"She's an inconvenience. And if she's sent to the Hole, well... that solves all of my problems, doesn't it? No more risk of her digging into the past, no more chance of her embarrassing me or my husband with her existence." She smiled, cold and sharp. "So you see, I have absolutely no incentive to help her." My stomach twisted with disgust and a rising sense of desperation. We'd gambled everything on this confrontation, on appealing to a maternal instinct that clearly didn't exist. Cade was going to pay the price for our failure.
"Besides," Alyssa continued, setting her glass down with a deliberate click, "I have a new life now. A better one." As if on cue, the sound of light footsteps drew our attention to the doorway behind Alyssa. A young girl, no more than thirteen, appeared in the entrance to the living room. She was the spitting image of Alyssa, with the same blonde hair and delicate features, but an innocence that her mother had long since lost.
"Annalee, darling," Alyssa called, her voice suddenly warm and maternal in a way that made my skin crawl. "Come meet our guests." The girl approached hesitantly, her eyes wide as she took in Logan and me. There was something in her gaze that set off alarm bells in my head, a wariness, a fear that I recognised all too well.
"This is my daughter, Annalee," Alyssa introduced, placing a possessive hand on the girl's shoulder. "My real daughter." Annalee dipped in a small, practiced curtsy.
"Pleased to meet you," she murmured, though her eyes said otherwise.
"What do you think of her, Cole?" Alyssa asked, her fingers squeezing Annalee's shoulder just a little too tightly. "She's quite something, isn't she? So much potential." The implication in her words, the way her eyes glittered as she looked between Annalee and me, made my blood run cold. I'd seen that look before, knew exactly what it meant. Bile rose in my throat as understanding dawned.
"With that bitch out of the picture," Alyssa continued, her voice a poisonous purr, "perhaps you might consider coming back to me. We had such fun together, didn't we? And Annalee is so eager to learn... everything." Horror crashed through me in a sickening wave. She was offering her daughter, her own child, to me, the way she had once offered me to others. The casual depravity of it, the monstrous suggestion cloaked in her silken voice, left me speechless with revulsion.
"You sick fucking bastard," Logan snarled, taking a step forward. "She's a child. Your child." Alyssa's smile didn't waver.
"She's an investment. Just like Cadence was supposed to be, before that interfering old man got in the way." She waved a dismissive hand. "There's time. Annalee is still young, still developing. But in a few years..."
"Stop," I choked out, unable to bear another word. "Just stop."
Annalee's eyes met mine briefly, and in that moment, I saw a silent plea that broke what was left of my heart. I'd been that child once, looking to adults for help that never came. The thought that history was repeating itself, that Alyssa was grooming her own daughter for the same fate she'd once subjected me to, made me want to burn the whole house down with her inside it.
"Annalee, go to your room," Alyssa instructed, her voice suddenly sharp. "Now." The girl obeyed without question, scurrying from the room like a frightened animal. The moment she was gone, Alyssa's mask of maternal concern dropped, replaced by the predatory smirk I remembered from my nightmares.
"You always were so sensitive," she said, moving toward me with a sinuous grace that set every nerve in my body on edge. "So responsive to every touch, every suggestion. I've missed that about you." Logan stepped between us, his body a barrier.
"Stay the fuck away from him." Alyssa laughed, undeterred.
"Protective, aren't we? How sweet." She sidestepped Logan with practiced ease, her eyes never leaving mine. "But Cole knows who he belongs to. Don't you, darling? You can play at being a powerful Regent all you want, but deep down, you're still that frightened little boy with the pretty eyes."
Her words slithered into my mind, finding all the cracks and insecurities I thought I'd sealed away. Part of me, the broken, conditioned part that had survived by submitting, wanted to agree with her, to fall back into the patterns that had once kept me alive. But I wasn't that boy anymore. I was a man who had fought and clawed his way to freedom, who had built a life and found people worth fighting for.
"I don't belong to anyone," I said, my voice steadier than I felt. "Especially not to you." Something dangerous flashed in Alyssa's eyes.
"We'll see about that."
Before I could react, she was in front of me, her hand sliding down my chest in a caress that left me frozen in place. Her touch was like ice, seeping through my clothes and into my skin, triggering a cascade of memories I'd spent years trying to forget. My body locked up, muscles seizing as panic clawed its way up my throat.
"I'll always be watching you, Cole," she whispered, her breath hot against my ear. "And someday, I'll have my hands on you again. You can count on it." Logan's reaction was instant and violent. He grabbed Alyssa's wrist, yanking her away from me with enough force to make her stumble. His face was a mask of cold fury as he towered over her.
"Keep your sick, twisted hands off my family," he growled, the threat in his voice unmistakable. "Touch him again, and I'll end you." For a brief moment, fear flickered across Alyssa's perfect features. Then it was gone, replaced by her usual calculated amusement.
"Your family?" she echoed, rubbing her wrist where Logan's fingers had left red marks. "How touching. The lost boys found each other and made a home." Her smile turned cruel. "But you're forgetting something important: homes can be burned to the ground."
She turned away, the dismissal clear in every line of her body.
"I think we're done here. I hope Cadence enjoys her time in the Hole. I hear it's quite... an educational experience."
"You're condemning your own daughter to torture," I said, finding my voice again as the initial shock of her touch receded. "Is that really who you want to be?" Alyssa paused at thedoorway, glancing back over her shoulder with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"Darling, I've always been exactly who I am. It's the rest of the world that needs to catch up." She gestured toward the foyer. "See yourselves out. And Cole? Do think about my offer. Annalee would benefit from your experience." With that final, sickening suggestion hanging in the air, she disappeared into the depths of the house, the click of her heels on marble fading into silence.
For a moment, neither Logan nor I moved. The weight of our failure, the horror of what we'd witnessed, settled over us like a shroud. Cade was doomed to the Hole, and we'd just discovered a child who might be headed for the same nightmare I'd endured. The helplessness of it all threatened to swallow me whole.
The white walls of my cell seemed to close in with each passing hour. Or was it minutes? Days? I had no way to tell anymore. There were no windows, no clock, nothing to mark the passage of time except the occasional arrival of bland food on a plastic tray. Clean, sterile, and utterly terrifying in its emptiness. I sat on the narrow bed, knees pulled to my chest,trying to breathe through another wave of panic. The stark white surroundings were nothing like the filthy, freezing cell where Damien had kept me, but somehow that made it worse. The clinical nature of this prison felt more permanent, more official, as if the world had decided I deserved to be here.
"Please," I whispered to no one, my voice cracking from screaming. "Please let me out." My pleas echoed off the empty walls, just as they had every time before. I pressed my forehead against my knees, fighting back tears. Crying wouldn't help. Nothing would help. I'd begged to see Logan, Ryder, Cole, anyone familiar who might explain what was happening, who might reassure me that I wouldn't be trapped forever. I'd even asked for my grandparents, though I didn’t want them brought into this mess.
But the stone-faced enforcers who brought my meals only repeated the same cold phrase: "Under Trivium law, the accused is not permitted contact until the hearing."
