Aveline stirred in her sleep, her breath uneven and shallow. The soreness in her body remained, a dull, lingering ache in her hip serving as a brutal reminder of the punishment she had endured. But even more unbearable than the physical pain was the emotional weight, Dominic's words echoing over and over in her mind.
"You are still useful."
"A daughter of a murderer."
She turned over in the bed, burying her face into the pillow. Her cheeks were damp again, she hadn't even realized she was crying in her sleep.
The door creaked open slowly.
"Still sleeping?" Eve asked, stepping inside with a glass of water in one hand and a few tablets in the other. "You need to take your medicine."
Aveline quickly wiped her tears as Eve turned to close the door, not wanting her to see her like this. She forced herself to sit up slowly.
Eve walked over to her and handed her the water and tablets. Aveline took them silently, swallowing them with a slight grimace as the bitterness settled in her throat.
"Thanks," she whispered, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.
"Do you still need to eat?" Eve asked, her voice neutral as always.
"No… I'm not that hungry," Aveline replied quietly, avoiding her eyes.
"Alright. But let me know if you change your mind. You need food in your system, you're still weak," Eve said, her gaze lingering on her for a moment before turning to leave.
Aveline watched her go, and once the door closed, she let out a long, shaky sigh. Slowly, she stood and limped toward the mirror. Her reflection startled her, dark circles under her eyes, pale skin, the faint bruises still fresh.
She rested her forehead against the windowpane beside the mirror, tears slowly welling up again.
"Your father is a murderer."
Dominic's voice haunted her thoughts.
"No, he's not," she whispered, clenching her fists tightly. "He would never kill anyone. He's not that kind of person."
Aveline slid down to the floor, her back against the wall, her hands lying limp by her sides. The tears came again, harder now, as memories overwhelmed her.
---
Flashback:
A younger Aveline crept out of her bed in the middle of the night, clutching a small teddy bear. She had just woken from a nightmare. Scared and alone, she tiptoed to her parents' room, turned the doorknob, and climbed into their bed.
"Mom… Dad…" she whispered, shaking them gently.
Her mother stirred first, sitting up with a soft yawn. "What is it, sweetie?"
"I had a nightmare," Aveline sniffled. "You both left me, and I was all alone. I kept calling out, but… you didn't listen…"
"Oh baby," her mother said, pulling her into her lap. "We'd never leave you."
"Yeah, sweetheart. We're always right here," her father said, scooting closer and brushing the tears from her cheeks.
"Promise?" she asked, holding out her tiny pinky
"We promise," they both said, locking their fingers with hers.
Aveline smiled and rested her head against her mother's chest, comforted by their warmth. "I love you both."
"We love you too, sweetheart."
Flashback ends.
Tears poured down Aveline's face as she pulled her knees to her chest.
"They lied…" she whispered. "They promised. And then they left me to suffer in this cruel, disgusting world."
Her fingers gripped the collar around her neck.
"Now I'm here. In chains. And I'm not even free anymore…"
---
Meanwhile…
Dominic sat in his study, a glass of whiskey untouched on the table. His phone was pressed to his ear.
"Elias is one step ahead of us, Dominic. We need to move, fast," Lucas said on the other end of the call.
Dominic rubbed his temples in frustration. "He already got something out of Lucian before killing him. That means he has a clue… maybe even a location."
"What do we do?" Lucas asked. "We don't know much about Elias."
Dominic's voice lowered, thoughtful. "No. But she does."
"You mean… Aveline?"
Dominic didn't reply directly. "You and Andrea need to come here. Today."
He ended the call and stood from the chair, slipping the phone into his pocket. He moved with purpose down the hall and opened Aveline's door without knocking.
Aveline was still sitting on her bed when the door opened. She barely noticed until she heard that sharp, familiar voice.
"Hey, Torres," Dominic said, stepping inside.
She jumped slightly, startled. Her eyes widened when she saw him, but she quickly looked down.
"Stop acting like this is your first time seeing me," he scoffed, walking closer. His hands stayed in his pockets as he stopped in front of her.
