Esme’s POV
For a long second, I couldn’t process what I was seeing.
The man standing in front of me — the one they’d been calling *Alpha* — wasn’t some stranger as I’d imagined in all my fear and confusion. It was Nolan. My own brother.
My throat tightened painfully. “Nolan?” The word left my mouth in a small, broken whisper, disbelief shaping every syllable.
“What the hell am I doing here?” My voice cracked, rising in desperation. “Did you hate me this much? To the extent of kidnapping me too?”
My hands trembled against the cold metal restraints as I tried to steady myself. “I’m your sister, for heaven’s sake! Can’t you—” my voice faltered, “—can’t you cut me some slack?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he smiled — that cruel, hollow kind of smile that didn’t reach his eye
