The scent hit her before full consciousness did.
Lilith flowers.
Sweet. Subtle. Familiar in a way that made her stomach twist.
Ava's eyes fluttered half-open. Her vision blurred, haloed by light pouring through stained-glass windows. Her limbs felt heavy, like lead. She shifted slightly and winced—a cold ache shooting through her wrists. Cuffs.
She was lying on a velvet chaise, her legs free but her wrists bound to the carved wood behind her. The room was richly adorned—European architecture, intricate moldings on the ceiling, chandeliers dripping with crystals. It wasn't a cell. It was a mansion. And somehow… she felt familiar with it.
Her heart beat harder.
That scent again.
Lilith. The same scent from her childhood garden. Her mother's favorite.
Is this a coincidence?
Her mind throbbed violently, and along with it came flickers—shards of memory crashing against her skull like waves against a cliff.
A locked room.
Many young boys.
A metal chair.
Kids screaming in pain.
A whispered promise.
"I'll come back for you."
She didn't know who said it. But the voice—warm, deep, terrified—cracked through her. Familiar. Too familiar.
"No…" she whispered, her dry lips barely moving.
Was Raiden telling the truth?
Did Dominic really erase her memories?
If so—why?
Her breathing turned shallow. She tried to sit up, but her head swam with vertigo. Whatever he had used to drug her was still in her system, making her thoughts sluggish and sticky.
And then—fingers.
Cold fingers brushed her cheek.
She flinched, jerking her head away.
"Still sensitive," came Raiden's soft voice, amused. "That's good. It means your mind is waking up."
She glared at him, fury lighting her eyes. "Don't touch me."
He crouched beside the chaise, utterly unbothered by her hatred. "You always hated being touched when you were confused. That hasn't changed."
"Get away from me," she growled.
Raiden only leaned closer, inhaling her scent. "You smell like tension. Like anger. But underneath…" His voice dipped lower taking a sniff of her. "Underneath, you smell like you used to. Like Ava. My Ava."
Her body tensed.
She would've spit in his face if she had the strength.
"What did I ever do," she whispered bitterly
He blinked once. "Existence. You existed in my world. That was enough."
She turned her face away, bile rising in her throat.
Raiden stood, smoothing his black shirt. "You'll understand soon. Your memories are coming back faster now. That ache in your head? It's your past fighting to be seen."
"I don't want to see anything you show me."
"But it's not me showing you. It's you, Ava. You buried it. Dominic buried it. But it belongs to you."
She tried to twist out of her cuffs again, her skin already scraped and raw.
"I'll find a way out of this," she said, her voice steadier now. "Even if I have to claw through you."
Raiden chuckled, unfazed. "That's what I like about you."
He turned and walked to the door. "You'll be kept in this room until you can walk on your own again. Try not to exhaust yourself. You'll need your strength for what's coming."
With that, he stepped out, locking the door behind him with a soft click.
Ava let out a shaky breath. Her heart pounded—not just from fear, but fury.
He'd said Dominic erased her memory.
She didn't want to believe him.
But those visions… they weren't Raiden's lies. They were hers. Buried in the back of her mind like forgotten ghosts.
She had to remember.
Not for Raiden.
But for herself.
And for whatever Dominic did.
Because trust… was no longer easy to give.
And soon, someone was going to pay for what they'd done.
---
Dominic's POV
"You're telling me we lost her?"
Dominic's voice was low, lethal. But the fury behind it was unmistakable.
Every man in the room flinched—even Markus, who'd never once shown weakness before.
"It was just a thirty-second gap. She went to the restroom—"
"—and vanished in thirty seconds?" Dominic's voice sliced through the tension like a scalpel. "In my presence? In my hotel?"
Stefan stepped forward, trying to intercept his fury. "We've checked every camera feed. Someone used a blindspot and a signal jam. This wasn't amateur work."
"I know that!" Dominic snapped, slamming his fist onto the table. The marble cracked beneath his knuckles.
"But thats not what I want to hear now"
Silence.
He turned, pacing.
She was gone.
And he had no one to blame but himself.
He should've known someone like Raiden wouldn't stay quiet. He should've never let Ava out of his sight—especially after knowing how fragile her body had been. How close she was to remembering things.
"She's not just a girl," Dominic muttered under his breath. "She's....someone I can't afford to lose"
Stefan and everyone present in the room was shocked hearing this.
Dominic's eyes flashed with somewhat reaction that was hard to gauze. "I don't want to lose anymore anyone precious in life ."
There was no time to waste.
"Bring me every piece of data. I don't care what system you have to breach. I want her location—alive, breathing, and untouched."
He paused.
"And if Raiden touched even a strand of her hair—"
He didn't finish the sentence.
He didn't need to.
Everyone in the room knew what it meant.