Chapter 5 CHAPTER 5: ALL OR NOTHING

Lillian woke at five in the morning with her entire body aching as if she had taken a brutal beating, every joint trembling to the sluggish, heavy rhythm of her heart.

She opened her eyes, staring at the peeling flakes of whitewash on the ceiling. Rolling over, she quietly pulled back the blanket and stepped out of bed, careful not to wake Toby—the child still fast asleep in exhausted slumber, accompanied by the steady, wheezing hiss of the nebulizer machine in the corner of the room.

Standing before the small mirror in the bathroom, Lillian raised a hand to lightly touch her freshly sheared hair. The jagged, uneven locks grazing her shoulders reflected a brutal reality she could not escape.

Was she afraid to return to that university? Terrified to the point that her very bones still shivered whenever she recalled yesterday's mocking laughter and flashing camera lenses closing in around her.

Yet she had no other choice.

The full scholarship in the Department of Pharmacy not only covered the exorbitant tuition fees of that luxurious institution, but it also came with a modest monthly living stipend. Without that money, Toby would have no Pulmicort inhalers, no funds for routine medical care, and the two siblings would be instantly cast out of this dilapidated rented room.

Lillian took a deep, shuddering breath, forcing herself to swallow her panic and steady her nerves.

She just had to endure it... All the bullying would pass eventually. They would soon find a more entertaining target, grow bored, and finally leave her alone.

Swallowing down her humiliation, she prepared breakfast for her younger brother and slipped quietly out of the house before dawn had even broken.

Early morning mist clung tightly to the narrow alleyway. As she reached the brick-paved sidewalk near the spot from yesterday—where she had panicked and flung her handbag away—Lillian's steps faltered.

A cold wind swept across the stubborn weeds sprouting from the rough brick walls. Right at the edge of the overgrown patch, a dark object lay discarded among the rotting leaves.

Her old phone.

Not a single person had bothered to pick it up. An outdated model with a scratched casing, now marred by a spiderweb of cracked glass spreading across the screen. In the eyes of passersby or the wealthy students at her university, this piece of junk was nothing more than filthy trash.

Lillian stepped closer, bending down to retrieve the phone. A stray flake of icy sleet clung to the shattered glass. The sharp, jagged edge grazed her fingertip, leaving a sharp, stinging pain.

She pressed and held the power button. The screen flickered twice, a diagonal fracture splitting the interface in two, yet a faint blue glow still materialized. It was still functioning.

Lillian swiped her finger across the screen to clear away the clinging grime, then shoved the cracked phone deep into the pocket of her coat.

Clutching the straps of her backpack, Lillian swallowed the bitter lump in her throat, shoved her fear aside, and forced every step forward toward the university gates.

...

Four days.

Scarcely four days.

Yet Lillian Hart's world had completely collapsed.

Lillian hid herself in the deepest, darkest corner of the central library, her trembling hands tapping out lines of text on her laptop screen. She was desperately trying to finish her Pharmacology lab report—the sole remaining anchor holding onto her academic standing to protect her full scholarship.

Yet the surrounding atmosphere offered not a single moment to breathe.

"Look at that. She still has the nerve to sit in here."

"Probably waiting for Kael Ashford to come pick her up. Such a desperate, dirt-poor parasite."

Two female students strolled past Lillian's desk, deliberately raising their voices before breaking into a chorus of snickers. One of them even "accidentally" dropped her iced coffee right onto the corner of Lillian's table, dark brown liquid splashing wildly across her printed reference documents.

Lillian bit down on her lip so hard she drew blood. She refused to look up, refused to argue. Her small fingers crumpled a tissue into a tight ball, quietly wiping away the filthy stain.

She just needed to hold on for a few more months... Just long enough to save enough money...

Ting.

The screen of Lillian's phone lit up.

An unsaved number.

No profile picture.

No prior call history or message logs.

The message contained a single line:

[Toby's asthma inhaler solutions are quite expensive, Hart. Your run-down suburban rental certainly won't offer much shelter if any unexpected accidents happen to occur.]

Every drop of blood in Lillian's body instantly turned to ice. A creeping chill raced down her spine, making it hard to draw a breath.

He had crossed the absolute final line. He knew every minute detail about Toby!

Rain fell in sheets over the St. Jude campus as late afternoon shadows lengthened.

Lillian bolted from the library like a madwoman. She carried no umbrella, wore no raincoat, letting the stinging, freezing drops lash ruthlessly across her face. She barreled through the emergency exit in the basement of the athletic center—the only place she knew Kael Ashford would be before the team's practice session.

