"You're not going to rot in this house doing nothing," her father's voice roared across the marble-floored hallway, sharp like glass. "You think you're a brat? You and that useless brother of yours will start school. I don't care what either of you thinks."
Alex didn't flinch. She'd learned not to. Tears only made him worse.
Eliolor stood behind her, silent, his hands clenched into trembling fists. His father's words rolled off like a storm, hitting every corner of the room, soaking them in shame.
"Why do you walk like you own the place?" their father spat, turning to Eliolor. "You're a man now. Act like it. You're not a little boy anymore! I want you in the court. Now. You'll learn discipline the hard way."
With a cruel grin, he shoved a tennis racket into Eliolor's hand and barked at the guards. "Follow me. We play."
And just like that, it was law.
Then came the unexpected — a wad of cash slammed into Alex's hands.
"You'll go buy your school things. Uniform. Shoes. Whatever nonsense you need," he growled. "But don't try to pull another stunt. You remember the last time."
She remembered.
It had been a rainy night. She had slipped out of the gate barefoot, her heart thudding louder than the thunder above. She hadn't gotten far. The guards dragged her back, and her father… oh, he hadn't spared her. His hands came down like fire. Slaps. Kicks. He beat her until she could barely move, until her ribs felt like broken glass. She had collapsed, her skin raw, her spirit shattered. If not for her mother, she wouldn't have survived that night.
But her mother wasn't here anymore.
This time, her father added a cold layer of fear — guards. Two of them. Strong, trained, and watching her like hawks.
As she stepped out, dressed casually in jeans and a pale pink hoodie, the two men shadowed her like she was a criminal on parole. She was supposed to feel free. But there were invisible shackles on her ankles.
Back at the house, Eliolor was missing every shot. The tennis ball bounced past him again and again. His father's rage was barely held together.
"Stand like a man!" he bellowed. "Is this what I raised? A coward? You'll shame me in public next? You think I'll let this family fall like your mother tried to do?"
Eliolor's lips tightened, but he said nothing.
Later, after Alex had left for the mall, her father stormed into her room. Maybe he was still boiling. Maybe he just wanted to remind himself that he controlled everything. But something under her bed caught his eye — a folded piece of paper, aged slightly, torn at the edges.
He snatched it out.
His eyes scanned the handwriting.
> "Dear Mom,
I don't know where you are. I don't even know if you're okay.
But I miss you. So much I can't breathe sometimes.
Eliorlo is getting worse. I think something inside me is… changing.
I don't know what it is,
…"
The rest was a blur. The fury was instant.
"Guards!" he barked into his phone. "Bring Alex back. Now!"
---
At the mall, Alex tried to move like she was free. She stopped by a bookstore, touched a few pens she didn't need. But then — it happened.
A boy. Not more than nineteen. Tall, dark curls that brushed his brow. His eyes, piercing and soft at once, locked with hers across the aisle.
For a second, everything paused. She didn't know him. But it felt like he knew her pain. Like his soul had been stitched with threads of the same sorrow. And he smiled — not in a flirtatious way. In a knowing way.
Then hands grabbed her. Rough. Disrespectful.
"Let's go," one of the guards barked.
"Wait—" she tried to resist, but they pulled her like an object, her arm twisted behind her. The boy stood frozen, eyes wide, unsure if it was real.
"Let's go!" the guard snapped again, and she was shoved into the back seat of the waiting black car.
She looked out the window. The boy was still there. Watching. Confused. Maybe curious. Maybe afraid.
But she was gone.
Back at home, her father stood by the fireplace, eyes blazing, the letter clenched in his fist.
"She thinks she can be like her mother," he whispered to himself. "That brat… she's mine. And I'll remind her who she belongs to.""What will happen to Alex now? Will anyone ever save her from this nightmare? Read on… 💔🔥"