로그인Present LainaI sit behind my desk, staring at the documents spread across it, but I haven't read a single word in the last five minutes, my mind is somewhere else entirely.I have this feeling has been bugging me all morning that something was terribly wrong I just can't put my finger on it yet. I pick up another file and force myself to concentrate, it's all numbers and contracts that need my signatures, things that normally require my full attention.I am halfway through the second page when the fire alarm suddenly goes off.The shrill sound tears through the building and I freeze.For a moment, I don't move, then I hear the screaming and my chair scrapes against the floor as I stand.“What the hell is going on?”People are running past my office door as someone shouts something I can't make out, I am still in shock to even move Then I smell smoke and rush toward the door.The moment my hand touches the handle, I pull it back but It's burning hot.“No.”Panic takes over me and I
FlashbackLainaI was fifteen the first time I realized my mother would never leave my father, not because she loved him, At least, that's what I thought then.I had spent most of my childhood listening to them fight, sometimes it was shouting, sometimes it was silence.Sometimes it was the sound of something breaking downstairs, followed by my mother's crying.And sometimes, like that night, there were sounds I couldn't pretend not to hear.I was sitting on my bed with a book open in front of me when I heard my father's voice coming from downstairs.“You think you can embarrass me like that?”My body went still because I knew what was coming next, then came my mother's voice.“I wasn't trying to embarrass you, I am sorry”“You always have an excuse don't you Helen?.”“I didn't do anything.”There was a loud crash and I dropped the book I was reading, my heart started beating even faster. I knew I should stay in my room, I knew that was what I was always told to do when my parents fou
Laina“Your father is awake.”I stare at the stranger standing beside my hospital bed for a few seconds, I don't understand what he means, then my heart begins pounding.“Dad?” The man nods. “He is awake.”Tears immediately fill my eyes.“Is he okay?”“He's still in critical condition, but he's awake.”I push myself upright. “I want to see him.”The man steps toward the door.“The nurse will take you to him.”I quickly wipe the tears from my cheeks.For the first time since I woke up, there is a small piece of hope inside me, my father is alive and awake. Maybe everything will be okay.A few minutes later, a nurse comes into the room with a wheelchair.“Ready?”I nod "yeah" She helps me sit up and carefully moves me into the chair.My body still feels weak, but I don't care, I need to see my father and know that he is really alive. We might have our differences but it does not mean that I wanted him dead or anything bad to happen to him. The nurse pushes me through the hospital corr
Trey“Get him out of here!”Laina's voice echoes through the hospital corridor even through the closed door, I can hear the panic in her voice.“I want him out! I want him out of here!”I close my eyes, for four years, I have imagined seeing her again, I imagined a thousand different versions of this moment, I imagined her running into my arms, her slapping me, I imagined her screaming at me, I imagined her asking me why.What I never imagined was seeing her terrified because I was standing in the same room as her.I slowly lower myself into one of the chairs outside her hospital room, my clothes still smell faintly of smoke.My hands are scraped and bruised from pulling pieces of burning debris apart, but I barely notice the pain, all I can think about is Laina, the way she looked at me like I was a monster.Like my presence alone was enough to make her panic and maybe I deserve it.Maybe after everything that happened, I have no right to expect anything else from her.I lean my head
LainaI never believed in fairy tales, not even when I was a little girl, and certainly not when I grew old enough to understand what the world was really like.Fairy tales were stories people told themselves because reality was too ugly to accept, there were no happily ever afters,no perfect love stories and definitely no handsome prince riding in to save a broken girl.And soulmate? That was probably the biggest lie of them all.I had grown up watching my parents prove it.My father was an arrogant, cruel alcoholic with a massive ego and an even bigger appetite for power. He was an Alpha, and he loved reminding everyone around him of it. Money, influence, status, control those were the things that mattered to him, not family and most certainly not my mother. Love never seemed to make it onto that list, he was never really present in my life either, he was always busy at work or with the pack, as he said a powerful man like him a lot was expected of him. My mother was his exact op
AminaFive years ago, I learned that sometimes the only way to save yourself was to become the villain in someone else's story.I had spent five years living with that truth, years carrying a secret that had changed the course of my life, five years wondering whbether Trey Davidson would ever discover what had really happened that night, and five years raising a little boy who had never known his father.I had told myself that I had done what I needed to do to survive, but every time I looked into my son's eyes, I remembered the price I had paid.And every time I thought about Trey, I remembered the night Paul Young had taken away my choices.Five Years Earlier"Drink this."I stared at the small glass Paul had placed on the table in front of me."What is it?"His expression hardened."Did I ask you to question me, Amina?"I immediately lowered my eyes "No, sir.""Then drink it."My fingers trembled as I reached for the glass, but I didn't lift it to my lips.I had worked for Paul You







