Everything ached.
My head pulsed like a warning siren, each throb syncing with the deep, rhythmic pain in my ribs. My lips were cracked. My wrists, shackled above me, screamed with tension from the chains. Cold. That was the first thing I felt besides the pain. Damp, biting cold curling around my ankles and clawing into my bones.
Then-light.
A flicker. A door creaked open, casting long shadows on the concrete floor. Boots clicked against the ground. Too confident. Too familiar.
Then came the perfume.
It hit me like a slap-sweet, expensive, and painfully recognizable.
Riley.
I blinked against the light and forced my head up, every movement a war. My vision blurred before sharpening on her. She strutted in like she owned the place. No-like she owned me. Makeup flawless. Dress tight and shimmering gold. Hair in perfect curls. Like she'd just stepped out of a runway show, not a torture chamber.
And she was smiling.
My stomach turned.
"Hey there, sunshine," she cooed, holding a tray of food. "Thought I'd bring you something warm. Don't say I never did anything for you."
She walked over and crouched down. Her eyes glittered. Not with kindness. With cruelty.
She set the tray on the ground and kicked it toward me. It clattered against the concrete.
I stared at it.
"Not hungry?" she asked sweetly. When I didn't answer, she stood, grabbed the tray again, and launched the contents at me. Food splattered across my legs, the cold mess soaking into my torn shirt. I didn't even flinch.
"That's more like it," she said, pouting. "Silent treatment. Very original."
I turned my face away. My mouth was dry, lips pressed tight. I wasn't giving her the satisfaction.
She sighed, tapping her manicured nails against her hip. "Fine, be like that. But I bet you're dying to ask why I look so fabulous tonight."
I spat.
Not words.
Just spit.
Right onto the cold mush of food in front of me.
Her smile faltered, just for a second. A twitch. But she smoothed it back into place like a well-trained actress.
"Still got some fight in you," she said with a snort. "Good. Makes it more fun."
I met her eyes. My voice came low, cracked but steady. "I don't know who you are. And I don't care."
That did it.
Riley laughed. Not the light, melodic laugh I was used to. This one was sharp. Dark.
"You know," she said, slowly stepping around me, "I'm having the best night of my life. Thanks to you."
She leaned close, her voice dropping into my ear. "You and your naivety."
She backed away and crossed her arms, letting her head tilt like a curious cat. "You really thought we were friends? God, Blossom. You've always been like this. Dazed. Dreaming. Believing people just because they smile at you."
My breath caught. My hands clenched into fists despite the cuffs.
"You think I liked seeing you happy? Watching you get special attention? Watching Vincent fall for you like some brooding idiot?"
I blinked. Vincent...
"Thank God you didn't follow my brother when he asked you to. If you had, it would've ruined everything."
I wanted to scream. But all I could do was breathe through the fire building in my chest.
"You're sick," I whispered.
Riley's smile dropped. Her voice sharpened. "I'm smart, Blossom. You walked around like you were untouchable. Like your tragic little past gave you a free pass. Well, this is the real world."
She leaned in again, her tone suddenly syrupy. "And in the real world, girls like you lose. Because girls like me are playing a different game."
I didn't blink. Didn't look away. "What are you gaining from this?"
She pulled back, shrugged, and gave a small laugh. "What am I gaining? Everything."
Her gaze darkened. "I've been against you from the start. You were just too busy pretending everything was a fairytale to see it."
I felt the pain in my ribs spike again, but I didn't wince.
I stared at her, chains biting into my skin, blood dried on my temple.
"I'm not pretending anymore," I said quietly.
Riley's smile faltered.
And for just one second... she looked scared.
"You think I'm your friend? You thought I was your friend?" She laughed, sharp and unhinged. "God, you were so easy. You, Samantha, Lisa-all of you darlings prancing around in your bubblegum dreams. You believed I cared. You believed he did."
Her eyes glinted. "That makeup commercial you did? Yeah. The one that went viral? I cried in the bathroom. Literal tears. But I smiled and clapped for you, didn't I? Because that's what jealous little snakes do."
I felt the fury simmer in my gut. "You're pathetic."
That broke the glamour.
Her hands flew out. She grabbed the chain binding my wrist and pulled. Hard.
I gasped, the force snapping my head forward.
"You're not special!" she screamed. "He's not coming! Vincent won't save you! You're just a pawn-just another thing he likes to play with."
I kicked forward on instinct, the heel of my foot clashing into her jaw.
-----
The moment Riley slammed the metal door shut behind her, silence flooded the room again. But it wasn't the same silence I'd woken up to. This one buzzed-with rage, with tension, with something darker.
I was still slumped against the cold wall, every breath an ache, every twitch of my fingers a reminder of what she'd done. The sting of the chain around my wrists, the dull throb from where she'd tried to choke me, the copper tang of blood in my mouth-I wasn't sure whose.
I heard him before I saw him. Rion's steps were slow, deliberate, his shadow stretching into the room before his body followed. He shut the door quietly behind him. No slam. Just that eerie calm.
He looked at me like I was a puzzle he used to know how to solve-and now resented for being broken.
"Do you see what's happened here?" he asked, voice almost gentle.
I didn't answer.
He took a few steps closer. "I can make it stop."
My laugh was bitter. Hoarse. "You mean the pain you started?"
Rion's smile flickered, brief and tired. "You don't get it, do you? I've always had room for you in my heart. But you never noticed. Not once."
I held his gaze. "Because you were my friend. And I trusted you."
He crouched to my level, elbows on his knees, eyes burning into mine. "You think I didn't feel anything? Every time you smiled at someone else. Ignored me. Brushed me off."
I blinked. The room tilted slightly, and I realized how exhausted I really was.
"I didn't give up. Not until he showed up. That bastard Vincent... he came in, took what mattered most. Ruined everything."
His voice cracked for a second, and I saw it-the obsession. The resentment that had curdled into this moment.
"I really liked you, Bloom. Still do."
He reached forward and brushed my cheek with the back of his hand. I flinched.
"There's still a chance. I can make Riley disappear, the chains, the fear-all of it. Be by my side, and I'll free you. You could be mine. My queen."
I stared at him. At the boy who used to pass me candy in the third grade, who carried my backpack when it was too heavy. At the man now offering me freedom like a poisoned gift.
"You want an answer?" I said, my voice steel even as it trembled. "I only ever saw you as a friend-up until now, when you chose to become my enemy."
His eyes darkened.
"If you really cared, you wouldn't have let them hurt me. You wouldn't be here asking me to sell my soul for your bruised ego. All you're saying is bullshit. I don't want anything to do with you. Or Riley."
He stood slowly, something vicious flickering in his gaze. He towered over me now, and for a heartbeat, I wondered if I'd pushed too far. But I didn't regret a word.
Rion leaned down, close enough that I could smell the fury bleeding off him.
He then leaned in and pressed his lips on mine in a flash, I tried fighting him off but he pined me down instead.
He's strength was unmatched with mine.
I gasped for air as his hands moved up to my throat.
He then pulled away, but still remained close enough that our faces where inches away from each other.
"See?, You couldn't stop me.
I gave you an option and you rejected it twice." He frowned.
"If I can't have you no one can."
I remained silent.
"You're going to regret this."
I met his glare. "Then make me."
He stared a moment longer-then turned and left, the door clicking shut behind him.
And I was alone again. But not broken.
Never that.