Skylar's POV...
I needed a plan.
A way out. Anything to escape this godforsaken hell.
This place was slowly draining the life out of me—no phone, no contact with the outside world.
Just silence, stone walls, and the gnawing ache of loneliness. I missed my family. I missed being free. I missed me.
"Hey! Assholes! Let me out of here!" I shouted, slamming my fists against the door until my knuckles stung. Of course, no one answered.
They never did.
But I had to try. I was tired of feeling powerless.
Fine. If they wouldn't let me out, I'd find my own damn way.
I turned toward the window, shoving it open to the bitter air and the sight of two guards stationed below. Always the same routine.
I'd studied them. Memorized their patterns like scripture.
At exactly eleven each morning, the guard on the left disappears for a break, leaving just one.
One target. One chance. If I could just get down, take him out quietly, maybe—just maybe—I could vanish before they noticed.
My heart pounded at the thought, fingers twitching against the windowsill.
Then—the sound.
Click.
The door creaked open.
"Master Lucien requests your presence for dinner," a maid announced from behind, her voice cold and rehearsed.
I didn't turn. Just scoffed, keeping my eyes on the world outside—the freedom just out of reach.
"Miss… it's best we don't keep him waiting," she added, softer this time. "You know how he gets."
I let out a sharp breath and stepped away from the window, reluctantly following her into the corridor.
Whispers clung to the air like poison as we passed through the hall.
"She's done for," one maid muttered under her breath, sneering as I walked by.
"Poor thing. She should've known better," another said.
Let them talk. Let them whisper and stare. I didn't care.
Because whoever this twisted bastard thinks he is—kidnapping me, threatening my family—he has no idea who he's messing with.
Good. He called for me.
I was about to give Lucien a piece of my mind he wouldn't forget.