Chapter 223

Ella

After everything went dark, I found myself in a dream—no, a nightmare, as I quickly found out.

I was in my old bedroom, back at my parents’ penthouse. The room was dark, with only the lights from the city shining through the window, casting a blue shaft of light across the room. I stepped into that shaft of light and tilted my face up at the sky. Everything was peaceful; it was as if I was a teenager again, enjoying my solitude.

“Ella.”

The sound of Moana’s voice caught my attention. I turned to see her standing behind me, half of her face shaded by the shadows. A soft smile touched my lips, and I held my arms out for her.

“Mom.”

But she didn’t come. She just stood there, staring at me, and that was when I saw it: her eyes, so filled with hatred, so filled with malice.

“Mom?”

“I never wanted you,” she hissed, motionless, her eyes glinting in the dark. “You always ruined everything. Always made it so difficult. Just like your real mother.”

I furrowed my brow; this wasn’t like Moana. She never would have said something like that. “What do you mean?” I asked, taking a step forward. “Is this some kind of joke?”

But Moana just laughed, taking another step back in an attempt to widen the gap between us. Her body was almost entirely engulfed by shadows now, with only a single freckled shoulder and a few strands of red hair to be made out. “I should have left you at the orphanage,” she said. “Your father asked me to. Said you reminded him too much of your bitch of a mother.”

“Mom—”

“Don’t call me that,” she hissed, her eyes glowing a menacing red in the darkness. “I’m not your mother.”

As Moana spoke, tears filled my eyes. “That’s not true,” I whispered. “You’re the only mom I’ve ever known.”

“No one wants you, Ella,” Moana hissed in response. She took another step back, and was fully engulfed in the shadows now. “Not even Logan.”

“That’s not—”

“Ella!”

A scream pierced the darkness, but it wasn’t Moana. It was Daisy, and she was in distress. I whipped my head around to see Daisy in the distance, her small hands reaching for me. Something was dragging her backwards into the void, and her screams were deafening.

“Ella, help me!” she shrieked. “Please, help me!”

“Daisy!” I shouted, my own voice filled with desperation. “Hold on, I’m coming!”

She continued to cry out my name, her voice filled with terror as the invisible hands pulled her away. I began racing toward her, but with each step, Daisy seemed to get further away. Moana, however, remained right on my heels.

Except it wasn’t Moana anymore. It was my mother; my biological mother.

“It’s always your fault,” she whispered in my ear, keeping pace with me as I ran. “Always, always your fault.”

“You’re lying,” I responded. “That’s not true.”

“Oh, but dear, it is,” she hissed in return. “You ruined what I had with your father. All of that money, gone to waste. Gone to you. And now, you’re killing the only thing that’s keeping your family together. Poor little Daisy.”

I swallowed, trying to ignore her. Daisy was just out of reach, and I lunged for her, but missed. She was always just one step away, always just far enough so that my fingers couldn’t make contact with hers. And her screams, oh, her screams…

“See what you’ve done?” my mother jeered. “You destroy everything you touch. Everything. Daisy will die because of you. Logan will die because of you.”

“That’s… that’s not true,” I whimpered. “That’s not true. You’re lying!”

But my mother just laughed. She stopped running alongside me, and her voice shifted, shifted into that of a man’s. Logan.

“You’re killing all of us, Ella.”

I stopped in my tracks, and everything fell silent. Daisy’s screams faded into the distance, and I turned to see Logan standing there, his eyes filled with just as much hatred and malice as Moana’s and my mother’s.

“You’re killing us,” he repeated. “You’re killing Daisy, and you’re killing me.”

The tears that had been filling my eyes began to stream down my cheeks now. “You don’t believe that, Logan,” I choked out. “All I’ve done is try to keep everyone safe.”

“And yet, you failed,” he retorted, taking a step closer to me. “You should have gone home when your parents told you to, but you were selfish. You really thought you could change this hell hole of a city? All you’ve done is spread it to your sister like an infection.”

