Novel & Cerita Locked In While My Siblings Chase Freedom

He trudges down the stairs, and a second later, the heavy thud of the front door echoing through the house sounds like a casket closing. I sink onto the top step, my head in my hands. The mansion is a fortress, guarded by men with guns and cameras that see everything. I’m officially on lockdown. And somewhere out there, Cade is hunting a man who is currently dating my sister, all because I thought I could handle the shadows on my own.

The guard tried grabbing me again. I shoved him into the side of the van and fumbled with the lock. My hands shook so badly I almost dropped the key. Then the cuffs clicked open. The sound felt louder than everything else. Freedom. The back doors had not been secured properly. One of them had shifted open during the sudden stop. Cold air rushed through the gap. I kicked the injured guard away from me and threw myself toward the opening. Behind me somebody screamed. Ahead of me was darkness. I chose darkness.

My fingers closed around the handle of a crowbar—short, rusted, heavy. I tested the weight. Smiled in the dark. He thought he could lock me away. He thought he could break me the way he broke my mother. He was wrong. I walked back to the door. Raised the crowbar. And started swinging. The first hit rang like a bell—metal on metal, loud enough to echo in the small space. Again. Again. The lock groaned. The door buckled. I didn’t stop. Because this time, I wasn’t waiting for rescue.

I pushed through the pain, working faster now, until finally one of my hands slipped free. A small, breathless laugh escaped me. “Yes…” I quickly freed my other hand, then dropped down to work on my legs, my fingers moving faster despite the tightness and the pressure building around me. It took a few more moments, but eventually, the last knot gave way. I was free. I stood up immediately and rushed toward Cynthia, my eyes already scanning the cage. “Come on,” I said urgently. “We’re getting you out of here.” Cynthia’s cage was secured with a heavy padlock, thick and unyielding, the kind meant to keep something dangerous locked away forever. But right now, I didn’t care how strong it looked.

My smile disappeared immediately. I tried again. Harder this time. Still nothing. The door refused to move. My heart sank. No. No. No. Slowly, realization dawned on me. The door was locked. Locked from the outside. For a moment, I simply stood there staring at it. Then anger started building inside me.Of course. Of course it would be locked. Why had I thought escaping would be that easy? Why had I allowed myself to believe freedom was finally within reach? My hands tightened around the doorknob.

“Find the hospital. Find out whose sperm they used. Someone tried to give me a child carrying only the Vane name, but not our blood.” And just like that, the meeting was over. Lila might have been spared—for now. But the baby’s fate was another story. I shivered. What kind of monster could Lila be, to drag an innocent child into this nightmare? On the way home, Lucien noticed my silence. His hand brushed mine. “You’re still thinking about your sister’s baby, aren’t you?” I pressed my palm over my stomach, sighing. “I just hope—whatever happens—they won’t hurt him. The baby’s innocent.”

"Foolish girl. Did you really think you could stop this? You're nothing. You've always been nothing." Black spots dance across my vision. I claw at his hand, but his grip is iron. I'm dying. We're all dying. Then I hear it. A child's voice, weak but defiant. "Leave her alone!" One of the caged children has managed to grab a piece of broken iron, using it to strike at the lock. It's futile, the lock is too strong, but the gesture reminds me why I'm here. I'm not fighting for myself. I'm fighting for them.

I used the inheritance my father left me to buy an apartment. My boyfriend, a designer by trade, handled the renovations. It was only after I moved in that I discovered he had registered all three of his childhood friends for permanent fingerprint access. I was the legal owner, and all I had was a temporary passcode. He said, "We all grew up together. They're practically family." Before long, my study had been converted into a livestream studio for one of them. The terrace was covered in their belongings, and the entryway held four matching pairs of house slippers. None of them were mine. On the night of my birthday, I worked overtime until the early hours of the morning. By the time I g

The family vault door creaked open at midnight. Cold air rushed out, carrying the scent of old paper and dust. My flashlight beam cut through the darkness as we stepped inside together. This vault holds generations of secrets. Now it holds the last threat to mine. My thoughts spun wildly. After the police took Harlan, I thought it was finally over. But here we are again. One more shadow refusing to die. I feel so tired. So raw. Like the girl who fell in love in the blizzard has been fighting storms ever since.

I spent one million dollars of my own money installing a smart access-control system throughout Crescent Bay. The day it was installed, the property manager promised me, "Tell us if you ever need anything. We'll make sure it's taken care of." That promise lasted until this New Year's, when my parents came to stay with me. The temperatures were well below freezing that day, but my elderly parents were forced to stand outside the entrance while they tried the facial-recognition system three times. The gate didn't budge. The security guard took one look at them and snapped impatiently, "You two aren't in the system. You can't come in." I called the property manager the second I heard about