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51| LENORA

Author: Purpah
last update Last Updated: 2025-03-27 23:56:17

I decided to call in sick for the next three days while I figured everything out.

Technically, it wasn’t a lie—I was sick. Sick to my stomach, staring at the picture of Jessie, bruised, battered, and covered in blood. I stared at it for a long time, as if, if I just kept looking, the image would shift, distort—until suddenly, I’d realize it wasn’t really her.

But no matter how long I sat in the middle of my living room, gripping my phone so tightly my fingers ached, the picture never changed. If anything, the longer I stared, the more I became convinced that the woman in the image was Jessie. And the sicker I felt.

I tried texting the number back several times, but none of my messages went through. The number was private, untraceable—I couldn’t call it, nor could I get someone else to track it.

I was lost.

And after exhausting every option I could think of, I realized I had only two left.

One: I could give up, return to Marcus, and face whatever punishment he had waiting for me.

Or tw
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    I sat on the cold marble floor, arms wrapped tightly around my knees, eyes fixed on nothing. I wasn’t crying, but somehow, it felt worse. At least tears would have brought some relief. Instead, there was just this… hollowness. A gaping space inside me where hope should have been.Part of me wanted to get up. March back into that room and demand that Victor take me to Jessie. Shake the smugness out of his bones, claw at the door if I had to. But I couldn’t. I’d probably just end up gagged and chained in some dungeon until he decided I was useful again. My only hope now was helping him more so he could keep up his end of the deal. A feeling of despair pressed against my chest. But at that there was a high likelihood that even if I did heal him—fully, completely—he could just keep Jessie locked away forever anyway. I squeezed my eyes shut. What would I even do then?Victor was good—no, a master—at planting seeds of helplessness. And now, I was choking on them. I duh my fingers into my

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    At first, there was nothing. Just the silence of the room pressing in on me and the heavy weight of two gazes boring into my back. Victor’s curiosity felt sharp, like the tip of a blade resting against the back of my neck, while Adora’s stare was calmer, but no less intense.Unease rippled through me.It had been a while since I’d used my abilities—really used them. Even before I’d forced myself to shut everything down, it had already stopped being second nature. My gift had become something I tiptoed around, something I feared. Now, faced with the rotting wound on Victor’s chest, I couldn’t even remember how to tap into it.Another second passed.Then another.Still nothing. No flicker of heat. No spark. Not even the faintest pulse from deep within me.I swallowed thickly, my chest tightening with panic.Victor wouldn’t give me a second chance.And if he didn’t… Jessie was as good as dead.I clenched my fists, trying to summon something—anything—but my fingers trembled instead.“I’m

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