Choice II

Chapter Four

Tori’s POV

No way I would allow him to kill the rest.

The way he smirked, that twisted, knowing look, made my stomach churn, but I couldn’t let it show. Not now.

“You think I’ll let them go?” Kael’s voice was low, dangerous, yet there was a teasing edge to it. “All those girls? Let them die while I keep you? You should feel lucky.”

I shook my head violently, disbelief making my vision blur. “No… that’s not—You can’t do that! You can’t just let them die in my place! That’s not fair! You don’t…” My words choked in my throat, my fists clenching as my mind raced. How could he even think of this? Killing everyone just got me.

Kael stepped closer, his presence pressing against me, his hand brushing lightly against my arm. “Why are you so upset? You should enjoy the fact that I’ve spared you. That’s more than anyone else here will get. Most of them will get to die either way.”

My heart hammered, my pulse rising. “No! This isn’t real! You can’t just… you can’t decide who lives and who dies!” I tried to step back, but the wall was behind me.

He leaned in, a dangerous warmth brushing my cheek, and I froze, my body betraying me even as my mind screamed.

“You’re feisty,” he whispered, his lips curling in that damn smirk. “I like that in a girl. Makes her… more interesting. Makes her worth keeping.”

My fists shook as I shoved against him, trying to create space, trying to fight, but it was useless. “You’re insane! You can’t play god with their lives!”

Kael’s hand settled lightly on my shoulder, pressing me against the wall. His eyes raked over mine, dark, piercing. “You think I care about fairness? You think I care about mercy? You survive because I say so. I decide what to do with people’s lives.”

My breath hitched, panic swirling in my chest. The heat from his body, the way he leaned in too close, made my cheeks burn, and I fought every instinct to pull away, to push, to scream.

I bit my lip, trying to force out words. “Please… please don’t do this. Don’t hurt them. I can’t let you hurt them…” My voice cracked, but I tried to hold my ground. My hands scraped against his chest, pushing, pleading, desperate.

“Your opinion isn’t needed. Let’s get straight to the point.”

My stomach dropped. My hands trembled. I wanted to scream. I wanted to claw my way out of this hell. But I was trapped, pinned, helpless, and every second I breathed felt like seconds stolen from someone else’s life.

“You are so fit for the role we have always been wanting, I’m damn curious to know more about you.” He brought his lips closer to my ears, slowly whispering to me.

Cat got my tongue with the way he had abruptly changed the topic.

“I wonder if you are this feisty in other aspects. You have to make your—“

Then there was a knock at the door. I froze, my eyes darting toward it. Kael’s smirk widened as he stepped aside slightly, letting me peek past his shoulder.

Nicole stood at the entrance, his stance calm, controlled. His eyes flicked toward me briefly, and a hint of amusement curled his lips. “He’s here,” he said softly, almost casually.

He was the one who had told the guard to let go off me.

His gaze lingered, and there was a flicker, a hint, that someone else might be nearby too, someone who belonged in my old life, someone whose presence would complicate everything.

I couldn’t get to see the person’s face, but the feeling was weird. Could it be possible?

Kael’s smirk deepened, and he took a slow step back. “Don’t get too comfortable,” he murmured, his voice low, dangerous, almost intimate. “I’ll be back soon enough. And when I am, we’ll see just how far you’ll go to survive.”

He brushed past me, the heat of his body leaving me cold in his absence. The door closed with a soft click behind him, leaving me trembling against the wall, my heart racing, my mind spinning.

I sank to the floor, pressing my hands against my face, trying to make sense of everything. My chest ached, my legs felt like jelly, and the taste of fear was sharp in my mouth. He was gone, but the tension lingered, pressing down on me like a weight I couldn’t escape.

The room felt heavier after Kael left.

Silence pressed into my ears so hard it hurt. My heart was still racing, my body still buzzing from fear and shame and anger all mixed together. What he said kept replaying in my head. Let the others die. Keep me just to turn me into a sex toy?

“No,” I whispered, even though no one was there to hear me. “That’s not real. This can’t be real.”

I paced the room, my hands shaking as I rubbed them together. I had been kidnapped. Drugged. Traumatised. That had to be it. People did not just wake up in worlds like this. Monsters did not rule. Men like Kael did not decide who lived and who died.

I was still in denial. I knew it. I just did not know how to stop it.

A sudden rush of cold air brushed against my skin.

I froze.

The lights in the room flickered once. Then twice.

“What now?” I muttered, my voice cracking.

Someone was standing in front of me.

I stumbled back with a sharp gasp, my back hitting the wall as my heart nearly jumped out of my chest. She had not walked in. She had not opened the door. She was just there, like the room had swallowed her and spat her out.

She was a woman. Tall. Calm. Dressed in clothes that did not belong here and did not belong anywhere I recognised either.

“Who are you?” I snapped, forcing anger into my voice to cover the fear. “How did you get in here?”

She looked at me like I was already late to understanding something important.

“This is not where you were supposed to end,” she said quietly.

My breath hitched. “What are you talking about?”

She stepped closer, and I tensed, ready to scream or fight or do something stupid. She did not touch me. She did not need to.

“You died,” she said. “On the road. The truck did not miss you.”

My chest tightened painfully. “No. I didn’t die. I’m here.”

“You are here because you were given a choice,” she replied. “A second chance.”

I laughed, sharp and broken. “That’s insane. This is insane.”

“This world is not a dream,” she continued, her voice firm now. “It is not a hallucination. What you do here matters. Every choice you make here will shape what happens to you.”

My throat burned. “So what, this is hell?”

“No,” she said. “It is worse. Because you can still lose.”

I shook my head, my hands trembling. “I just want to go home.”

“You cannot go back yet,” she said. “Not unless you survive.”

The word hit me like a slap. “Survive what?”

She looked straight into my eyes, and for the first time, something sharp flickered in her gaze.

“The men you have met,” she said. “The games. The blood. The choices.”

My stomach dropped. “If I die here…”

She did not let me finish.

“You die there,” she said calmly. “Your real world does not pause for you. It ends.”

The room felt like it was spinning. I slid down the wall slowly, my legs giving out as I wrapped my arms around myself. This was too much. Kael. The girls. The threat. And now this.

This better not be real!

“And the people from my world?” I whispered. “Do they matter here?”

Her lips curved into something that was not quite a smile. “Some of them do.”

My heart skipped. Images flashed in my head. Kieran’s face. Sophia’s voice. The betrayal.

“They can appear,” she said softly, like she was reading my thoughts. “Power looks different here. Titles change. Status shifts.”

I swallowed hard.

“Your actions here,” she continued, “will decide who you become. Victim. Survivor. Or something else entirely.”

She stepped back, already fading, like the room was pulling her away.

“Remember this,” her voice echoed as she disappeared.

“Die here and there won’t be a second chance.”

Oh shit! Maybe a second chance wasn’t what I should have prayed for.