“That’s not—”

“You’re just a spoiled little heiress,” he continued without missing a beat. “You had everything, but you thought you were better than everyone, that you could change the world. Tsk. Such a lofty goal for such an insipid little girl. Your father paid your way through law school. You know nothing, have accomplished nothing… except for putting your sister in danger, and hooking up with a good-for-nothing mobster.”

I felt frozen to my spot as Logan spoke. His words cut deep, like a knife twisting in a wound. I felt my body begin to tremble, my hands curling up into fists at my sides.

But then anger took over.

“No,” I whispered. “This isn’t real. You don’t mean that.”

“I do, Ella. I hate—”

“This isn’t real,” I said, turning away. “It’s not real. And I’m going to save my sister.”

“But Ella—”

I blocked his voice out, hearing it fade into the distance as I took off again. Up ahead, I saw Daisy once more, still being dragged away by those invisible hands. “Ella!” she shrieked.

Her voice was like a guiding light, giving me the strength to fight against the sluggishness that was overtaking my body. Logan’s voice still echoed behind me, shouting obscenities and growing more monstrous by the moment, but I paid him no mind. None of it was true. I grit my teeth, pushing forward until, in a final leap of determination, I threw my arms around her, pulling her close.

“I’ve got you, Daisy,” I assured her, relief flooding through me. “No one will hurt you.”

“Oh, Ella,” Daisy whimpered, “I thought they were going to kill me.”

“Don’t worry,” I said softly. “I’m here”

But as I looked down, my relief turned to horror. Daisy had vanished from my embrace, and my arms were empty. My eyes frantically searched the darkness until they landed on a sight that chilled me to the bone—Daisy’s body, now limp, being dragged away by those unseen hands.

I felt frozen, powerless to move or act. A scream tore from my throat, a sound so raw and filled with anguish that it jolted me awake.

…

My eyes snapped open, and I was immediately hit with a wave of severe pain in my head and an overwhelming sense of nausea.

I fought the urge to retch, using the breathing techniques I had learned during Alpha training to steady myself. Gradually, the room swam into focus, revealing a dimly lit garage, the air heavy with the smell of rubber and gasoline.

“Ema?” I called out in my mind, seeking the comfort and guidance of my wolf. “Are you okay? Where are we?”

But there was no response. Ema was silent, unreachable. I struggled to piece together what I could remember, and slowly, it came back into focus in my mind; and the realization dawned on me that whoever had taken me, when they had injected something into my arm, had used a drug potent enough to suppress my abilities, putting both me and Ema into a deep, unnatural sleep.

I had to get out of here, wherever ‘here’ was. I tested the ropes tying me to the chair, trying to see if I could wriggle free—but my body was too weak, my movements sluggish. The nausea persisted, and no matter how much I reached out to Ema, she remained unresponsive, lost in a drug-induced slumber. Without her strength, I was useless.

A voice then broke the silence, taunting me from the shadows. “Did you enjoy your sleep, Ella?”

I strained against my restraints, panic setting in as I tried to locate the source of the voice. “Who’s there? Show yourself!” I demanded, my voice echoing off the walls.

The voice—a man’s—moved, its source shifting in the darkness. “This will all be over soon,” he said, his tone chillingly calm and oddly familiar, although I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

“Where have you taken me? Are you working with Marina?” I called out, my heart pounding in my chest.

The voice fell silent, leaving me in agonizing suspense. Tears filled my eyes as the gravity of the situation sank in. Had Marina discovered my role as a double agent? Was this the end?

Most importantly, where was my sister?

“Is Daisy safe?” I pleaded, desperation lacing my voice. “Please, don’t hurt her. She’s innocent. She’s just a kid. You can do whatever you want with me, but please, leave her out of this.”

Silence hung heavy in the air, my pleas seemingly falling on deaf ears. I continued to implore, my voice breaking with emotion. “She’s only fifteen. She hasn’t even begun to live her life. Please, I’m begging you.”

Then, out of the shadows, a figure stepped into the faint light. My breath caught in my throat as I recognized the familiar eyes beneath the shadow of a hat, the lower half of his face obscured by a bandana.

“Jet?”