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Chapter 3
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2025-12-30 19:45:54Time passed slowly. The room was too quiet. I could still hear the faint echo of the party downstairs—music, laughter. My party. The party celebrating my engagement. And I was locked up here, like a secret.
I paced. I sat. I stared at the locked door. The strange feeling in my body had settled into a low, constant ache. A deep, restless itch under my skin. It felt like… like I needed to run. Or fight. Or… something else I couldn’t name.
Every time I thought about his face, his cold gray eyes, the itch got worse. And that clean, sharp scent—my scent, I guess—would flicker in the air.
What am I?
A soft knock on the door made me jump. It wasn’t the admiral. It was an older man in a suit, carrying a medical bag. He had a kind face, but his eyes were wary.
“Mr. Chase? My name is Dr. Armani. Admiral Rossi asked me to take a look at you.”
“To figure out what’s wrong with me?” I asked, my voice flat.
“To help,” the doctor said gently, but it sounded like a lie. He was here for the admiral, not for me.
The examination was humiliating. Blood samples. Saliva samples. Strange scans with devices I’d never seen. The doctor frowned at his tablet screen, his expression growing more and more serious.
“Your readings are… highly unusual,” he murmured, almost to himself.
“What does that mean?” I demanded, pulling my sleeve down.
“It’s too early to say definitively. But your hormonal and pheromonal profiles are showing… extreme volatility. There’s a latent genetic signature that is… remarkable.” He looked at me, curiosity and concern warring in his eyes. “Has anything like this ever happened before? Any… episodes?”
“No. Never.” I thought of the electric jolt from the handshake. “Until tonight.”
He nodded slowly. “I will need to run more tests. But for now, it would be best if you rested. Try to stay calm.”
Calm. Right.
He left, taking his samples and his worried look with him. The lock turned again.
I didn’t rest. The ache was getting worse, turning into a dull throb. I felt hot, then cold. My thoughts kept circling back to Lorenzo. The way he’d looked at me with such sharp suspicion. The way he’d stepped back, like I was contagious.
Downstairs, the party sounds finally died down. Then, a new sound: raised voices. I crept to the door, pressing my ear against the cool wood.
I could hear Lorenzo’s voice, low and steady. And Alessia’s, higher, upset.
“…where is he, Father? Everyone is asking! This is so embarrassing!”
“Alessia, listen to me.” Lorenzo’s tone was firm, leaving no room for argument. “Ethan is unwell. He’s had a… severe episode. The doctor is with him now.”
“Unwell? What’s wrong with him? I need to see him!”
“You will not.” The words were like ice. “For your own safety, and for the family’s reputation, you will stay away. The engagement is on hold until further notice.”
My heart dropped into my stomach. On hold.
“What? No! You can’t do that!” Alessia sounded like she was crying.
“It is done.” His footsteps echoed on the marble floor, moving away. “The guests have been informed. He needs rest and isolation. This discussion is over.”
His footsteps faded. I heard Alessia sob once, then the sound of her heels clicking quickly in the opposite direction.
Silence.
I slid down the door until I was sitting on the floor, my back against it. The wood was hard and unyielding.
On hold. For your own safety. The family’s reputation.
He’d done it. Just like that. In front of everyone. He’d taken my engagement, my chance to save my family, and smashed it. All because of a weird feeling. A strange scent.
The ache in my body flared, hot and sharp. It wasn’t just anger or humiliation anymore. It was deeper. It felt like something was tearing inside me. A cord, pulled too tight.
I curled my fingers into fists, my nails digging into my palms. The pain helped, a little. It was something real. Something I could understand.
Downstairs, the mansion was silent. The party was over. My future was on hold. And I was alone in a locked room, with a strange fire burning in my blood and the cold, commanding voice of Admiral Lorenzo Rossi ringing in my ears.
Trouble. He’d called me trouble.
As the first real wave of pain rolled through me, making me gasp and clutch my chest, I finally understood.
He wasn’t trying to figure out what I was.
He’d already decided. I was a problem. And Admiral Lorenzo Rossi solved problems by locking them away.
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