"He had many people's blood on his hands and one woman in his heart."
She woke up with a pounding headache, a strange tattoo, and memories of her family being brutally attacked. All because of the documents she stole. Now, protected by one of the wo...
Adrian has been pacing, back and forth across the cold stone floor of this godforsaken place that reeks of mold, mildew, and old blood. His boots strike the ground in a rhythmic, maddening pattern, like a metronome counting down to my execution. He didn't look at me, not yet. But I kmew he felt my eyes on him. I knew he's waiting for me to react, to flinch, to beg, to break.
But I won't.
Not even now. Not even here.
My arms are chained behind me, the metal biting into my wrists. My fingers twitch involuntarily, pins and needles from disuse and sedation. My head lolls forward, neck aching under the weight of the drugs still swimming in my system.
He dosed me carefully, precisely, never enough to knock me out completely. Just enough to render me useless. A limp rag doll who can feel everything but do nothing about it.
That's the point.
Cruelty with surgical precision.
But I've learned to think through the fog. I've learned to plan through it.
I had six plans when I realized Adrian was behind the abduction.
Plan One: Seduce him. Get close enough to earn a moment of freedom. Use his delusion against him. He wants me? Let him believe he can have me. That was the easiest plan to form—and the first to fail. He doesn't want consent. He wants control.
Plan Two: Fake illness. Collapse. Seize. Make them panic. Force them to loosen their grip. But Adrian didn't flinch. He just watched. Took notes. Like I was an experiment.
Plan Three: Ask for the bathroom. Make a mess. Create chaos. Hide something sharp. A weapon, a tool, anything. But the bathroom was a bucket in the corner. And I wasn't allowed privacy.
Plan Four: Steal his phone. Even five seconds could be enough. Pin a location. Send one word. "Alive." "Here." "Zayn." But Adrian never brings the phone close anymore.
Plan Five and Six: Hybrid efforts. Mix seduction with panic. Combine feigned weakness with stolen moments. All of it, flawed. All of it, failed.
Because Adrian is careful
Because Adrian is obsessed.
And because Adrian knows Zayn is coming.
He's not just preparing for an attack. He's welcoming it.
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"You don't understand what she took from me!" Adrian screamed into the phone, his voice echoing off the crumbling wallpaper. His hand griped the receiver like he's strangling it. He had been talking to his mother a lot. He had been screaming, shouting at her.
