Victor Blackwood never stepped past the iron gates of Elena’s estate because he didn’t need to.The black sedan rolled to a stop just outside the compound with it engine still running while the night air heavy with the scent of rain and polished stone.Victor remained seated in the back with his posture relaxed, one arm resting against the door, while his fingers lightly tapping the leather as his eyes fixed on the house beyond the gates.Something was wrong.Elena’s home had always carried a certain controlled, alert, and quietly tense energy, but it felt hollow tonight, with fewer guards, less movement and no lights blazing from the upper floors the way she usually kept them on when she was in residence.Victor tilted his head slightly while the driver glanced back “Sir?”“Wait” Victor said calmly.One of Elena’s guards approached the car a moment later, stopping a respectful distance away and then the man bowed his head slightly before speaking “Mr. Blackwood”Victor didn’t respond

Seraphina sat quietly by the small window watching the late afternoon sun stretch across the fields like a promise the world was still willing to keep.The past few days had been strange though not loud and not dramatic but heavy in a way that settled into her bones and the kind of heaviness that came after survival when the danger had passed but the consequences remained.Her body was still weak with her steps still careful but her mind had begun to clear and for the first time since she woke up in that unfamiliar place, fear was no longer the loudest thing inside her.Mira’s house was modest, warm and alive in a way Seraphina hadn’t realized she’d been craving, while the smell of cooked food lingered in the air and the sound of animals moving calmly outside reminded her that not everything in the world ran on betrayal and ambition.Mira entered the room quietly carrying a bowl of soup.“You’ve been staring out there for a while” she said gently, “Thinking again?”Seraphina smiled fa

The house felt wrong while Adrian sat on the edge of the couch where he had dropped himself after shutting down the security feed, with is elbows resting on his knees and his hands hanging loosely between them, fingers slack as if they no longer remembered their purpose while his gaze was fixed on the blank wall ahead but he wasn’t seeing it.Time passed but he didn’t know how much while the clock continued ticking somewhere behind him with each second stretching unnaturally long but Adrian didn’t turn to look, he didn’t move, didn’t even breathe properly because it was as though his body had decided that motion itself was a mistake, that if he stayed still enough, the last hour might rewind on its own.‘Elena should have been there’ the thought rose slowly and painfully like a wound being pressed from the inside.She should have been standing by the window teasing him about how serious he looked when he was thinking and she should have been complaining about the temperature or asking

Elena woke slowly and it was the kind of waking that came with confusion before fear while the room was unfamiliar, too clean and too quiet with white walls, a narrow window barred from the outside light by thick blinds, a single chair, and a bed bolted to the floor but Elena’s wrists were free, and her ankles too.Elena pushed herself upright at once with her breath sharp and her heart pounding as memory rushed back in fragments; laughter with Adrian, stepping outside and the sudden presence behind her, the smell of fabric and metal, and then darkness swallowing everything whole.She scanned herself quickly but there was no pain, no bruises, and no restraints but just a locked door.Elena slid off the bed and crossed the room in three quick steps, testing the handle ‘Locked’She exhaled slowly pressing her forehead against the cool metal “So this is how it begins” she murmured.Footsteps sounded outside the door.Elena straightened immediately, spine rigid, and chin lifted while she

Rhea stayed close to Adrian that night closer than she ever had before, she didn’t hover, didn’t fuss the way people usually did when tragedy hung in the air but she simply sat beside him on the couch close enough that her shoulder brushed his arm and close enough that he could feel her steady breathing when his own felt too shallow and too uneven.“Elena will be found” Rhea said softly for what felt like the tenth time.Adrian didn’t respond because his eyes were fixed on the dark television screen across the room, though it wasn’t even turned on while the reflection staring back at him didn’t look like him anymore since the sharp controlled man who always knew his next move had been replaced by someone hollow-eyed and restless.“I need you to listen to me” Rhea continued while turning slightly so she could face him, “I know this feels impossible right now but panicking won’t bring her back. You have to hold yourself together.”Adrian finally blinked with his jaw tightened.“I don’t