Chapter 71

[ 735 words ]

Emilia’s POV

Dark.

That was all I could see. All I could feel.

The car door clicked shut, and the world went quiet. I reached for the handle and pulled.

Nothing. Locked.

No. No, no, no.

I pulled again. Harder. The handle didn’t budge.

Panic hit me like a wave. Cold. Crushing. My chest tightened. My hands started shaking.

I banged on the window.

“Sebastian!”

I saw him walking away. His back. His shoulders. Disappearing into the house like I was nothing. Like locking his wife in a car was just another Tuesday.

“Seba—!”

My voice cracked. The car was soundproof. Everything that man owned was designed to keep people out.

My breath got shallow. Fast. I could feel the space shrinking. The roof pressing down. The seats swallowing me.

You’re fine. You’re fine. Breathe.

I pressed my hand to my chest, but my heart was racing too fast. Sweat dripped down my face. My vision blurred at the edges.

The memories came flooding back. Being trapped. Locked in. The darkness pressing in from every side, suffocating. I’d screamed. I’d cried. I’d begged. And in the end, I still lost the person I’d tried so hard to protect.

“LET ME OUT!”

Nothing. The house stayed dark. The front door stayed closed.

He was gone.

I slumped back in my seat, gasping for air.

I let out a bitter laugh. So this was what happened to Sebastian Simons’ wives.

I’d heard the rumors. The seventh bride who wouldn’t last three months. The curse. The dead and missing women. But I never thought…

I never thought he’d just lock me in a car and walk away.

Was I lucky? At least I wasn’t dead. At least he didn’t bury me in the woods.

Or maybe I was just unlucky enough to be alive and humiliated.

I took a deep breath. Then another. The panic was still there, clawing at my chest, but I pushed it down. I had to.

You’ve survived worse, Emilia. You survived your father. You survived your stepmother. You survived being sold off like cattle.

You can survive a locked car door.

I looked around. The windows were electric. The locks were central. No manual release.

But the glass…

I raised my elbow. Aimed at the corner of the window. And I swung.

Pain shot up my arm. The glass cracked. Just a little. Just a spiderweb line.

I swung again.

The glass shattered.

Cold air rushed in. I gasped like I’d been underwater. Blood dripped down my arm, but I didn’t care. I reached through the broken window and unlocked the door from the outside.

It clicked open.

I fell out of the car. My knees hit the ground. My hands were bleeding, stinging.

I stood up. My legs were weak. But I stood up.

And there he was.

Sebastian stood a few feet away, his eyes wide. His mouth slightly open.

He took a step toward me. “Your hand—”

“Don’t.”

My voice came out cold. I didn’t recognize it.

He reached for my arm. “Your hand is hurt. Where are you trying to go? Get in the car. I’ll take you to the hospital to get it bandaged.”

I pulled away. The motion made me dizzy, but I didn’t let him see it.

“Don’t touch me.”

“Emilia, I didn’t mean to—”

“Didn’t mean to what?” I laughed. “Didn’t mean to lock me in? Didn’t mean to leave me there? Didn’t mean to show me exactly what kind of man you are?”

He didn’t answer.

I turned and walked toward the house. Each step hurt. My hand was on fire. My chest was caving in.

After a few steps, I stopped. Turned around.

“Did it not matter to you?” My voice cracked. “When they were all over me tonight—did you really not care? Did it ever cross your mind that the woman they were humiliating was your wife? You don’t have to love me. But you could have at least stopped them from destroying me.”

Sebastian said nothing.

I laughed. A short, hollow sound. What was I even expecting? I was standing here bleeding and falling apart. What exactly was this man going to say?

I went upstairs in a daze. Walked into my room. Sat on the edge of the bed and stared at the floor.

Then it hit me: my life was already a disaster. Apparently it could still get worse.

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