Laurel P.O.V
The wind stung my skin as the boat moved forward.
I stared at the black water and wondered when my life stopped belonging to me.
For a while, there was nothing.
No shouting. No orders barked into the night. Just the low hum of the engine slicing through the water and the soft slap of waves against the hull. Abigail stood a few steps away from me, arms crossed, eyes sharp and unreadable. She looked carved from stone-unyielding, alert, alive.
Silence like this felt dangerous.
But for the first time in days...I let myself hope.
Maybe we'd make it out.
Maybe this nightmare would finally loosen its grip.
Then-
BANG.
The sound ripped through the air from somewhere far across the water.
My breath hitched. The fisherman flinched, the boat swaying slightly as he slowed. Before either Abigail or I could react, he left the wheel and stepped toward us.
He was holding a gun.
My heart slammed so hard it felt like it might break my ribs.
"I'm sorry" He said with his voice tight, almost ashamed. His eyes flicked to Abigail. "I'm sorry, but I have to do this. It's the Alpha's order"
The name alone sucked the air from my lungs.
Abigail didn't argue. She didn't reach for a weapon. She only stepped aside slowly, as if every move was calculated, as if she already knew resistance here would mean death.
From the shadows of the boat, two men appeared-silent, efficient, cruel. They moved fast. Abigail's hands were yanked behind her back, rope biting into her wrists as they forced her down onto a chair. They tied her there, tight and unforgiving.
"Abigail!" I cried, stepping forward.
Something rough came down over my head.
It was a bag.
Darkness swallowed me whole.
I struggled, panic clawing up my throat, but hands shoved me down, forcing me to sit. The world became sounds and fear-ropes tightening, footsteps shifting, voices murmuring above me.
"This was the right choice" The fisherman said somewhere nearby. "I made the right decision staying with Alpha. Richardo is the wrong path"
"You're making a huge mistake" Abigail snapped.
Her words were cut off abruptly. I heard fabric stretch. A gag.Tgen there was silence.
The engine roared louder.
Time went so quick. The boat kept moving and with every second, the hope I'd felt earlier drained out of me, leaving only dread. When the bag was finally ripped from my head, cold air rushed in and I saw foreign land.
"Russia" One of the men muttered.
The boat hit the shore hard. Abigail and I were dragged off like cargo, our feet scraping against sand and stone. I stumbled, pain flaring through my body, fear breaking through whatever pride I had left.
"Please" I begged, my voice shaking. "Please, I won't try anything. I swear"
A sharp shove shut me up.
The fisherman leaned close, his face was hard now, stripped of guilt. "Don't try anything stupid if you want to live" He said quietly. "Alpha hates people who try to escape"
I swallowed my sob.
They forced us into a black van, the doors slammed shut like a coffin lid. The ride was silent. No music. No conversation. Just the road and the weight of knowing something worse was waiting.
When the van finally stopped, I looked up.
The building pierced the sky.
Glass. Steel. Light.
Harare Penthouse.
It rose above the city like a god watching ants below-untouchable, beautiful, terrifying. It didn't look like a place where monsters lived. It looked like paradise.
We were dragged inside, past marble floors and gold-lined walls, into an elevator that swallowed us whole. The doors slid shut. Numbers climbed.
50.
51.
52.
My ears popped. My heart raced.
The doors opened on the 100th floor.
I couldn't move. My legs refused to obey. Abigail turned her head slightly and looked at me, just once.
Her eyes said everything.
Stay calm.
The men rang the doorbell.
The door opened by itself.
We were pushed inside.
The living room stole my breath, not with fear, but with disbelief.
Floor-to-ceiling windows revealed the city glowing below like a sea of stars. Chandeliers of crystal hung from the ceiling, casting soft golden light across ivory sofas and polished marble floors. Abstract art lined the walls-dark, violent shapes frozen in expensive frames. A grand piano rested near the window, black and glossy, untouched.
Everything smelled like money. Power. Control.
The men released us and walked out without a word.
The door shut.
Silence filled the penthouse, thick and suffocating.
Then a voice drifted from the kitchen.
Deep. Calm and fearless.
"So" It said softly, almost amused, "this is the girl who keeps surviving"
My blood turned to ice.
