Time blurs. Turns stretch too long. My body sways with motion I can’t track. Eventually, the SUV slows. Tires crunch over gravel. Gates hum open. Then stop.
Hands grip my arms again, and I’m hauled out, my feet touching ground for the first time since the courtyard. I stumble. Someone steadies me—not gently, not roughly. Efficiently.
I’m guided forward. Doors open. Cool air brushes my face.
Then the hood is yanked off.
Light floods my vision. I blink hard, sucking in a breath that catches painfully in my chest.
I’m standing inside a mansion.
Not a house.
Stone floors gleam beneath my feet. Black steel lines slice cleanly through the architecture. Glass walls rise high,overlooking a dark, endless forest. Everything is sharp. Modern. Cold. Controlled.
I turn to look ahead, and my stomach drops.
I see him.
Standing a few feet away, hands relaxed at his sides, expression unreadable.
The man from school.
My breath leaves me in a broken gasp. Horror crashes into confusion, into something worse. “You—” My voice trembles. “What…what is this?”
He doesn’t move.
Doesn’t speak.
Just watches me with that same unnerving stillness, like nothing about this is unexpected. Like this is exactly where I’m meant to be.
“Who are you?” I demand, panic sharpening my tone. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Silence.
My heart pounds so hard it hurts. “Answer me,” I say, voice cracking. “You can’t just—kidnap me. I’ll call the police. Do you hear me?”
I laugh, brittle and hysterical. “You’re insane. Who the hell are you?”
Still nothing.
His gaze never leaves my face.
And that’s when it hits me—the most terrifying realization yet.
This isn’t a mistake.
This isn’t a misunderstanding.
He knew exactly who I was. Not just from my report…he knew me before that.
“Are you done?” His voice is calm, measured, but the weight behind it sends a shiver down my spine.
“What?” I manage, my throat tight.
“You are not a victim of random violence,” he says, slow, deliberate. “You have been secured.”
The word makes my stomach twist.Secured.Like I’m property. Like I’m trapped.