CHAPTER FIVE: THE SECRET THAT COULD SAVE ME

Gwen POV

I sat in that room, locked away alone for three straight days.

I cried myself to sleep more times than I could count. I stared at Gwen's beauty in the mirror over and over, and I wished it were mine. I wished I could walk into my own life wearing a face like this, a body like this, and not have to be afraid of it.

And somewhere in the middle of all that crying, I realised something powerful. Something I had no choice but to embrace.

I have to become who Gwen was.

In the story, before she was crippled by her love for Alexander, Gwen was the bravest woman I had ever read about. Beautiful, bold, outspoken, and elegant. She walked into rooms like they belonged to her. She was everything I had always wanted to be in the real world, back when I was the nervous girl with red cheeks who couldn't ask a stranger for directions. Her only weakness had been falling for Alexander.

And that was who I was going to be from now on. The Gwen before the weakness.

I stood up and looked at myself in the mirror, at the black hair, the sharp eyes, the straight shoulders.

I'm no longer Becky Heyman.

I'm Gwen Gobbers, and I am going to embrace that, and I am going to get out of here and go back to my little brother.

But there was one thing I had to prevent at all costs. I could not fall for Alexander. He was my weakness. It was going to be hard, harder than I wanted to admit. But he was also my only way out of here.

*I can do this. You're strong, Gwen. You're beautiful. You're elegant, and you are bold.*

The door slammed open. And I turned

Alexander stood there, shirtless.

It was my first time seeing him like that. The sculpted abs, the muscular arms, the sexy tattoos that wound across his skin like they had been drawn there on purpose. My body reacted immediately. I bit my lower lip, holding back the soft sound already forming in my throat. The line between lust and attraction felt thinner than paper.

Earlier, I had told myself I needed to protect my heart, as if it would be easy. I was only now realising it would be the hardest thing I had ever done. And that was exactly why Gwen had fallen.

"My eyes are up here, Gwen."

His voice pulled me out of it, and I realised just how obvious I had been. My cheeks flushed red with embarrassment, but I held my stand. *Bold. Brave. Beautiful.*

“Oh..so..sorry” i Stuttered forcing a smile

He didn't seem to react. He didn't seem to care at all.

Then he smiled, a devilish, sexy smile that made my stomach flip.

"Don't try to seduce me with that smile of yours now, babygirl."

I was thrown off. My cheeks burned hotter, and I hated that they gave me away again.

"We have somewhere to be," he said.

"Am I your prisoner now?"

"You will be, if you don't give me what I want. An heir."

"Why me?" I asked. "There are plenty of..."

"No." His voice cut through me. "Don't hit me with the *there are plenty of women* nonsense. Don't ask why I picked you. I picked you for a reason."

"And what is that reason?"

He didn't answer. But something behind his expression bothered me, a flicker of something I couldn't read.

Alexander never specified why he had picked Gwen in the book. That was the one thing I didn't know.

"Don't question me. Let's..."

He broke off and began to cough.

It wasn't a normal cough. It was deep, violent, and dry, the kind that shook his whole body. He stumbled a step, and I caught him on instinct before I could stop myself.

"Are you alright?"

His housekeeper rushed in and grabbed him, and the room filled with panicked footsteps.

I didn't need to ask to know what it was. It was his sickness. He had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and given less than a year to live.

*Wait. Hold on.*

I paused in the middle of the scene, as the pieces clicked into place one by one.

I knew everything. I knew Alexander was sick, and the book hadn't only told me about the sickness. Before Alexander killed Gwen, she had been the only one who found the permanent cure.

The permanent cure.

I could use this. Not only to escape from here, but also to take control. Whoever held the cure would hold the power.

"Get chicken feathers," I said, turning to one of the maids. "Boil them and bring them to him now."

She stared at me. "What?"

"Just do it. It's the only thing that can calm it, even temporarily."

She ran.

Alexander coughed harder, until I saw blood on his lips. His men stood beside him helplessly, their faces tight with fear, and I realised how rarely they must have seen him like this. When the maid came back and they finally gave him the boiled chicken feathers, the coughing began to ease, and then it stopped. He became okay.

He was stunned. Nobody had ever calmed that cough so quickly. But I had read that book so many times that I knew Gwen always asked for boiled chicken feathers for him whenever it started.

"How did you do that?" His voice was rough. "How did you cure the cough so fast?"

He rose to his full height, towering over me, demanding an answer. I tried not to show how crippled with fear I was.

"Trust me," I said. "I know a whole lot more, Alexander."

He stared at me, truly surprised now. "Who are you?"

I folded my arms and tried to hold his eyes, though inside I was shaking. I was trying to stay calm, trying to prove I wasn't broken. I couldn't afford to mess this up. This was my chance to get into Alexander's head and escape before fate caught up with me. And I would not be killed like Gwen.

"I also know the permanent cure to your illness,"

"How is that possible?"

"Don't ask questions if you don't agree to my terms."

"I don't agree to your terms, Gwen." His jaw tightened. "Your order was to give me a son. You are my sex slave."

"Then I guess you'll die ," I said, "and no, I won't be giving you a son."

The words spilled out of me, and the room went still.

Alexander raged. In one swift motion, he pinned me to the wall, not roughly, but firmly enough that I couldn't move, his hand braced beside my head. I tried not to break. I tried not to react. I tried not to let him see the fear.

"Everyone, leave," he commanded, without taking his eyes off me.

They filed out in silence, and the door closed. Then there was just me and him.

His eyes locked on mine.

"You know too much," he said quietly. "What do you want, Gwen? But before you ask for anything, know that I will never let you go until you give me a son."

This was it.

I didn't stutter.

"Fine," I said. "I'll give you a son. But this time, I want to be in charge."