Olivia’s POV
The hotel hallways felt different now.
Too quiet.
No distant footsteps, no chatter, not even the usual hum of soft music that most luxury ces yed to fill the si- lence. I walked with a steady pace, trying not to let my uneasiness show. The walls were polished, the carpets too clean, the lighting just dim enough to feel off.
I reminded myself— Amelia wouldn’t do anything reckless now. The Hawthrone family had power, yes, but not enough reason. They had already won. Ethan would get his clean break. Amelia would get her headlines. And I… would be gone.
I took a deep breath and checked the time on my phone. 7:40 p.m.
I typed out a message to Mike as I moved toward the main lobby: “I’m here…”
That’s when it happened.
A woman in a staff uniform turned the corner quickly and bumped right into me.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, ma’am,” she said, her, tone rushed and nervous. She looked like a hotel server-tight bun, tray tucked under one arm, ck cks and a crisp shirt.
“It’s fine,” I said automatically, distracted by my phone.
But the next second, I felt a sharp prick on the side of my neck.
My hand flew up in reflex, but it was already toote.
“What the hell-” I tried to say, but my voice didn’te out fully.
The woman muttered, “Careful, let me help you,” as she slipped one arm under mine, like she was assisting me. But her grip was too tight, too deliberate. I stumbled, my legs suddenly shaky.
Yve, my wolf, howled in warning inside me. Something’s wrong. Danger. Run.
But my limbs weren’t listening.
My vision blurred, and my knees buckled slightly as I was led away, down a side corridor off the main hall. I knew this hotel had dozens of quiet exits, private rooms, hidden service routes.
I wasn’t being helped. I was being taken.
0.0 %
13:29
Panic set in fully now, but my body refused to cooperate. My breath hitched, heart pounding, and I felt myself sway- ing like I might pass out. My fingers twitched. I couldn’t scream, but I remembered one thing-
My phone.
It was still in my pocket.
I fumbled for it, my hands shaking, my fingers barely working. The screen was still open to the message for Mike.
I couldn’t see clearly anymore. My eyes weren’t focusing, but I could feel the keyboard. I tapped blindly-maybe one or two more letters. Anything.
My thumb hit send.
The message went out.
Then everything started to go ck.
Alexander’s POV
The meeting with Twilight Pack ran longer than expected. We closed with whiskey.
I don’t drink much. One ss-enough to rx, not enough to forget.
I was in the lounge of my suite at the Ashmoon Hotel, sitting in silence, eyes half-shut. Mike entered without knock- ing. His footsteps were brisk.
He never walks that fast unless something’s wrong.
“Sir, I just got a message from Olivia Whitmore.”
I looked up.
“She texted me, but… something’s off.”
He handed me his phone.
The screen disyed a partial message. “I’m here…” followed by a string of letters that didn’t form any real word.
“athekp”
I frowned. Read it twice.
Not a typo. Not autocorrect. A random string under pressure. A warning.
I stood. “Call her.”
925
Mike tapped quickly. No answer. I took the phone from him and started a video call instead.
It rang. Then connected.
22.8 %
13:30
The screen was ck, jittery. Some movement-walls shing by. There was faint, rapid breathing. Something scuffed against the floor. A sharp sound like a shoe catching on tile. Then-
A muffled voice. Barely audible. But it was Olivia.
She wasn’t okay.
I ended the call. “Get to the front desk. Find out if she checked in. Now.”
Mike was already moving.
I grabbed my jacket and left the suite.
The hallway was too quiet for this time of night.
Mike called back within two minutes. “They said a woman matching her description came in just after seven. Dropped off a package. Didn’t leave. No record of her checking into a room. Just… disappeared.”
I was already moving.
“Where did they say she went?”
“They don’t know. One staff member said she was headed toward the tea room, but didn’t see her return.”
“Send me the hotelyout. Call security. Quietly.”
I turned the corner fast.
Someone had moved her off the grid inside a hotel I was staying in.
Olivia’s POV
They threw me onto the bed like a rag doll.
The room reeked of sweat and filth. There were five-no, six-men in towels standing around with disgusting smirks on their faces. Rogues. I could smell it through the chemical burn in my nostrils. My heart pounded against my ribs like a warning drum, but my limbs felt numb.
On the bed,id out at the foot, were objects I refused to let my eyes linger on-restraints, sex toys, syringes filled with thick yellow liquid.
Wolfsbane.
“Yve,” I whispered in my mind. “Can you fight? Can you take over?”
No response.
“Yve-please.”
Still nothing.
41.5 %
13:30
The drug was working.
“Pretty little thing,” one of the rogues muttered as he circled the bed.
“She looks even better than the picture,” another added, licking his lips.
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t scream. I tried to sit up, but one of them shoved me back down by the shoulder.
“She’s already going under,” the first oneughed. “Guess we better hurry.”
Then came a voice-female. The waitress. She’d shed her smile now. Her face was nk, cold.
She pulled the agreement from my bag. “Don’t forget to mark this, sweetie.”
I stared at her nkly as she forced the paper under my hand and pressed it against the inkpad, then onto the page. “There. Legal and clean. Thanks for cooperating.”
“Who are you?” I rasped.
Her eyes flickered with amusement. “Your husband doesn’t want to pay after the divorce. This just makes it easier.”
Her words hit me like a p.
My body went cold. “Ethan… ?”
“No need to look so surprised,” she said. “He said you wouldn’t take it well. But don’t worry, once the footage is done, no one will be talking aboutpensation anymore.”
I refused to believe it. Ethan was cruel. A liar. A cheater. But this?
I fumbled for my phone with trembling hands. My fingers were slippery, weak, but I unlocked the screen and called him.
It rang.
Then-click. He cut the call.
I called again. This time it didn’t even ring fully.
Third time-I got an answer.
But it wasn’t him.
“Hi, darling,” Chole’s voice purred. “Miss me?”
I went still. My breath locked in my chest.
“Oh, don’t look so shocked. Ethan’s not picking up. He’s with me now-getting ready for our engagement party to- morrow night. I just thought I’d answer, since you’re dying to know.”
“Chole…”
61.5%
13:30
# 139 M
Sheughed. “Oh, you poor thing. You still don’t get it, do you? This? All of this? I arranged it.”
“You-”
“Yep. Those guys? My gift to you. They’ll have some fun, and we’ll make sure the world sees every second. By this time tomorrow, you’ll be a trending disgrace. A slut who begged for it. You’ll lose your family, your friends. Your name will mean nothing.”
“You…”
“Oh, cut the crap!” she said. “Let’s see if you’re still so defiant once they start injecting that wolfsbane. You’ll be too weak to cry.”
“Ethan wouldn’t…”
“Oh, honey,” sheughed. “He’s the one who signed off on it. You cost him too much. This way, you cost nothing.”
I stared at the screen, hearing her breath as she whispered. “Die slowly, Olivia. It’s all you deserve.”
The phone slid from my hand. My arms were too heavy to move.
The rage came after. White-hot. Blinding.
She wanted to destroy me.
No, she already had.
The waitress gave a nod, and the camera light flicked on.
The men closed in. My blouse was ripped open. My arms were yanked and tied to the bedposts. One of them sat on my legs, another groped my thighs.
“Hold her still,” the fat one said, stepping forward with the syringe.
I clenched my eyes shut. I didn’t want to see their faces.
All I could think about was revenge.
And then-
The door was kicked open.
83.1.9%
13:30
Alexander’s POV