The heavy iron door slammed wide open under Lillian's push.

The auxiliary training rink was swallowed in dim, amber lighting. The air here was heavy with the sharp scent of melting ice and pine resin, striking directly at her senses.

Kael Ashford stood alone in the center of the artificial ice rink. A gray athletic tank top revealed the tight, rolling muscles of his back with every powerful swing of his stick. The hockey puck slammed against the boards with deafening cracks, echoing like thunder in the enclosed space.

Hearing frantic footsteps halt by the edge of the ice, Kael slowly paused.

He turned around. Ash-gray hair plastered with sweat clung to his forehead. His cold, merciless eyes swept over the shivering girl standing in the drafty doorway, completely soaked through, her eyes rimmed with red.

As Lillian staggered closer, the rigid, furious lines on Kael's face faltered for a fraction of a second. A subtle softening flickered through his gaze—an involuntary reaction, as though the crushing fatigue pressing down on him these past few days unconsciously eased at the sight of her. Yet that shift vanished so quickly that Lillian, consumed by panic and blinding fury, missed it entirely.

"I knew you'd come," Kael said, his voice deep and rough, carrying the supreme arrogance of a man holding all the cards.

"What do you want from me?!" Lillian screamed, her voice cracking over the patter of rain drumming against the windows outside. She took a step forward, casting aside her habitual terror. "You've ruined my life at this school! You've turned me into a laughingstock! And now you're dragging Toby into this too?!"

Kael unhurriedly stepped off the ice. The clack... clack... of his skate blades against the rubber flooring sounded like a death toll counting down.

He stopped right in front of her. His overwhelming height completely eclipsed Lillian's slender frame.

"I don't stoop to picking on a kid," Kael leaned down, his long, steel-hard fingers suddenly clamping around Lillian's chin, forcing her to look straight into his eyes. "But if you aren't going to behave... cutting off every single medical supply he has in this city would take me a single phone call."

"You monster..." Lillian trembled, the first tear slipping down, mingling with the rain on her pale cheek. "I only took that photo by accident! I deleted it completely! Why can't you just leave me alone?!"

"Because you saw something you shouldn't have," Kael grated out, his ash-gray eyes abruptly darkening, a strange golden gleam flashing within his pupils that sent a shiver straight down Lillian's spine. "And because..."

He hesitated, his gaze sweeping across her rain-drenched face as if searching for something even he could not yet name. Then Kael released her chin, shoving both hands into his pockets as he reclaimed his usual haughty veneer.

"Sunday. Two in the afternoon. The exhibition game between St. Jude and St. Xavier," Kael delivered his concise, tyrannical verdict. "Sit in the front row of the VIP stands. Wear my family pass. And smile."

Lillian clenched her hands into tight fists, her fingernails digging deep into her palms until they drew blood. "And if I refuse?"

Kael curled his lips into a cold, merciless smile:

"Monday morning. The report on your break-in to the restricted sector will sit on the Dean's desk. Your scholarship revoked. Extortion charges filed with the police. Your family... vanishing from this city entirely."

Defying her own terror, Lillian stared straight into his eyes, her voice cracked and breaking, shattering her usual submissiveness:

"Why don't you just kill me?"

Kael paused slightly.

"You push me into a corner, you stand there watching me beg..." The surging indignation made Lillian's chest heave violently. "If you want to silence me, why not do it right now? Why use Toby to torture me?!"

Kael leaned in close, his freezing breath brushing lightly against her ear, his voice dropping to a low whisper:

"Because killing you... is far too easy, Hart."

His thumb leisurely wiped a streak of moisture from her cheek, tightening with a subtle threat:

"A corpse holds no value compared to an obedient pawn. And more importantly..."

He halted for a few seconds, his gaze dropping to her trembling skin. Kael narrowed his eyes as though struggling to suppress some abnormal surge of emotion before his voice turned ice cold once more:

"I haven't given you permission to die."

He challenged her:

"You will be mine. Or... you lose everything."

Kael turned on his heel and walked away, never once looking back. The iron door swung shut behind him with a heavy BANG, leaving Lillian entirely alone in the freezing expanse of the arena.

Lillian collapsed onto the cold rubber flooring. She pulled her knees to her chest, her choked sobs swallowed entirely by the raging storm outside.

He left her no choice. The iron cage had snapped completely shut.

Ever since the night she witnessed that terrifying secret hidden within the ancient woods... her fate no longer belonged to her.