I didn't need to see him to know-
We had finally reached Alpha.
And something told me...this was the moment my life would never belong to me again.
The silence didn't last.
Heavy footsteps emerged from the kitchen-slow and deliberate, each one landing like a warning. I felt it before I saw him. The air shifted. The room shrank.
Alpha stepped into the light.
He was massive. Not just tall, but built like someone who could lift a man with one hand and crush him with the other. His shoulders were broad, his arms thick with muscle that spoke of violence practiced and perfected. A deep scar sliced down the side of his left eye, jagged and ugly as if someone had once tried and failed, to take his face apart.
His eyes were the worst part.
Dark. Empty. Patient.
The kind of eyes that didn't rush death...because they enjoyed deciding when it arrived.
Abigail bowed immediately. So low it looked like her spine might snap. The respect in that gesture terrified me more than the guns ever had.
Alpha stopped in front of us.
"What was the promise?" He asked.
His voice was low. Controlled. Heavy enough to press against my chest.
Abigail didn't hesitate.
"No one escapes the Don alive"
The words landed like a verdict.
Alpha's gaze hardened.
"You didn't follow orders" He said. "And you think you are free?"
Abigail lifted her head slightly, just enough to speak.
"I had to do what was right.."
A sharp terrifying sound came before I understood it.
It was a slap.
His hand moved so fast I barely saw it. Abigail's head snapped to the side, the impact echoing through the penthouse. My breath left me in a sharp gasp.
I felt the slap as if it had landed on me.
Abigail didn't cry out. She didn't stumble. She straightened slowly, her jaw clenched with her eyes burning, but dry. Strong. Unbroken.
Alpha turned away from her.
And then he was in front of me.
Too close.
He reached out and grabbed my face roughly,his fingers dug into my jaw, forcing my head up until I had no choice but to look at him. My heart pounded so loud I was sure he could hear it.
"You look too pretty to be a spy" He said calmly. "But that doesn't exempt you. You're still a suspect"
I couldn't speak. My throat locked. Fear wrapped itself around my lungs.
He released me like I was nothing.
Behind me, Abigail stayed silent. I could feel her holding it in-the pain, anger, fear-packing it away like ammunition.
Alpha turned back to her sharply.
"You disobey" He barked, voice rising. "You get punished. Remember that rule"
Abigail lifted her head fully now.
"She's innocent" She said, steady and unshaking. "And I will lay my life down if she isn't"
My eyes widened.
What?
I grabbed the fabric of her sleeve, tugging desperately, silently begging her to stop, but she didn't even look at me.
Alpha studied her for a long moment. Then his gaze slid back to me.
"She's alive" He said slowly. "For now"
Relief and terror collided inside me.
"But you" He continued,his eyes snapped back to Abigail, "will be punished for going against orders"
"We ain't done negotiating" Abigail said.
Alpha laughed.
The sound was deep. Hollow. It crawled into my bones and stayed there.
He tilted his head slightly, his eyes said one thing clearly:
Strike the deal.
Abigail straightened completely.
"If she's innocent, let her live" She said. "But if she isn't...take my life"
"No!" I whispered, tugging her sleeve harder now. "Please-don't-"
"Let her free till the investigation is complete" Abigail finished.
Alpha raised his hand.
Men appeared instantly, as if summoned by the gesture alone.
"Take her" Alpha ordered.
They grabbed Abigail. She didn't fight. She didn't look at me. She let them drag her away as if she had already accepted whatever was waiting for her behind that door.
The door closed.
I stood there shaking.
Alone.
Alpha turned to me slowly.
"Letting you live doesn't mean I let you go" He said coldly. "You will work for me"
I nodded frantically. I would have agreed to anything. Anything.
"You'll be my maid" He continued. "One mistake...and she gets punished instead of you"
The meaning hit me like a blade.
They didn't punish you directly.
They punished what you loved.
I followed Alpha into the living room on legs that barely felt like my own. My chest ached,not from fear alone, but from guilt. Abigail was paying for me. Suffering for me.
This was how the mafia worked.
They didn't need chains.
They used hearts.
And as I stood there, surrounded by luxury that reeked of blood and power, I prayed desperately that Richardo would make the right choice.
Because if he didn't...
I wouldn't survive this place.