Chapter 6

The Cold Light of Day

Ladina

I woke up to the wind howling against the glass walls.

The fur blanket was warm, but I was covered in cold sweat. Then I remembered everything. I opened my eyes in the dim morning light.

I was still in the middle of the large bed. On my right, Gabriel slept deeply, his arm wrapped over my waist. On my left, Oliver was already awake, watching me with quiet eyes.

Guilt washed over me, making it hard to breathe.

"Good morning," Oliver whispered. His voice was calm but firm.

I couldn't speak. I looked away, my face burning with shame. Just yesterday, I was the good nineteen-year-old daughter, sitting through a bad wedding just to make my mother happy. Now, I was in bed with my two new stepbrothers and collected a threesome.

I carefully lifted Gabriel’s arm off my waist. He groaned but didn't wake up. I backed away, shivering as the cold air hit my bare skin.

"Dina, don't run," Oliver said softly. He sat up, and the blanket fell away.

"Don't look at me," I panicked. I grabbed my dry clothes from the floor and quickly put them on, my hands shaking.

"It’s a little late for that," a deep voice grumbled.

Gabriel woke up, rubbing his eyes and tossing a string of hair out of his eyes. He stared at me intensely, without any of the softness from last night.

"It was a mistake," I whispered, backing against the room door. "We were just freezing. We needed warmth."

"Don't lie to yourself," Gabriel said, standing up. "The heat broke, yes. But you didn't sleep with us just to get warm."

"Stop it!" I cried, hiding my face. "We are family now. This is wrong. What if our parents find out?"

"We aren't related by blood," Gabriel argued, taking a step toward me. "And you wanted this just as much as we did."

"Gabe, back off," Oliver said calmly. He put on his pants and walked over to me, but he didn't try to touch me.

 "Dina, look at me. The boundaries changed last night. You can't just undo what happened."

"I have to," I cried, holding the doorknob tightly. "We are trapped in this cabin in the Swiss Alps, cut off by a storm, but that doesn't mean that we can just act like animals."

I didn't wait for them to answer. I opened the door and ran into the hallway.

It was freezing outside the bedroom. The power was still out, and the storm raged against the windows.

I hurried downstairs to get away from them and the memory of what we did. In the living room, the windows showed nothing but white snow. We were really trapped. I felt sick remembering what we found in the basement: the cut phone lines and the broken internet router. Someone did this on purpose.

Gabriel and Oliver came downstairs ten minutes later, dressed in warm winter clothes. The silence between us was awkward for some time.

"We need to search the house," Gabriel said. "Whoever locked us in here might have left a clue or an emergency radio."

Oliver nodded. "I'll check the kitchen and the pantry. Gabe, check the basement again for generator fuel. Dina, look through the living room and library."

I didn't argue. I just wanted something to do. I went to the wooden shelves near the fireplace.

For an hour, we searched the whole cabin. The silence was broken only by the wind and the sound of drawers closing. I felt incredibly stressed, jumping at every footstep.

I found old books, blankets, and board games, but no phones, radios, or keys.

Frustrated, I stood up and dusted off my hands. Then, I saw a strange reflection. It came from a metal heating vent near the ceiling, above the fireplace.

The cabin was dark, but deep inside the vent, a tiny red light was blinking.

I dragged a dining chair across the stone floor.

"What are you doing?" Gabriel asked as he came up from the basement.

I didn't answer. I climbed onto the chair, grabbed the metal vent cover, and pulled hard. It popped off, sending a cloud of dust into my face.

I coughed and looked inside the dark pipe. My blood ran cold.

Hidden behind the metal, perfectly aimed at the couch and fireplace, was a tiny black camera. Its red light blinked, recording my terrified face.

"Oliver!" I screamed.

Oliver rushed into the sitting room right away. Gabriel was already holding my chair to keep me steady.

"What is it, Dina?" Oliver asked, his eyes wide.

My hands shook as I pulled the tiny camera and its cut wire out of the vent. I held it up for them to see.

"The cut phone lines weren't an accident," I whispered in horror. "The storm didn't trap us here by chance. We are part of a game."