My stepbrothers and I

Chapter Eight:Alone

She reacted on instinct. Brought her knee up hard between his legs. He doubled over with a grunt. The second man grabbed for her—she twisted, slammed her elbow into his face.

Bone cracked. Blood sprayed.

She ran.

Through the club. Past the booth. She heard someone call her name—Elijah maybe—but she didn't stop. Found the exit. Burst through the black door into the street.

Daylight. Fresh air.

She stood there, shaking, blood on her elbow that wasn't hers.

The door opened behind her.

Damien.

He stepped out, calm, hands in his pockets. Looked at her like she was mildly interesting.

"Took you long enough."

She stared at him. "You set that up."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Those men. You told them—"

"I told them the truth. That you were new. That you might appreciate some attention." He shrugged. "What they did with that information was their choice."

Her hands were shaking.

"They could have—"

"But they didn't. You handled it." He smiled. It didn't reach his eyes. "Consider it a test. You passed."

"A test?"

"You're going to be an Ashford. You need to learn how to survive in our world." He stepped closer. "Lesson one: no one is going to save you. Not me. Not Elijah. Not Sebastian. The sooner you understand that, the better."

She wanted to scream

Instead she said, "Take me home."

"We're not done."

"Take me HOME."

"Fine. Get in the car."

The drive was silent.

Katherine sat in the back, arms wrapped around herself, still shaking. Elijah was beside her again. Still not looking at her.

She couldn't take it anymore.

"You saw."

He didn't respond.

"You saw what was happening. You looked right at me. And you did nothing."

"You handled it."

"That's not the POINT."

"Then what is the point?" He finally looked at her. "You wanted me to rescue you? Play the hero? That's not how this works, Katherine."

"How WHAT works?"

"This. Us. This family." He leaned back. "You're not a princess. We're not knights. The sooner you figure that out—"

"The sooner I learn my place? Is that what you were going to say?"

He didn't answer.

She looked at Sebastian. He was watching them in the rearview mirror.

"And you. You just sat there. Watching. Like it was entertainment."

Sebastian's lips curved. Just slightly.

"You were never in real danger."

"How would you know?"

"Because I was counting. Three seconds after he touched you, you'd already decided to hit him. Two seconds later, you did. You were angry, not scared." He paused. "Scared people freeze. You didn't freeze. You were calculating."

She stared at him. "You were timing me?"

"I was observing." He turned back to the window. "You're more interesting than I expected."

The words should have been a compliment. They felt like a threat.

Katherine sat in silence, rage building behind her ribs.

Damien caught her eyes in the rearview mirror. Still that cold amusement.

"Something to say?"

"f**k you."

Elijah actually laughed. Short, surprised.

Damien's smile grew. "Careful, little sister. That mouth is going to get you in trouble."

"I'm not your little sister. I'm not your anything. And if you ever pull something like that again—"

"You'll what?" He raised an eyebrow. "Run to daddy? Tell Richard? Go ahead. See how that works out for you."

She wanted to cry. Hated that she wanted to cry. Swallowed it down.

"I hate you."

"Good." Damien turned off the main road. Into the trees. Away from the direction of the estate.

Katherine's stomach dropped.

"This isn't the way home."

"Who said we were going home?"

Elijah sat up. Frowning. "Damien. What are you doing?"

"Finishing the lesson."

The car turned onto a dirt road. Trees pressing in on both sides.

"Damien." Elijah's voice had an edge now. "This wasn't the plan."

"Plans change."

They drove for another ten minutes. Deeper into the woods. No houses. No signs. Nothing.

The car stopped.

Damien killed the engine. Got out.

Katherine didn't move. Her heart was hammering.

Elijah muttered something under his breath. Got out too.

Sebastian opened his door. Paused. Looked back at Katherine.

"You should get out."

"Why?"

He didn't answer. Just stepped out of the car.

Katherine sat there. Alone. In the middle of nowhere.

Then her door opened.

Damien stood there. Face blank.

"Out."

"No."

He reached in. Grabbed her arm. Pulled her out of the car before she could fight back.

She stumbled. Caught herself. Looked around.

Trees. Dirt. A cabin in the distance. Nothing else.

"What is this?"

Damien was already walking back to the car.

"Wait—what are you DOING?"

He got in the driver's seat. Elijah hesitated by the passenger door.

"Damien. This is too far."

"Get in the car, Elijah."

"She doesn't know these woods. It's going to be dark in a few hours—"

"GET. IN. THE. CAR."

He got in the car.

Sebastian was already inside. Watching through the window. Face unreadable.

