Chapter 6
I didn't switch my phone off.
That was the first thing I knew for sure.
The screen had been glowing in my hand as I walked, my fingers cold around it, my thoughts louder than the city at night. I remember checking the time. I remember the ache in my chest. I remember thinking I should hurry.
Then the screen went black.
No vibration,no warning just went blank.
I stopped walking.
The street was quieter than it should have been. Not empty, but wrong , like the night was holding its breath. A car passed slowly, headlights dragging across the pavement, then disappeared.
I pressed the power button of my phone ,it still didn't come up.
A strange fear crept into my stomach. Not panic yet. Just discomfort. The kind that whispers something is off.
"Okay," I murmured to myself. "It's fine."
I started walking again, faster this time.
That's when a car stopped beside me.
It was dark , expensive, clean, too quiet. The window rolled down smoothly, revealing a man I didn't recognize. He looked normal enough. Calm and Polite.The kind of face you wouldn't remember twice.
"You're out late," he said gently. "Do you need a ride?"
I hesitated.
Every warning my father ever drilled into me stirred at once, but so did exhaustion. The road ahead felt long and Empty. My phone was dead. The night pressed closer.
"I'm almost home," I lied.
He smiled. "It's not safe walking alone this late."
I should have said no.
I should have kept walking.
But fear doesn't always look like screaming. Sometimes it looks like relief.
"Just drop me at the junction," I said.
He nodded easily. "Of course."
The door unlocked with a soft click.
The moment I sat inside, the air changed.
The scent was wrong ,sharp, unfamiliar. The doors locked automatically. The engine started before I could rethink it.
We drove.
Not toward the junction.
"Excuse me," I said, my voice tight. "You missed the turn."
"I know," he replied calmly.
My heart skipped.
"I said the junction."
"We're almost there,I'm using another route ."
The road grew darker. Houses thinned out and Streetlights vanished one by one.
Panic bloomed fully now.
"Stop the car," I said. Louder. "Please."
He didn't answer.
I reached for the door handle.
It wouldn't open.
That was when I knew wat was happening.
My breath came fast and shallow. My hands trembled as I pressed useless buttons, my mind racing too quickly to form a plan.
"Please," I whispered. "You don't have to do this."
He laughed softly.
That sound will haunt me forever.
The car stopped abruptly in front of a house I didn't recognize ,tall, isolated, lights off. He got out first, walked around, and opened my door.
"Get out."
I shook my head, my body refusing to move. "Please... please."
His grip tightened around my wrist. Strong and Unyielding.
I screamed.
The sound barely traveled.
Inside the house, everything smelled like dust and silence. He dragged me through a narrow hallway, my shoes scraping the floor, my heart pounding so hard it hurt.
"Let me go!" I cried, fighting, kicking and clawing.
He shoved me into a room.
The door slammed shut.
I backed away until my spine hit the wall. My chest felt like it was collapsing in on itself. Tears blurred my vision, but I refused to close my eyes.
He stepped closer.
"You should've stayed home," he said.
My hands shook violently as I raised them. "Please. I won't tell anyone. I swear."
He reached for me.
Everything inside me broke loose.
I fought like an animal.
I screamed until my throat burned. I kicked until my legs ached. I bit, scratched, begged all at once. Terror stripped me down to instinct.
He hit me.
Not hard enough to knock me out.
Just enough to weaken me.
I fell.
The world tilted.
He draged me off to the bed and stripped me off
I begged the whole time but he refused to listen ....
He unhooked his belt and lay upon me steadily,harsh and painfully.
He squeezed the life out of my breast ,it was so painful that I screamed to the extent I felt that my throat had bruised.
And then,A crash.
The door burst open so violently it cracked against the wall.
For a split second, everything froze.
The man turned.
And someone else stepped into the room,I got scared.
He was tall,broad shoulders. Dressed in black from head to toe. A mask covered the lower half of his face, a cap pulled low, shadowing his eyes.
But even through fear and tears, I felt it.
His presence wasn't chaotic.
It was controlled.
The man lunged.
The masked figure moved faster.
The fight was brutal and silent ,fists, grunts, bodies colliding. I curled into myself, shaking, unable to look away but unable to breathe.
The stranger didn't hesitate.
Didn't struggle.
Didn't miss.
Within seconds, the man lay unconscious on the floor.
The silence afterward was terrifying.
The masked man turned to me.
For the first time, fear shifted.
Not gone,just... redirected.
He crouched slowly, careful, like I was something fragile.
"It's okay," he said,he gave me his inner wear to put on.
His voice was low,steady and familiar in a way I couldn't place
My body reacted before my mind did. A sob ripped out of me .it was loud, ugly, uncontrollable. I shrank back instinctively.
"Don't touch me," I whispered.
He froze.
"I won't," he said immediately. "I promise."
He took off his jacket and gently placed it over my shoulders without letting his hands linger.
"Can you stand?"
I nodded weakly.
My legs barely held me.
He guided me out of the house, keeping distance, never turning his back on me. Outside, the air felt unreal , like I'd stepped into a different world.
He stopped near the road.
"Do you know where you are?" he asked.
I shook my head.
"Do you have somewhere safe to go?"
I tried to speak.
No words came.
He inhaled slowly, like he was fighting something.
"I'll call for help," he said.
I grabbed his sleeve without thinking.
"Please... don't leave."
He stiffened......then gently, he removed my hand.
"I'll come back," he said.
I wanted to believe him.
But fear doesn't trust promises.
He walked away.
I watched until he disappeared into the darkness.
Only then did I realize something horrifying.
I still didn't have my phone.
Across town, my father stood in the living room, rage and fear tearing him apart.
"Find her," Harlan said sharply. "Now."
Servants searched every room.
Every corridor,Every street.
My bed was untouched.
My phone was unreachable.
But the night had already swallowed me.
And somewhere in the city, I was missing.
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