Dangerously Mine

Chapter 5

Jhannara’s POV

I do not know what to feel, or how to feel today. As I am packing up my things, there is this lingering feelings inside me that do not want to leave. I know that even though this family did not treat me well, that this family treat me like a trash, there is still inside of me that do not want to leave. I have been abandoned ever since, I do not know who my real family is, and now, I’m just like a material that can be given to anybody.

It ache my heart. I do not want to leave but at the same time, I am looking forward to get out of here, What will be my life after I left this house? What will be my life in that house where I will be transferred? I will be living in a stranger’s house. I will be living with a strange person, as his wife. There is this familiarity in this house that I cannot leave behind, but there is this unfamiliar feeling that I am nervous to face.

I spent the next eight hours moving like a puppet with its strings cut. I packed my life into a single, battered suitcase though the card had told me to bring nothing, I couldn't bear to leave the few things that proved I existed. I packed a small, fraying teddy bear I’d had since the hospital, a few books with yellowed pages, and that drawing of the house with the red door.

Every time I folded a shirt, my chest felt tight. It was a strange, sick kind of grief. I hated this house. I hated the smell of the wax, the coldness of the marble, and the way the air always felt like it was running out. But it was the only "home" I remembered. Without these walls, who was I? Just a girl with a blank mind and a price tag.

"Are you done yet?"

I didn't have to look up to know it was Shaina. She was leaning against my doorframe, watching me with a look that was half-envy, half-disgust.

"Almost," I whispered, tucking the drawing into the side pocket of my bag.

"You're taking that trash with you?" She pointed at my suitcase. "Dad said the Mikaelsons are sending a car. A black SUV. Very high-end. You’re going to look like a beggar carrying that thing into a mansion like theirs."

I didn't answer. I just zipped the bag shut. The sound felt like a zipper closing over my heart.

"You know," Shaina said, her voice dropping to a low, catty hum. "I heard Jacob Mikaelson isn't just rich. I heard he’s dangerous. People say he doesn't have a soul. Good luck with that, Jana. I hope you're as obedient for him as you were for us."

She walked away, her laughter echoing down the narrow attic hallway. I stood there, clutching the handle of my suitcase until my knuckles turned white.

The call came an hour later.

"Jhannara! Get down here! Now!" Theodore’s voice boomed from the bottom of the stairs.

My heart did a slow, painful roll in my chest. This was it. The hand-off. I took one last look at my tiny, cold room. It was empty now. No soul left in it. I dragged my suitcase down the stairs, each thud against the wood sounding like a drumbeat for a funeral.

In the grand foyer, Theodore and Tina were waiting. Tina was checking her reflection in the gilded mirror, patting her hair. Theodore was looking at his gold watch, looking impatient. They didn't look like parents saying goodbye to a daughter. They looked like business partners waiting for a courier to pick up a package.

"The car is outside," Theodore said, not looking at me. "Don't make a scene. Walk out there, get in, and remember what we told you. You are a Mikaelson now. Your loyalty is to the contract."

"Do I... do I get to visit?" I asked. The words came out small and pathetic. Even after everything, I was still looking for a tether.

Tina turned, a sharp, fake smile on her face. "Oh, Jhannara. You’ll be much too busy being a billionaire’s wife for us. Now, give me a hug. For the neighbors."

She leaned in, her perfume choking me one last time. It was a cold, dry hug. She didn't squeeze. She just touched her cheek to mine and stepped back. Theodore just gave me a stiff nod.

I turned toward the massive front doors. The butler opened them, and the afternoon sun hit me, blinding and hot. A sleek, black SUV with tinted windows sat idling in the circular driveway. It looked like a predator crouching in the gravel.

As I walked down the stone steps, I felt the weight of the house behind me. Eight years of scrubbing, eight years of silence, eight years of wondering. I looked back once. Theodore and Tina were already turning away, talking to each other, while Shaina is waving her hands to say goodbye to me and the door closing behind them.

Click.

I was out. I was free. But as the driver, a man in a sharp black suit with a face like stone, took my suitcase and opened the back door, I realized I had never been more terrified.

I slid into the leather seat. The interior smelled of expensive cedar and something metallic. The door shut with a heavy, pressurized thud, cutting off the sound of the world outside. The car began to move, the gravel crunching under the tires as we left the Santos estate behind.

I looked out the tinted window, watching the only life I knew disappear behind the iron gates. I was a material. I was a trade. I was a girl with no past, being driven into a future owned by a man I’d never met.

The driver’s eyes caught mine in the rearview mirror. He didn't smile.

"Mr. Mikaelson is expecting you," he said.

I squeezed my eyes shut, and for a split second, I smelled salt water again. The red lights flashed behind my eyelids. I gripped the seat, my breath coming in short, shallow gasps.

I was leaving one prison. I just didn't know if the next one had bars I could see.