Katherine ran toward them. "You can't just LEAVE me here—"

The engine started.

"Find your way back," Damien said through the open window. "If you can."

The car pulled away.

Katherine chased it for a few steps. Useless.

She stood in the dirt road, watching the taillights disappear into the trees.

Then silence.

Complete, suffocating silence.

She was alone.

Then she screamed.

Rage and fear and frustration ripping out of her throat until her voice cracked.

The trees swallowed it. Gave nothing back.

She was really alone.

She pulled out her phone. No signal. Of course. She walked in a circle, holding it up like an i***t, watching the bars stay dead.

Nothing.

Okay. Okay. Think.

The cabin. Damien had driven past a cabin. Maybe there was a phone there. Or people. Or something.

She started walking.

The cabin was further than it looked.

By the time she reached it, the sun had shifted. Lower now. Shadows stretching longer through the trees.

The cabin was old. Wood rotting in places. Windows dark. No cars outside. No signs of life.

She knocked anyway.

Nothing.

She tried the door. Locked.

She walked around the side. Found a window that was cracked. Pushed it open and Climbed through.

Inside was dusty .A single room—bed, table, chairs, a fireplace that hadn't been used in years. No phone. No electricity, from the look of it.

Nothing useful.

She sat on the floor. Back against the wall.

Her phone still had battery. Just no signal.

She opened her notes app. Started typing. Just to do something.

Day one of being abandoned in the woods by my psycho stepbrother. Current status: not dead. Yet.

She almost laughed.

The light outside was fading. She had maybe two hours before dark.

She couldn't stay here. The cabin had nothing—no food, no water, no way to call for help. She needed to find a road. A real road. With cars. With people.

She climbed back out the window and started walking.

The woods were disorienting.

Every direction looked the same. Trees and more trees. Dirt paths that split and merged and led nowhere.

Katherine picked a direction—away from where Damien had driven, she thought—and walked.

Her sneakers weren't made for this. Her feet were starting to hurt. Her throat was dry.

She checked her phone obsessively. Still no signal.

The sun dropped lower. The shadows got darker.

She was starting to panic.

She walked faster.

An hour passed. Maybe more.

The sun was almost gone now. The trees were turning into silhouettes. She could barely see the path in front of her.

She tripped on a root. Went down hard. Hands scraping against dirt and rocks.

She lay there for a moment. Breathing. Trying not to cry.

Get up.

She got up.

Kept walking.

She saw the light before she heard the car.

Headlights. Cutting through the trees. Coming from somewhere to her left.

A road. There was a road.

She ran toward it. Branches scratching her arms. Stumbling over roots.

She burst out of the treeline , A real road.

The headlights were coming closer. A car. She could flag it down. Get help.

She stepped into the road. Waved her arms.

The car slowed.

For a moment, the headlights blinded her. She couldn't see the driver.

Then the door opened.

A man stepped out.

Something familiar about his face that she couldn't place.

Her stomach dropped.

She knew him.

Not knew him—recognized him. From town. The coffee shop. The man who'd been watching her through the window.

He was here. In the middle of nowhere. On the exact road she'd stumbled onto.

Every instinct screamed run.

But run where? Back into the woods? In the dark?

"You're Katherine."

His voice was calm. Not threatening. But he knew her name.

She stepped back. "How do you know that?"

"You're bleeding." He nodded toward her hands. She looked down. Her palms were scraped raw from the fall. Blood smeared across her skin.

"How do you know my name?"

He didn't answer. Just looked at her with an expression she couldn't read.

"Get in the car. I'll take you home."

"I'm not getting in a car with you."

"You don't have a choice. It's dark. You're injured. You're miles from the estate." He paused. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"That's exactly what someone who was going to hurt me would say."

Something flickered across his face. Almost like amusement.

"Fair point." He reached into his pocket. She tensed. He pulled out a phone. Held it up. "You can hold this. Call anyone you want. Keep the line open the whole drive. If I try anything, you scream."

She stared at the phone. Then at him.

"Why are you helping me?"

"Because you need help."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one you're getting right now." He opened the passenger door. "Get in. Or don't. But I'm not leaving you out here."

Katherine looked at the dark woods behind her. At the empty road stretching in both directions.

She got in the car.

The drive was silent.

She held his phone in her lap. Didn't call anyone—who would she call?She actually didn’t know anyone’s number off head.

But she kept her finger over the emergency dial. Just in case.

The man drove carefully. Eyes on the road. Didn't try to make conversation.

She studied his profile.

There was something. Something familiar. Like looking at a photograph she'd seen once and forgotten.

"Who are you?"

He didn't answer.

