ANNA’S POV
Everything was blurry at first, like my eyes were open but my head hadn’t caught up yet. I kept blinking, trying to steady my breath because something felt wrong, as if my whole body was made of pain, aches, tightness, pressure, and then I felt something digging into my wrists and ankles. That was when it hit me. I wasn’t just sitting. I was tied to a chair. A cold, heavy iron chair that didn’t even move while I jerked. Whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing. The ropes were so tight my fingers felt numb.
I wanted to scream, but I bit it back. Screaming would be useless if no one could hear me, and I wasn’t about to give whoever did this the joy of watching me panic.
“What’s going on?” I whispered, my voice trembling. I tested the ropes again, slower this time, and the metal scraped my skin. The last thing I remembered was walking into that beautiful house, with the tall white pillars, the clean smell, the shining glass, and then everything went black. Now I was here. I didn’t know how long I’d been out. I didn’t know who brought me. I didn’t know if anyone knew where I was.
Was it Sophie? The girl who called herself my friend, who said she could help me remember? “No, no, no,” I muttered, shaking my head while tears burned behind my eyes. I didn’t want to believe I was that stupid, to walk right into a trap just because I wanted answers. But if it wasn’t Sophie, then who?
The room around me looked wrong for a kidnapping. It was clean. Bright. Big windows covered with thick curtains. A mirror on one wall. A vase of white flowers near the door. It looked like something out of a magazine, not a place you’d die in. That alone was enough to terrify me more.
I told myself not to cry for help. Not yet. I’d wait. I’d free myself. If I could loosen even one wrist, I’d break the window, run, scream, anything. I twisted my wrist again, biting my lip to muffle the sound, but the chair clinked softly.
The door opened.
“She’s awake… hehehe.” noveldrama
The voice slid under my skin, sweet and cruel all at once.
“Sophie?” I asked.
She stood in the doorway, beautiful as ever, with perfect hair and makeup and a smile that didn’t touch her eyes. She tilted her head like she was admiring a trapped insect.
“Yes, that’s me,” she said, laughing again. I shuddered. That laugh didn’t sound right, as if it belonged to something pretending to be human.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked, forcing my voice to stay calm.
Her smile dropped instantly, replaced by something cold. “Why?” she repeated, stepping closer. “Because I hate you, Anna. I hate you so so so much! Do you even remember the stairs?”
My stomach twisted. “What stairs-”
94
“I pushed you,” she said, her voice sharp and steady. “I shoved you down those stairs. I watched you hit every step. Watched you lose the baby. Watched your memory fade. Watched you disappear.” She said it all with a kind of pride that made my skin crawl. “And if I had to, I’d do it again.”
I felt the words slice through me harder than her hand when it came across my face. The slap made my head snap to the side, but I stayed quiet.
“Why?” I whispered.
“Because I want you dead,” Sophie said simply. “Because you stole him from me.”
Another slap. “Do you know who I am? I’m the daughter of an Alpha King. That means I can do whatever I want. If anything happens here, no one will care. My father will bury it all.”
She leaned close enough that I could smell her perfume, roses mixed with something darker. “Now, what I want is simple. I want you gone.”
From behind her back, she pulled a small device. A metal box with blinking red lights. My stomach dropped. A bomb.
“I’ve waited for this day,” she said, almost cheerfully. “Planned it. Dreamed about it. And you made it so easy. You really are pathetic.”
My heart pounded so hard it hurt. “What do you want?” I asked quickly. “If it’s money, my family can pay, anything, just please-”
Another slap, harder. I tasted blood while my lips trembled. “Do I look poor to you?” she hissed. “I have money. What I don’t have is Ryan. I can’t have him while you’re still alive. He looks at you like you’re the only one that exists. I hate it. I hate you.”
“Don’t do this,” I said, my voice breaking despite myself.
“Say your last wish,” she said softly, her thumb hovering over the switch. “Once I turn this on, you’ll have only a few minutes left.”
“Please,” I said. “Please don’t.”
She mimicked me in a childish voice. “Please don’t,” she repeated, laughing. “Cry. Scream. This house is sealed. Soundproof. Isolated. And I heard your wolf’s gone, so no one’s coming for you. Okay??!”
When I didn’t answer, she grabbed my foot and pressed her heel into it, hard. Pain shot up my leg like fire while I couldn’t stop the scream that tore out of me. She kicked the chair then, a sudden violent motion that sent me crashing sideways. The metal slammed against the floor, my shoulder hit first, and my head cracked so hard against the ground I saw stars.
For a second, everything rang. The world tilted as if it was spinning. I couldn’t breathe. I blinked fast, trying to fight the darkness closing in.
Above me, Sophie’s voice drifted like static through the ringing in my ears. “Goodbye, Anna,” she said sweetly, almost singing it. “Good riddance to bad rubbish.”
Then came the sharp click of the time bomb arming itself, and she laughed… soft, satisfied, cruel.
94
Something inside me snapped awake. The fear was still there, but rage swallowed it whole, burning through the fog until all that was left was anger. I wasn’t going to die here. Not like this.
I twisted my wrists, ignoring the sting as the ropes tore into my skin. Warm blood slicked my palms, but I kept pulling, harder, faster, until one knot slipped loose. I gritted my teeth and yanked again and again, and then… finally, my right hand came free.
Sophie was already walking toward the door, humming like this was all a game she’d already won. The time bomb blinked on the floor beside me, its red light pulsing faster.
I freed my other wrist, then my ankles, the rope falling away like dead weight. My whole body shook while I stood, dizzy and raw, but I didn’t care.
She didn’t even hear me move.
I reached out, grabbed a fistful of her perfect hair, and yanked her backward so hard she screamed.
Sara Lili
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
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