"I need you to tell me something about Elias."
At the mention of that name, Aveline's entire body stiffened. Her breath hitched. Her hands trembled.
Dominic narrowed his eyes. "What the fuck is wrong with you now?"
Aveline shook her head, backing away slightly. "No… please… don't hit me," she whispered, her voice breaking. "Don't hurt me."
Dominic's face hardened. "Who said anything about hitting you? Snap out of it!"
He reached out and grabbed her hands, pulling them away from her head where she had started to grip her hair.
Then she looked up at him.
And Dominic froze.
Her eyes… they looked vacant. Distant. Not like her. Not like the stubborn, defiant girl he was used to. This version of her looked haunted. Like someone trapped in a prison far worse than anything he could ever build.
Before he could say anything, Aveline moved slowly, shakily and wrapped her arms around his waist. Her head pressed against his chest, her tears soaking through his shirt.
"Please…" she whispered. "Please save me…"
Dominic's hands hovered in the air.
For a second, just a second, the room went completely still.
Something in him stilled, something he had buried a long time ago.
He was about to speak when...
Rrrring
His phone rang.
Dominic's jaw clenched. He pried Aveline's arms from around his waist without a word and turned away.
"bring yourself together. I will come back and be ready to answer my questions" he said coldly, leaving her behind once again.
But as he walked away, his steps felt heavier than usual. And for the first time, he couldn't stop hearing her voice echoing in his ears.
"Please save me."
"Fuck it" he muttered clenching his hands.
---
Elias POV
The room was quiet too quiet for the twenty-something men stationed around him.
The soft hum of monitors and the rhythmic tapping of fingers on keyboards filled the high-tech underground space. Screens flickered with security footage, maps, algorithms, and surveillance feeds, all focused on one goal: the machine. And more specifically, Aveline.
Elias stood in the center of it all, a glass of red wine in his hand, the color matching the glint in his eyes.
"She's with him" he muttered, more to himself than to anyone around him. "how ironic"
"Playing games now, are we, Cross?" he scoffed. "What a joke."
A few feet away, one of the technicians cleared his throat. "Sir, we decoded part of the signal Lucian left behind. It confirms that the machine is still intact and close. We also found some files in his encrypted drive, but most of it was corrupted during the transfer."
"Show me what you found," Elias said, swirling the wine in his glass.
The screen shifted. Grainy black-and-white schematics appeared. A building. A location. And then a name.
Aveline's father.
Elias' grip tightened around the glass, his eyes darkening. "So it was true," he said under his breath. "The bastard actually built the first prototype... and then destroyed everything to keep it away from us."
He turned sharply to face the room.
"All this time, we've been searching in circles thinking the blueprints were lost. But no, he hid them. Not in vaults. Not with allies. He hid them in her."
He chuckled, setting the glass down gently on the nearest table.
"She's the map," he said. "The way he trained her, the things he told her as a child... even if she doesn't know it consciously, it's all locked in her head."
One of the guards shifted uncomfortably. "What if she doesn't remember anything?"
"She will," Elias said confidently. "Fear has a way of unlocking forgotten memories."
He stepped closer to the screen now displaying Aveline's surveillance photo from years ago, frail, eyes empty, curled up in the corner of a dark room. He traced her image with a finger, smiling softly. Possessively.
"She was mine before Dominic ever laid eyes on her. I molded her. Broke her. I know the cracks in her soul. He thinks he's won because he got to her first?, he thinks by having her he can find the machine quickly?"
Elias turned to face his men, his face stern.
"I will get her back," he said, voice like steel. "And when I do, I'll rip every buried memory out of her mind until she leads me to the machine. Then I'll crush her and Dominic too."
A long pause.
"Double security on all teams. Start decoding the rest of Lucian's files. And keep watching that house. I want updates every hour."
"Yes sir," the team chorused.
Elias picked his glass back up and took a slow sip, his lips curving into a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"Tick tock, Dominic. Your time's running out."