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Chapter_38
The silence that enveloped Quinn was suffocating. She pressed her back against the cold, unforgiving door, her breath shallow and quick. The shadows inside the small room seemed to close in on her, and her heart pounded in her chest, each beat reminding her of the darkness that always lurked in the corners of her life.
Her mind raced, memories of the countless times she’d felt abandoned, neglected, and alone. But this time, the weight of betrayal was different—it was sharper, more cutting. Alexander had been her lifeline, her protector. Or at least, that’s what she had believed. Now, the very person who had promised to care for her had locked her away, as if she were a mere inconvenience, something to be discarded when inconvenient.
She tried to steady her breathing, but it was no use. The room seemed to shrink around her, suffocating her with its oppressive silence. The fears she had kept buried deep inside her bubbled to the surface—memories of the storage room, of being trapped, of feeling small and helpless.
She tried to make sense of the confusion that clouded her thoughts. How had it come to this? Why was she here, in this place, trapped once more? Was this what she was meant to be? Nothing more than someone to be controlled, manipulated, and cast aside when it suited others?
A single tear escaped her eye, and she wiped it away angrily, refusing to let herself succumb to despair. She wouldn’t be weak. She couldn’t afford to be weak.
But the darkness around her—real and metaphorical—began to close in again. Quinn’s mind flitted back to the events that had led her here. Juliet, her only source of comfort in the chaos, had been there for her when Alexander was nowhere to be found. Juliet had been the only one who understood her pain, her loneliness. But Alexander? He saw only defiance, disrespect. He didn’t understand that Quinn had sought solace in the only place that had made her feel something resembling safety.
In the stillness of the room, she could hear her own ragged breathing, and with every breath, the space seemed even darker, even colder.
She pounded on the door again, the sound reverberating in the silence, a futile attempt to get through to Alexander. But there was no answer. Only the oppressive weight of her isolation.
Tears welled in her eyes once more, but this time, she refused to let them fall. She had been strong once before, and she would be again. She would find her way out of this. But how?
Time passed—seconds, minutes, maybe even hours—but Quinn’s sense of time blurred as she sat on the cold, hard floor. Her thoughts spiraled, and her heart ached with the unbearable emptiness that had consumed her. She couldn’t stay here forever.
But then, in the stillness, a thought struck her like a bolt of lightning. A flicker of realization. She wasn’t truly alone—not anymore.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. There was always a way out, always a path forward—even if she had to create it herself.
With that thought, Quinn wiped the tears from her cheeks, straightened her back, and stood up. No more waiting. No more surrender. She would find her way out of the darkness, whether Alexander wanted her to or not.
