that?" I finally managed to ask. "Thorne, you knew we were coming here. You knew I was depending on you. You promised me that we would enter the Haven together!"

He chuckled. "And you actually believed that?"

I shook my head, feeling my chest tighten. "What does that mean?"

"It means exactly what I've been telling you. I never registered you because I never wanted you here in the first place. Did you honestly think I was going to waste one of the limited spaces on you?"

I looked at him in disbelief. "But I'm your girlfriend."

That made him laugh even harder. "Your girlfriend? Estell, do you still believe we're in a relationship?"

I felt my eyes burn. "Thorne..."

"Let me make something clear to you. I never loved you. Not once. I only started dating you because I wanted to get close to your sister. Audrey was the woman I wanted, but she was your sister, and I knew getting close to her through you would be much easier. So I played along, pretended to love you, took you on dates, listened to your problems and made you believe you were important to me. All of it was an act."

I felt as though the ground beneath me had disappeared.

I remembered the first time he told me he loved me, the nights we spent talking, the promises he made about our future and how he always assured me that he would never hurt me. I had believed every word because I never imagined that someone could deliberately spend so much time pretending to love another person.

"You... you were using me?"

"Finally, you're beginning to understand."

I shook my head, tears gathering in my eyes. "Why? What did I ever do to you?"

"Nothing. You were simply convenient."

I looked at him, unable to believe how easily he said those words.

Before I could respond, I heard Audrey's voice. "There's no point hiding anything from her anymore, Thorne."

I turned towards her.

She had been standing a short distance away, watching everything without showing the slightest concern. Now, she walked towards us, and instead of standing beside me, she moved directly to Thorne's side.

He immediately wrapped an arm around her waist.

I stared at them. "Audrey?"

She looked at me, then deliberately leaned against Thorne.

"Yes, Estell. We're together. Thorne is mine, and he has always been the man I wanted."

I felt my throat tighten. "How could you?"

She gave a small laugh. "Oh, please. Don't start crying as though someone has hurt  you. You should have seen this coming."

"You're my sister!" I cried. "How could you do this to me? You knew I loved him. You knew everything about our relationship because I told you everything. I trusted you!"

"And that was your problem. You trusted too easily."

I stared at her, tears running down my cheeks.

She continued, her expression becoming increasingly bitter. "Do you know how long I've watched Daddy treat you like you're the only daughter he has? You were always his favourite. Everything was about Estell. Estell deserves this, Estell deserves that. Even when we wanted the same thing, somehow you were always the one who got it."

"That has nothing to do with Thorne!"

He had listened to me talk excitedly about our future.

And all along, he had known he was going to abandon me.

"You're wicked," I whispered.

Thorne's face hardened. "Watch your mouth."

"Both of you are wicked! How could you deliberately do this to me? You knew I trusted you!"

"And what exactly do you expect us to do about it?" Audrey asked. "Should we give up our places because you're crying?"

I looked at her desperately.

"You're my sister. At least you should remember that!"

She stepped closer and lowered her voice.

"Let me tell you something, Estell. I don't care if you're my sister. I don't care if you survive or die outside these gates. For once in my life, I want to enjoy something without having you standing in the way."

She turned to Thorne.

"Darling, let's go. I don't want to waste another minute here."

Thorne nodded and turned towards the security officers.

"Get her away from the entrance. Registration is closed, and nobody is supposed to be standing here."

I rushed forward.

"Thorne, wait! Please!"

One of the soldiers stepped between us.

"Ma'am, move away from the entrance."

"No! I need to speak to him!"

"Your admission has been denied. You need to leave."

I tried to move around him, but another soldier caught my arm and pushed me backwards. My foot caught against one of the bags, and I lost my balance, falling heavily onto the concrete.

My palms scraped against the rough ground, but I barely felt the pain.

I looked up just in time to see Audrey taking Thorne's hand.

"Come on, darling," she said, smiling. "Our baby needs us to be inside."

Thorne smiled at her and gently touched her stomach.

Our baby ? So she’s even pregnant ? 

Then they walked away.

Just like that.

My sister and my boyfriend walked away together, leaving me sprawled on the ground with my belongings scattered around me.

I tried to get up, but my legs were trembling. I looked towards the closing gates and began crying harder.

"PLEASE! SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

Nobody answered.

The soldiers returned to their positions, and the massive gates shut completely.

I remained on the ground, staring at them, unable to accept that this was happening to me.

I had lost everything.

The man I loved had never loved me, my sister had deliberately stolen him from me, and the two of them had arranged for me to be abandoned outside a place where they knew I needed to be.

I pulled my knees towards my chest and buried my face in my hands.

I was going to die.

There was nowhere else to go, and with the apocalypse approaching, I didn't even know if I had enough time to find another shelter.

I had spent so much time preparing to enter the Haven that I had never considered what would happen if the people I trusted decided to leave me behind.

A deafening siren suddenly sounded.

I raised my head.

Several soldiers on the observation towers were pointing towards the sky, shouting instructions to one another. People who had been standing around the entrance began looking in the same direction.

Then I saw it.

A bright light was descending from the sky, growing larger with every passing second.

"What is that?" someone screamed.

Before anyone could answer, a soldier shouted through a loudspeaker.

"EVERYONE, TAKE COVER! INCOMING IMPACT! TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY!"

People began running.

I tried to stand, but my legs were too weak. I grabbed my handbag and struggled to get away from the entrance, looking desperately for somewhere to hide.

Then the first explosion happened.

BOOOOOOM!

The entire ground shook violently.

A massive fireball erupted several metres away, swallowing everything in its path. The force of the explosion threw people into the air, while burning debris scattered across the area.

I screamed and covered my head.

Another explosion followed, much closer this time.

The heat hit my skin, and I could hear people screaming for help as flames spread through the crowd.

I crawled forward, desperately trying to escape, but there was nowhere to go.

I looked towards the Haven.

Its massive gates were still closed.

I had been so close.

If Thorne had registered me, I would have been inside. If Audrey hadn't betrayed me, I would have been safe but  they had deliberately left me here.

A final explosion shook the entire area, and a wave of fire swept towards me.

I closed my eyes, unable to run anymore.