Chapter 3: Locked out

Vera

They locked me out again.

And this time, it wasn’t just them ignoring me or slamming a door in my face. It was real.

They actually locked me out.

In the middle of a storm that sounded like it could tear the whole house apart.

I raised one hand to shield my face, like that would stop the rain, and banged the other against the door like a crazy person.

Nobody answered.

Not even a sound of footsteps to raise my hope.

Then thunder hit again, louder, meaner this time, and I jumped so hard that I hurt my ankle.

I didn’t even feel it. I was drenched from head to toe.

My dress stuck to me like wet tissue.

The rain had soaked through my bandage too, and now my forehead burned like someone had set it on fire.

Still, I don't even know why I kept running from door to door like a fool. Front door. Side. Back. Kitchen. Even the storage room. Locked. Locked. Locked.

Every single one was locked.

I wasn’t exactly crying…but my teeth were chattering like crazy, and my lips were too numb to say anything.

I pressed my head against the wooden side door, breathing hard. My voice came out in a shaky whisper, “Please…”

I didn’t even know who I was talking to. God? A ghost? Just… someone. Anyone.

The storm didn’t care. It just got louder, angrier.

I must’ve looked insane, I mean, I was totally soaked up.

I was shaking and hunched over like a stray dog. I couldn’t stand it anymore.

My legs gave out, and I dropped to the ground, hugging myself like that would help.

But it didn’t.

I don’t know how long I remained in that position.

A few minutes? An hour? I can’t really say.

Everything started to blur. My head felt heavy. My thoughts are even heavier. I think I was drifting in and out.

Then I heard it.

Laughter.

From inside.

A man and a woman. They were laughing like they were watching something funny on the TV.

The woman’s voice hit me first. It was soft and a little too familiar.

Then my heart sank when I figured it was her again.

The lady I saw earlier through Jade’s window. The one I would call ‘Anna’s doppelgänger’.

And Jade? He didn’t care. Not even a little. Like I wasn’t out here soaking wet.

Like he wasn’t the one who sent me to the market to cook for him and his mistress.

Then the door opened.

By then, I could barely see. My body felt half-dead and my eyes were blurry with rain.

For a second, I thought it was him. I squinted, trying to figure out who it was.

But the man standing in the doorway wasn’t Jade.

He was shirtless…wearing just black briefs and rain sliding down his chest.

He had muscles everywhere, like one of those gym posters girls secretly keep in their stash.

His skin looked golden under the flashes of lightning.

Then his eyes met mine. He was looking really confused, but soft.

“Vera?” he said calmly. “You’ve been out here this whole time?”

He crouched down in front of me. Reached out. His fingers brushed my arm.

His body felt warm compared to mine that was freezing cold.

I shivered.

“You’re freezing…” he said softly.

I tried to speak, but nothing came out but air.

I was too far gone.

My whole body was shaking and the only thing I could feel was the warmth coming off his skin.

And then his scent hit me.

He smelled like something sweet.

Like caramel and pineapple with a trace of musk, I mean, like fresh soap mixed with heat.

But it wasn’t Jade. Jade always smelled like pine and cloves, of course with a hint of bitterness.

I blinked, trying to clear the rain from my eyes.

Who was he?

He looked like everything I couldn’t explain.

He looked like the storm itself, wild, powerful, and impossible to ignore.

Like rain wrapped in muscle and silence.

There was something in his eyes that held command without trying, like someone that people just listened to when he spoke.

A softness buried deep, like love that had been through war radiates all over him.

He looked like death and comfort.

Like destruction and safety.

All at the same time.

He didn’t waste a second. He lifted me like I weighed nothing.

His arms were strong and his chest gave me warmth against my frozen skin.

I should’ve pulled away. I didn’t even know his name. But something in me… didn’t want to.

