Eira's pov
When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was the silence.
Not the eerie kind that hung like a threat in Draven's mansion. This one was… different. A stillness that felt untouched. The sheets beneath me were clean, crisp. The air was scented faintly with eucalyptus. No chains. No guards. Just a dim room with pale curtains fluttering slightly from a cracked window.
I sat up slowly, every limb aching like I'd run for miles and lost a fight to the wind itself. My throat burned, my head throbbed, and my heart,my heart was drumming a panicked rhythm against my ribs.
Where the hell am I?
The last thing I remembered was… falling.
Falling into Draven's arms. Screaming that I didn't need him. That I'd burn the world without him.
And then,darkness.
I swung my legs over the bed and scanned the room.
Sterile. Minimalistic. Clean. But not cold.
This wasn't his mansion.
It wasn't any place I'd ever been.
But the instant comfort that tried to sneak in was quickly shoved back by the surge of panic rushing up my spine.
He moved me.
He took me somewhere without asking.
Did he lock me up again?
I stood and stormed toward the door. My legs shook, weak from exhaustion, but I forced them steady. I tugged at the handle,it wasn't locked. That surprised me more than I cared to admit. It was nothing like the cage I was kept it.
A hallway waited beyond. Wood-paneled walls. No guards. Just a long corridor and the faint hum of something mechanical down the line. I tiptoed back into the room and searched.
A desk. A locked drawer.
Too easy.
Draven always left little puzzles when he wanted to feel powerful. He loved holding knowledge like a loaded gun. But I was done playing fair.
I dropped to my knees and pulled a small blade from the lining of my boot,a habit he'd never broken me of, no matter how many times he tried not like he even knew about it. I jammed it into the lock and twisted. It took more force than I thought, but eventually,
Click.
The drawer slid open.
Inside, a stack of folders. Labeled. Organized.
Antonio.
Snow.
Chloe.
And at the very bottom,Hazel.
My fingers hesitated over that one. I hadn't heard Hazel's name in days, hadn't dared speak it, not even to myself. But curiosity snapped its fingers, and I obeyed. I flipped it open.
Photos.
Draven wasn't in most of them. But Antonio was. Draven, Younger, smugger, his arm wrapped around Hazel like she was something delicate he was trying to ruin slowly. His eyes,so often blank and emotionless,held a softness when he looked at her.
My stomach churned.
He loved her. Not in the way Draven claimed he loved. Not possession. Something closer to longing. Obsession, maybe. But real.
And Hazel? She looked… happy.
Not the fake, forced smiles we wore when we were surviving. But genuinely lit up, like she didn't know her world would one day shatter into ash.
I flipped deeper.
Letters. Notes. Communications with someone named "N.O." Discussing movement. A payment wired under Chloe's name. Surveillance images of a girl I didn't know, tracked across three cities. The locations were familiar. The pattern undeniable.
They were hunting someone.
And they were using Snow's name to do it. Or perhaps snow and Chloe were the same person?
A deep chill slid down my spine.
Was Draven telling the truth?
Was Snow still alive?
Just then, the floor creaked outside.
I snapped the folder shut and shoved everything back into the drawer. Locked it as best I could with the broken mechanism and sprang to my feet just as the door opened.
Edward stood there, balancing a tray in his hands.
He looked… older. Paler. Like he hadn't slept in days. But I didn't care.
I crossed my arms. "Don't you people knock?"
He blinked, surprised at the venom in my tone. "I...sorry. I just wanted to check on you."
"And bring food. How thoughtful. Was that your idea or Draven's?"
The corners of his mouth tightened. "Both."
"Of course." I turned away and sat at the desk, far from the bed. "Because now that I've collapsed, I'm suddenly precious again."
He stepped inside cautiously and set the tray down on a nearby table. "You've been out for two days, Eira. We were worried."
We. That word crawled under my skin.
"You think this little vacation cottage makes up for everything he's done?"
"No," he said quietly. "It doesn't."
That stopped me.
I turned slowly. "So you admit it?"
Edward sighed and leaned against the wall. "I never said Draven was perfect. None of us are. But he's trying."
My laugh came sharp and bitter. "Trying? He tortured me for weeks. He locked me up like a damn animal. Used me worse than a sex doll. He treated me like a threat while hiding things I had every right to know."
"You were a threat," he said gently. "To him. To yourself."
"Oh, please," I snapped. "Don't stand there and gaslight me."
Edward didn't flinch. "He was afraid. Of losing you. Of you getting caught in Antonio's crosshairs. He thought you two were accomplices. Until he realised your weren't the one he has been looking for all these years"
"I don't even know Antonio," I snapped. "Why would he be after me?"
Edward hesitated, and that tiny pause made my skin crawl.
"Why?" I demanded, standing. "What aren't you telling me?"
"I'm not the one you should ask," he said. "But… if you read those files, then you already know part of it."
I froze.
So he knew.
He knew I'd opened the drawer.
My heartbeat kicked up a notch. "If Draven knew I'd touched that drawer, he'd lose it."
"No," Edward said. "He wanted you to find them."
I blinked.
"What?"
"He asked me to leave the key hidden in the desk," Edward admitted. "He said… if you really wanted answers, you'd take them. And if you didn't, you weren't ready."
I sank back into the chair.
He wanted me to find them?
"But why now?" I asked, my voice softer. "Why not just tell me the truth?"
Edward looked at me with sad eyes. "Because Draven only knows how to protect by hiding. He thinks the truth is a weapon that can't be trusted in just anyone's hands. Especially not the hands of someone he loves."
The silence wrapped around us like a noose.
He loves you. Nonsense!
That sentence rang in my head like a church bell.
And for the first time in weeks, I didn't know what to believe.