Chapter Ten: The Messages
872 Words
The phone screen lit up her face in the dark, the only glow in her suffocatingly perfect room. Ava sat frozen, legs curled under her blanket, the world reduced to a glow of desperate words that refused to stop coming.
The first one was harmless enough.
Where are you?
But as she scrolled, the harmlessness shattered.
You said tomorrow. Don’t tell me you’re backing out.
Princess, answer me.
It’s not funny.
Her heart thudded in her ears. Jace never begged. Never chased. He was always the one pulling strings, always in control, until now. Each message came faster, more frantic, his confidence unraveling right in her hands.
I waited.
You didn’t come.
I swear if Daddy’s keeping you locked up again—
Ava pressed the phone tighter, her thumb trembling as she scrolled. His voice, that velvet-rough whisper she knew too well, echoed in her mind with every word. Only this time, it wasn’t playful. It was raw. Desperate.
Say something.
Do you even care?
Her chest clenched. He was unraveling, and it scared her, because she didn’t know what Jace would do without control.
Then the last message hit like a blade.
Something happened. Don’t come here. I’ll find you first.
Her lungs seized. The timestamp glowed, ten minutes ago.
Her fingers slackened, nearly dropping the phone. She clutched it to her chest, heart battering her ribs so violently she thought it might burst. The silence in her room pressed down, heavy and suffocating, like the walls themselves were listening.
Jace was in trouble.
And he didn’t want her near.
But every nerve in her body screamed to go.
She flung off the blanket and swung her legs to the floor. Cold air licked at her skin, raising goosebumps as if the night itself was warning her back. Still, her body moved without her mind’s permission. She crossed to her closet, dragging a hoodie over her trembling arms.
Her reflection in the mirror caught her, wide eyes, wild hair, fear etched across her face. “Don’t,” she whispered to herself, voice shaking. “You’ll regret it.”
But the thought of Jace out there, alone, bleeding, or worse, burned through her like fire.
She grabbed her sneakers.
Halfway through tying the laces, a soft creak groaned from the hallway. Ava froze, pulse spiking. Her father? Her stepmother? If they caught her sneaking out again…
Her phone buzzed in her hand. Another message.
Too late. Stay inside.
Her stomach dropped.
Too late for what?
She stared at the door, shoelaces limp in her fingers. The decision clawed at her insides: stay safe and obey, or step into the danger that was swallowing him whole.
Either choice could destroy her.
And still—she chose him.
The mansion was silent as Ava crept through its halls, every step trembling on the edge of discovery. Her bare feet barely touched the marble, her breaths shallow as she slipped through the side door into the night.
The garden was silvered with moonlight, cold and vast. She shivered, tugging her hoodie tighter, nerves sparking with each crunch of gravel beneath her shoes.
Her legs felt heavy. Each step dragged more than the last, her stomach gnawing with weakness. She hadn’t eaten dinner, too anxious to taste food, and now it punished her. Her vision swam, the night tilting, shadows smearing into one another.
Still she pressed forward, muttering his name like a prayer. “Jace… Jace…”
Her knees buckled. The world blinked black.
She collapsed onto the roadside, the night swallowing her whole.
A shadow moved fast. Strong arms swept her up before the cold ground claimed her. The familiar scent—cigarettes, leather, danger, wrapped around her.
“Damn it, Princess,” Jace muttered, his voice breaking in a way she had never heard. He looked down at her pale face, her lashes fanned against her cheeks, and rage curled in his chest. At her father. At her perfect cage. At her for doing this to him.
He lifted her easily, carrying her like she weighed nothing. Instead of taking her home through the front, he scaled the vines by her balcony, silent as sin. With one last heave, he slipped into her room, the window sighing shut behind him.
He laid her gently on the bed she had just escaped from. For a moment, he only looked at her, innocent, fragile, undone. His jaw clenched, the wolf in him fighting the urge to devour.
Ava stirred, lips parting as though she felt him even in her dreams. A soft, broken sound escaped her throat.
“Don’t scare me like that again,” Jace whispered, voice hoarse. He brushed a strand of hair from her face, his touch lingering.
His hand trailed down, tracing her arm, her waist, the soft curve of her hip beneath the blanket. He shouldn’t. God, he shouldn’t. But the sight of her there, helpless, trusting, his...undid him completely.
“You don’t know what you do to me,” he murmured against her temple, fingers mapping every delicate line of her body.
In the darkness, his touch burned. Gentle, dangerous, claiming.
And even half-conscious, Ava shivered, her body betraying her, pulling her closer to the danger she couldn’t resist.
- Writer