My body had already given up, and the last thing I felt before I passed out…was the strange comfort of not being alone.

~~~~~

When I woke up, everything felt…off and warm.

I was wrapped in a thick brown blanket, while I laid down on the my small mattress in my basement room.

The same room Jade said I should be “grateful” for, because, according to him, slaves don’t deserve comfort.

The walls were bare cement. No window. No curtain, Just one buzzing lightbulb that twitched like it was tired of it’s job.

The floor still felt slightly damp beneath me. There was a small wooden shelf with clothes I barely touched, and a dusty mirror I hadn’t looked into since the day I moved in.

But the dress on my body was dry, and it wasn’t the flowery sundress I wore before.

Someone had changed me.

I was scared at first.

I quickly sat up and checked myself.

Everything was fine….He didn’t touch me.

Whoever cleaned me up didn’t do anything weird.

My wound was redressed. My skin was clean. Even my hair was dry.

That man… whoever he was… he carried me down here. He took care of me. But didn’t cross the line.

Who the hell was he? I asked myself again.

I didn’t remember much after he picked me up. Just the scent. That damn scent. Caramel and soap which is still stuck in my head.

But now I have bigger problems.

My heart raced faster when I saw the time.

6:00pm.

I was supposed to have Jade’s dinner ready an hour ago.

I scrambled up so fast the blanket fell off.

My feet hit the cold floor, and the pain in my forehead came rushing back. It stung, but I didn’t care.

I couldn’t afford to care. If he came down here yelling, it’d be a whole different kind of pain.

I rushed out the door.

The hallway smelled like fried onions and roasted meat.

Someone had already cooked. And it wasn’t me.

I followed the scent into the living room and stopped dead at the doorway.

Jade sat on the couch like he owned the world. His legs propped up on the center table with a glass of wine in his hand.

The TV was playing my favorite show, which nobody was watching.

His hand rested on the woman’s thigh.

Her face was turned away, hidden behind thick, shiny waves of auburn hair. Hair that looked exactly like Anna’s.

Then he leaned in and kissed her neck slowly. Like he wanted me to see it.

He looked up, caught my eye, and tilted his head with that smug little smile he always wore when he knew he’d broken something in me.

“Is the food ready?” he asked.

And right then, the woman turned her face.

In a blink….Anna was gone.

The soft hazel eyes I grew up with shifted to a sharp green.

The wavy auburn hair turned a loud, messy brown.

Her whole face shifted, like someone had wiped off a perfect disguise. It wasn’t my sister.

It was Isolde Shaw.

Isolde freaking Shaw.

Daughter of Elder Marcus Shaw, one of the men who sat right beside Alpha Jade on the council.

She was known across the pack, loud, rich, and she was never shy of how many men she’d taken to bed.

I’d heard her name more in gossip than at any formal meetings.

Everyone said she had no shame. They weren’t wrong.

I just stood there.

For a second, I honestly thought I was hallucinating. Or dreaming. Maybe the cold messed with my brain.

Or the fever from my wound was making me see things that weren’t real.

Because a second ago… that was Anna. Every part of her.

Then everything changed.

I was so lost in the Deja vu thay I didn’t even feel it when the plate of food in my hand slipped and crashed on the floor.

Before I could say a word, before I could even react, her palm struck my face.

My head snapped to the side and the sting rang louder than the broken plate on the tiles.

Then, with one quick, scornful shove, she pushed my face into the steaming mash on the floor.

“You just stained my designer slippers,” she said, like she didn’t just slap someone half-conscious.

“Your entire generation couldn’t afford a real pair of this.”

I blinked.

The pain didn’t even register properly. All I could see was her face….her real face.

And all I could think was… what the hell just happened?

Was I going crazy?

Because for a full second, I saw my sister in her face.

Not kinda. Not almost. Exactly.

Like a doppelgänger!

But no one else seemed to notice.

No one reacted.

No one said a thing.

Just me… standing there like an idiot, while the world tilted beneath my feet.

Maybe I was losing my mind.

Maybe I already had.