"You were watching me. In town. At the coffee shop. I saw you."

"I know."

"So who are you? Why are you following me?"

His hands tightened on the steering wheel. Just slightly.

"I'm someone who's been watching out for you for a long time. From a distance."

"That's creepy."

"I know."

"Are you going to tell me your name?"

Silence.

Then: "Not yet."

"Why not?"

He didn’t answer

The estate gates appeared sooner than she expected.

He pulled up outside them.

"This is as far as I go."

Katherine looked at the gates. Then at him.

"You know the Ashfords."

"I know of them."

"That's not the same thing."

"No. It's not." He turned to look at her for the first time since she'd gotten in the car. His eyes were dark."Be careful, Katherine. These people—they're not what they seem."

"I already figured that out."

"No. You haven't. Not yet." He paused. "But you will."

She should get out. Walk through the gates. Go back to that house and deal with whatever was waiting for her.

She didn't move.

"Will I see you again?"

He didn't answer.

"Who ARE you?"

"Go. They'll be wondering where you are."

Fine she wasn’t going to push .

She got out. Stood on the gravel and Watched him.

"Thank you. For the ride."

He nodded.

Then he drove away. Disappeared into the dark.

Katherine stood there until the taillights were gone.

Then she walked through the gates.

The house was lit up. Every window blazing.

She walked through the front door and the first thing she heard was her mother's voice.

"—completely irresponsible! Do you have any idea what time it is? Where could she possibly—"

Linda appeared in the foyer. Stopped when she saw Katherine.

Relief flickered across her mother's face then it hardened.

"Where the HELL have you been?"

"Nice to see you too, Mom."

"Don't get smart with me. It's almost midnight. We've been—" She stopped. Looked at Katherine properly. The dirt. The scratches. The blood on her hands. "What happened to you?"

"Ask your stepsons."

"What?"

"Ask. Them." Katherine walked past her mother toward the stairs. "I'm going to bed."

"Katherine Chen, you stop right there—"

"Linda." Richard's voice. Calm. Commanding.

Katherine stopped and turned .

Richard stood in the doorway of his study. The triplets behind him. All three of them.

Damien's face was blank.

"Katherine." Richard stepped forward. "Where were you?"

"In the woods. Where your son left me."

Richard's eyes moved to Damien. Something passed between them.

"That's not what Damien told me."

"I'm sure it isn't."

"He said you wandered off."

Katherine laughed. It came out broken.

"Wandered off. Right. After he drove me forty minutes into the middle of nowhere and told me to find my own way back." She looked at Damien. "Did you tell him that part?"

Damien's expression didn't change. "You were upset. You got out of the car and ran into the woods. We tried to find you."

"LIAR."

"Katherine." Her mother's voice. Sharp. "Lower your voice."

"He's LYING. He left me there on PURPOSE. He—"

"Enough." Richard's voice cut through. "I don't know what happened today, but I won't have screaming in my house."

"Your son tried to—"

"I said ENOUGH."

Silence.

Katherine's chest was heaving. Her eyes burned.

No one was going to believe her. No one was going to help her.

She was alone.

Richard studied her for a long moment. Then his eyes narrowed.

"How did you get back?"

She hesitated.

"A car," she said finally. "Someone on the road. They gave me a ride."

"Who?"

"I don't know. A man."

Linda made a sound. Scandalized. "A MAN? You got in a car with a strange man? In the middle of the night?"

"I didn't have a lot of OPTIONS, Mom."

"Do you have any idea how that looks? What people will say?"

Katherine stared at her mother.

"Wow. Glad to know you were worried about me."

"Don't take that tone—"

"Goodnight, Mom."

She turned and Walked up the stairs.

No one followed her.

She locked her bedroom door.

Sat on the floor.

And finally, finally let herself cry.

She didn't know how long she sat there.

Long enough for her tears to dry. For her breathing to steady. For the rage to settle into something cold and hard in her chest.

Her phone buzzed.

She looked at it. Expecting Marcus Or Jenna.

Unknown number.

She opened it.

Unknown:You made it back.

Her blood went cold.

Katherine:Who is this?

Unknown:Someone who's glad you're safe.

The man. The man from the car. But she hadn't given him her number.

Katherine:How did you get my number?

Unknown:Get some sleep, Katherine. You're going to need it.

Katherine:WHO ARE YOU?

No response.

She stared at the screen until it went dark.

Then she put the phone down and stared at the ceiling.

The man knew her name. Knew where she lived. Knew her number.

He'd been watching her. Following her.

And tonight, he'd saved her.

None of it made sense.

She closed her eyes.