Chapter 7

Ladina

The camera lens was tiny, like a small bean.

I couldn't stop thinking about it. Oliver had said it was expensive, military-grade equipment. Someone had planned this carefully and spent a lot of money to watch us.

Someone had been watching me!

Gabriel didn’t say a word, but he was furious. He grabbed the iron fire poker and marched across the room and started smashing the air vents, ripping them open one by one with pure, violent strength.

"Gabriel," Oliver warned softly.

"I'm checking every single one," Gabriel replied.

I couldn't bear to watch. The sound of tearing metal hurt my ears. Suddenly, the beautiful glass walls of the cabin made me feel exposed and hunted. Somewhere in this house, a hidden camera had watched me cry, sleep, and have sex with my stepbrothers.

I walked away like a zombie. I went into the small bathroom, locked the door, and slid down on the floor. There were no windows. I checked everywhere for cameras and stuffed a towel into the small metal air vent just to be safe. Then I sat in the dark, hugging my knees, and listened to the boys tear the house apart.

I stayed there a long time. Eventually, the smashing stopped, and I heard the boys talking right outside my door.

"Found another one," Gabriel said in disgust. "It's pointed down the main hallway to watch all the doors."

"And there's a third one behind the bed in the master bedroom," Oliver added. "Look at the wires. They are cut clean. They aren't connected to anything right now."

"So they're useless," Gabriel said.

"No, think about it," Oliver replied. "This house doesn't have internet or a router. These cameras can't send the video to anyone far away. The footage is trapped inside the devices."

"So?"

"So, whoever wants the video has to come back here to get it."

We all fell silent. I covered my mouth in shock. The person doing this wasn't watching us for safety from a computer screen. They were going to come back through the deadly snowstorm to this very house.

Later in the evening, the cabin became freezing cold again. The power was still out, and the blizzard howled outside. I had a headache and felt completely numb with exhaustion.

Then, I smelled something wonderful: tomatoes, garlic, and hot pasta. My stomach growled loudly. I unlocked the door and walked toward the kitchen.

Oliver was cooking over a small blue flame from a portable camping stove. He didn't turn around. "There's enough food for everyone," he said simply.

When he finished cooking, he brought the bowls to the cold living room. He set mine down and sat far away from me to give me space. Gabriel sat across the room, holding the metal poker.

I was sitting down quietly.

"You don't have to talk," Oliver told me. "But someone locked the three of us in here on purpose. Think about it and the possible reason why. They want to make us afraid of each other."

"And what if it’s one of you?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

Gabriel looked up angrily, but Oliver held up a hand to calm him down.

"If you think that, then it's better to keep your eyes on us than to hide," Oliver said. "Whoever did this wants us divided. We shouldn't give them what they want. We need to aim our fear in the right direction."

I took a bite of the hot food. It tasted amazing and made me feel a little better. "Okay," I finally said. "We stand united against whoever did this."

Gabriel still didn't say anything, but he put the iron poker down on the floor to show he agreed.

We ate in silence.

As the room got darker, the wind screamed against the house so loudly it drowned out every other noise.

Just as I was finishing my food, a sharp noise interrupted us.

BEEP.

It was a loud electronic sound. We all froze. Gabriel grabbed his weapon again.

The electronic keypad on the front door, which had been completely dead since the power went out, had just turned on. A small green light glowed in the dark.

I stopped breathing. The roads were buried in snow. Nobody should be able to reach that door.

I looked at Oliver. For the first time since we arrived, he looked truly terrified.

Then, we heard a slow grind. Someone on the outside was unlocking the bolt.