⋅•⋅⊰∙∘❦✾❦∘∙⊱⋅•-
And there’s nothing like being trapped alone with your thoughts for six days to make you consider if munching on the decorative flowers on your bedside table might count as a meal.
I was staring at the ceiling when I heard footsteps outside. I recognized those footsteps: slow and light. The lock clicked, and the door swung open.
Blair walked in. Of course she did. Dressed in a cream-colored outfit despite the weather, her red hair fell in soft waves over her shoulders.
Her face was perfectly made up, and her expression held the kind of concern you’d expect from a politician just before they lie straight into a camera.
She closed the door behind her and smiled.
"Alex."
I looked at her. "Blair."
She stepped further into the room. "I was worried about you."
I stared at her. She placed a hand over her chest. "You’ve been in here for almost a week."
"I noticed."
"I thought you might have starved."
I glanced at the tray on my desk. "I’ve been fed twice a day."
"Still, that’s hardly enough."
"You brought food?"
"No."
"Then I guess we’ll both just have to deal with this tragedy."
Her smile tightened. "I came to check on you."
"How sweet."
She sat down at the edge of the armchair and laughed softly. "You shouldn’t provoke father."
I turned to her. "That’s rich coming from someone who spends half her life provoking people and then crying until someone else takes the fall."
Her smile vanished. There it was, the real Blair.
She leaned in closer. "You’ve always been jealous of me."
I laughed. "Of what?"
"Everything, its not my fault I know just how to deal things."
"That’s quite a list."
"My looks."
I looked at her. "You’re pretty."
"My status."
"Congrats."
"My future."
I shrugged. "Knock yourself out."
She frowned. "You think you’re funny."
"No. I think I’m tired."
She stood up. "You’ve always been like this."
"Like what?"
"Ungrateful."
I smiled. "You already used that one."
Her eyes turned steely. "You should be careful."
"I’ve been careful for twenty-five years. It hasn’t improved anything."
She took a step closer. "You know Father is considering sending you away."
That caught my attention. "Where?"
"Somewhere useful."
I stared at her. She smiled. "Maybe he’ll finally find an alpha willing to take you."
There it was. The future everyone had planned for me: marriage to a wealthy alpha, a respectable surname, children, heirs, a lifetime spent smiling next to a man I didn’t love while everyone congratulated my family for finally getting rid of me.
I turned my gaze away. "Get out."
She blinked. "What?"
"You heard me."
"You can’t order me around."
"I know. But I can ask."
She crossed her arms. "You really think you’re better than me."
"No." I paused. "Honestly, I think we’re both terrible people. You’re just better dressed."
Her face turned red. Almost made me smile.
She stepped in closer. "You’ll never have anything." Those words were quieter now, more vicious. "Nobody will want you except someone desperate enough to overlook what you are."
I swallowed.
She continued, "You’ll never travel. You’ll never have a career. You’ll never have a family of your own."
I met her gaze. "And you’ll spend your whole life being Father’s little doll."
Her expression twisted, and at least I’d landed a hit, she turned toward the door then stopped. For a moment, I thought she might say something else. Instead, she turned back to me.
"You should just die already." Her voice was icy. "You’d be doing everyone else a favor, such a waste of oxygen."
Then she opened the door. I heard her tell the maid outside, "Lock it again."
The door slammed shut, the lock clicked, and just like that, I was alone. Again.
I stood there for a long while, then made my way over to the bed and sat down. The room felt so much bigger when no one was talking. The rain pattered against the windows.
Blair’s sweet omega scent hung faintly in the air from where she’d stood. The fact that I could smell them even when they weren’t around drove me crazy.
Leaning back against the headboard, I stared at the ceiling. Twenty-five years. Twenty-five years spent in this house. And for what?
I had a degree, dreams, a hidden suitcase in my wardrobe, and a secret map beneath my bed. I’d spent years picturing a life beyond these walls.
But imagination didn’t pay for plane tickets. It didn’t cover rent or buy food. And without money, freedom was just another word.
My eyes drifted to the wardrobe, to the half-packed suitcase. Maybe Blair was right. Maybe I’d never leave.
Maybe this was all my life would ever be...one day, my father would find some rich alpha willing to take me off his hands.
I’d be sent away with a smile, expected to have children, become someone’s omega, someone’s mate, someone’s property, simply a vessel with a surname attached to me.
That seemed to be the future everyone had in mind for me. And the worst part was, I couldn’t even see another way out.
I closed my eyes and, for the first time that week, allowed myself to envision something different. Not marriage, not this house, not Blair, not my father...none of that.
Just a place where nobody knew my name. A small apartment with a cheap bed, a job, maybe a little café somewhere, or a tiny bookstore, a city where I could stroll down the street without someone reminding me how an omega should act.
I didn’t need luxury, didn’t need a mansion, or even immediate happiness. I just wanted the right to choose what happened to me.
My hand curled into the bedsheet. If I ever managed to escape this house with money of my own, I promised I would disappear quietly.
Not dramatically, not loudly; I wouldn’t leave a letter or say goodbye. I would just vanish completely, to the point where even my own family wouldn’t be able to track me down if they even cared enough to do so.
For the first time, that idea didn’t feel like a distant fantasy...it felt like a promise.
I just needed money. And if there was one thing I’d figured out about my family, it was that they were quite good at treating people like merchandise.
Perhaps, eventually, someone would be willing to pay for me.
I just hadn’t realized yet how costly my freedom would turn out to be.
And then he came along...
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