Chapter 14

Yerenica Demir

The cellar was dark. Too dark.

I curled in on myself, arms wrapped tightly around my knees as the damp cold slithered into my skin. It was inescapable, pressing in from all sides, just like the fear clawing at my chest. My mind spun, trying to grasp onto something, anything that made sense, but all I could do was shiver and choke on the thick, moldy air.

I didn't do anything wrong.

The words repeated in my head like a desperate prayer, but they didn't feel real anymore. Just an echo of something that used to matter. My wrists ached where the guards had grabbed me, fingers bruising, shoving me down here like I was nothing. Like I was trash. My heartbeat drummed against my ribs, my breath coming in shallow gasps as I tried to fight off the panic sinking its claws into my throat.

The cold floor felt like it was swallowing me whole. My body shook uncontrollably, my skin gooseflesh, my chest tight with fear. I pulled my knees closer to my chest, wishing I could disappear into myself, escape the terror that gnawed at me from the inside out.

I whispered to myself, trying to ground myself, trying to hold on to anything that might stop the world from spinning. "I didn't do anything. I didn't do anything. I'm not guilty of anything..."

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to push away the memories that had been clawing at me for as long as I could remember. The orphanage. The dark corners. The isolation. I had been locked away, punished for being too weak, for being too loud. For existing.

No. I wasn't that girl anymore. I wasn't that broken child.

A sudden creak shattered the suffocating silence, making me flinch violently.

The door groaned open, spilling a thin strip of light into the cellar. Heavy footsteps followed, each one slow, deliberate. The shadows shifted, and then they were there.

My lungs constricted at the sight of them. Relief, sharp and aching, flooded through me, but it was tangled with something darker. Something heavier. Because they weren't looking at me the way they used to. The cold weight of their silence was worse than any insult, worse than any slap across the face.

I lurched forward before I could stop myself, grasping at Zyran's arm with shaking fingers. "Sir-" My voice cracked, desperate. "Please, I don't know what's happening. They brought me here-I didn't do anything, I swear—please."

I could feel my chest heaving, the words stumbling out in a frantic rush. I couldn't stop. I couldn't breathe. "I-I'm scared."

Zyran didn't move. Didn't react. His dark eyes bored into me, unreadable, void of warmth. I felt my stomach twist violently, nausea rising in my throat. His silence cut deeper than any words ever could.

Dehrin scoffed, voice dripping with contempt. "Look at you, pretending like you didn't plan this from the start."

I jerked back as if struck, my breath stuttering. "What?"

He crossed his arms, gaze razor-sharp. "Always playing the victim, huh?"

The accusation burned. I recoiled, my nails digging into my arms to keep myself steady. Dehrin. He wasn't supposed to look at me like that. He had been kind to me.

I turned to Cihan, searching for something, anything but the disappointment in his caramel eyes made my stomach drop. His lips pressed into a thin line. Cold. Unforgiving.

"This is a waste of time," he said flatly. "She's putting on an act."

The air left my lungs all at once. Act. The word echoed in my head, over and over, until it was nothing but a sharp ringing in my ears.

Rezan stepped forward then, his smirk a twisted thing, crawling up his lips like some kind of monster. He stood in front of me, the gleam in his eyes colder than I'd ever seen it.

"Didn't think you'd be this good, princess," he purred, his voice a slow, cruel tease. "Thought you were just a scared little maid."

His fingers dug into my jaw, his grip painful and unyielding. I tried to pull away, but he tightened his hold, forcing me to meet his gaze. His breath smelled of smoke and whiskey, and I could see something dark in his eyes,a cold, twisted amusement.

"Drop the fucking act," he whispered, his tone mocking. "Where are the documents?"

The words hit me like a slap. My mind struggled to wrap around it—documents? I didn't know what he was talking about. I didn't—

"The... what?" My voice cracked, weak. I couldn't even understand the words coming out of my mouth.

Rezan's grip tightened painfully, his smirk widening as I flinched. "Liar."

Tears blurred my vision. "I'm not lying!" I choked out, my hands trembling as I reached for his wrist, trying to pry him off me, but his grip only tightened.

Cihan exhaled sharply, turning away. "Pathetic."

I was crumbling, the weight of their words crushing down on me. This couldn't be real. This couldn't be happening.

I turned to Dehrin, my last hope. "Please," I whispered, voice trembling. "You have to believe me—"

"Shut the fuck up."

The venom in his voice shattered something inside me. My breath hitched, my vision blurred. I wanted to scream, but the sound lodged itself in my throat.

Then, without warning, Rezan shoved me.

I hit the ground hard, pain exploding through my body as the stone floor knocked the breath from my lungs. Before I could even process the impact, something heavy pressed down on my hand.

A boot.

Zyran's boot.

The crushing pressure sent white-hot agony shooting up my arm. A scream ripped from my throat, raw and desperate, but Zyran didn't move. Didn't let up. ''P..please it hurts!"

"Where. Are. The. Documents?"

I sobbed, my free hand clawing at his leg, trying to pry him off. "I don't know! Please—"

Rezan leaned in, his breath warm against my ear. "You'll talk soon enough. They always do."

Cihan stepped forward, grabbing a fistful of my hair, yanking my head back so roughly that my scalp burned. I gasped, the pain sharp and unforgiving. I could feel the roots being ripped from my head.

"Stop being a fucking coward," he growled. "If you want us to believe you, prove it."

My body trembled, every nerve on fire. I was suffocating, drowning in the crushing weight of betrayal. This wasn't real. This wasn't real.

Dehrin's voice was the final knife. "You're nothing but a fucking whore. You had us fooled huh? Then again i should've seen it coming, girls like you would do anything for money"

The words gutted me. Hollowed me out.

The tears streamed down my face, hot and heavy, but none of them cared. Rezan's mocking voice came from above me. "You thought you could play us all, huh? Thought you could get away with it. But you're nothing. Nothing but a pathetic, lying little whore."

Zyran's boot pressed harder into my hand, and I screamed, my body bucking beneath the weight of it. "Please—stop! I don't know anything!" I sobbed, but none of them listened. They just watched, like it was all some sick game to them.

"Take her," Zyran ordered, his voice ice-cold.

Before I could react, rough hands grabbed me, yanking me to my feet. My arms twisted painfully behind me as I was dragged toward the door. I struggled, my screams tearing through the air, but they didn't care.

I hit the floor hard, my knees slamming into the cold marble, but I barely felt the pain over the sheer terror clawing at my chest. "No please, I haven't done anything!" My voice cracked, raw with desperation, but the guards didn't stop. Their hands, rough and unyielding, tightened around my arms, dragging me forward as I thrashed, my nails scraping against their sleeves, against the floor, against anything that could keep me from being pulled into the unknown.

"Please, believe me! I swear- I swear I didn't do it!" My breath hitched, sobs choking me as I struggled, but their grip only hardened. My legs buckled beneath me, too weak to fight back, too terrified to run. "Don't do this please!" My cries rang through the towering walls, swallowed by the vast emptiness, by the deafening silence of those who refused to listen.

I tried to dig my heels into the ground, tried to wrench myself free, but their hands didn't falter. My body was trembling, my mind spiraling, drowning in fear as I looked up at the figures standing before me—watching, judging, condemning.

Tears blurred my vision as I fell apart in their grasp. "Please," I whispered, my voice barely more than a broken breath. "Please don't do this..."

But no one answered. No one moved.

Please no.

And I knew that no matter how much I begged, no one was going to save me.

Thoughts?

I sometimes hate this story with passion.

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