Chapter 1 No.1

Rain mixed with the sweat on her face. She pulled her hood up and started walking, her limp becoming more pronounced with every step. She reached the main road just as a yellow taxi turned the corner, its "Vacant" light glowing like a beacon in the dark.

She raised her hand. The car slowed and pulled over.

Eva opened the door and slid inside. The interior smelled of stale smoke and pine air freshener.

"Where to?" the driver asked, eyeing her soaking wet clothes in the rearview mirror.

Eva pulled a notepad from her pocket and wrote two words: Bus Station.

She showed it to him.

The driver shrugged and hit the meter. "You got it."

As the taxi pulled away, Eva looked back through the rain-streaked window. The Wells estate was a dark silhouette against the sky. She wasn't just running away from home. She was running for her life.

Earlier, the rain had fallen in sheets, turning the world into a blurred watercolor of gray and black. It soaked through the thin fabric of Eva Wells's dress, chilling her skin, but the cold was nothing compared to the numbness spreading through her chest. She stood at the edge of the open grave, her eyes fixed on the mahogany casket being lowered into the wet earth.

The priest's voice was a low drone, a meaningless hum that barely registered over the sound of the rain hitting the umbrellas. Eva didn't hear the prayers. Her ears were ringing with a high-pitched silence that had become her constant companion. She felt like she was underwater, the pressure building against her eardrums, threatening to crush her. It was a psychological deafness, a shield her mind threw up against a world that was too loud, too cruel. But some things always broke through.

A heavy hand landed on her shoulder.

Eva flinched. Her body reacted before her mind did, muscles seizing up, breath hitching in her throat. She knew that touch. It was heavy, possessive, and entirely devoid of warmth. The shield of silence shattered, and the world rushed in with terrifying clarity.

"Steady, Eva," Kingsley Wells murmured.

He stood beside her, his custom-made suit dry under the massive black umbrella held by a bodyguard. He didn't look at her. He looked at the grave with a practiced expression of solemnity, the grieving father playing his part for the cameras that were undoubtedly zooming in from the cemetery gates.

"It's time to go home," he whispered. "Family duty."

Eva looked up at him. His jaw was set, his eyes cold behind his designer glasses. There was no grief there. Only calculation. She looked past him to the waiting limousine. Corie, his wife, sat in the back seat, her face a mask of porcelain indifference. Beside her, Juliana, Eva's half-sister, was a pale ghost, coughing weakly into a handkerchief.

Eva felt the trap closing. She had been summoned from her boarding school for the funeral of a distant uncle, but she knew, deep in the hollow of her stomach, that she wouldn't be going back.

The bodyguard ushered her into the black SUV. The door slammed shut with a finality that made her jump. The lock engaged with a heavy thud. It sounded like a prison cell closing.

The drive to the Wells estate was silent. The only sound was Juliana's ragged breathing and the rhythmic swoosh of the windshield wipers. Eva pressed herself against the door, trying to make herself as small as possible. She stared out the window, watching the city fade into the manicured isolation of the wealthy suburbs.

When they arrived, the iron gates swung open and then closed behind them. The house loomed ahead, a sprawling mansion that looked more like a fortress than a home.

"Go to your room, Eva," Kingsley said as they entered the foyer. "We have matters to discuss later."

Eva nodded, keeping her eyes on the floor. She climbed the grand staircase, her legs feeling heavy, like she was wading through molasses. She went to her old room at the end of the hall. She reached for the door handle and paused. The lock had been removed. There was just a hole in the wood where the mechanism used to be.

She walked inside and sat on the edge of the bed. Her hands were shaking. She clasped them together, squeezing until her knuckles turned white, trying to stop the tremors.

Hours passed. The house grew quiet. The rain continued to batter the windows, a relentless drumbeat against the glass. Thirst clawed at her throat. She hadn't drunk anything since morning.

She opened her door and crept into the hallway. The carpet swallowed the sound of her footsteps. She moved like a shadow, a skill she had perfected over years of trying to be invisible.

Light spilled from the crack under the study door. Instead of pressing her ear to the wood, Eva moved past it, her heart pounding a frantic rhythm against her ribs. She knew this house's secrets better than anyone. At the end of the hall, hidden behind a tapestry, was a small, brass grate-a relic from the old heating system. She knelt, her fingers finding the familiar cold metal. The shaft connected directly to the one in the study below. Kingsley's voice drifted up, low and serious.

Eva froze. She pressed her ear against the grate, holding her breath.

"...latest tests are conclusive," Kingsley was saying. "Dr. Aris confirmed the tissue compatibility is a near-perfect match. We got lucky."

"Is she healthy enough?" another voice asked. It sounded like their family lawyer. "She looks... fragile."

"The heart is strong," Kingsley replied. His voice was devoid of emotion, like he was discussing a car part. "That's all that matters. Juliana doesn't have much time left. We need to schedule the harvest as soon as the legal guardianship paperwork is finalized next week."

The harvest.

The word hung in the air, sharp and deadly.

Eva's hand flew to her mouth to stifle a scream that wouldn't have come out anyway. Her heart slammed against her ribs, a frantic bird trying to escape a cage. They weren't bringing her home to be a daughter. They were bringing her home to be a donor. A spare part for Juliana.

She was going to die.

Adrenaline flooded her system, washing away the numbness. She turned and sprinted back to her room, her bare feet silent on the floor. She closed the door and leaned against it, gasping for air.

She couldn't stay. If she stayed, she was dead.

She dropped to her knees and dragged her old, battered backpack from under the bed. Her hands were shaking so badly she could barely work the zipper. She stuffed a change of clothes inside-jeans, a hoodie, thick socks. She grabbed her sketchbook, the only thing that truly belonged to her.

She went to the bookshelf and pulled out a hollowed-out dictionary. Inside was a stash of cash she had been saving for years, stealing twenty-dollar bills from Kingsley's wallet whenever she had the chance. It wasn't a fortune, but it was enough to get away.

She took the small, framed photo of her mother, Amirah, from the nightstand. In the photo, her mother was laughing, standing in front of a rustic wooden sign that read 'Mrs. Rose's Fresh Produce.' Eva tucked it into the front pocket of the bag. It was her only map.

Then she took out her phone. Kingsley could track it. She grabbed a paperclip from the desk drawer, straightened it, and pushed the thin metal into the tiny hole on the side of the phone. The SIM card tray popped out. She removed the SIM card, snapped the thin plastic in half, and walked to the bathroom, flushing the pieces down the toilet. The phone was now a ghost, but it still held the offline maps she'd downloaded months ago, a contingency plan for a day she prayed would never come.

She went to the window and pushed it open. The wind and rain lashed at her face. Below, a wooden trellis covered in ivy ran down the side of the house. It was slick with rain.

Eva didn't hesitate. She threw her backpack out first, watching it land in a soft bush. Then she swung her legs over the sill.

The wood was slippery. Her foot slipped on the first step, and her knee scraped violently against the rough bark. Pain flared, hot and sharp, but she bit her lip and kept moving. She climbed down, hand over hand, her muscles screaming.

Her feet hit the wet grass. She grabbed her bag and ran. It wasn't a sprint; it was a desperate, limping gait, each step sending a jolt of agony up her leg. Adrenaline was the only thing keeping her upright.

She knew where the security cameras were. She had spent her childhood mapping the blind spots. She wove through the garden, sticking to the shadows of the hedges, avoiding the sweeping arcs of the motion sensors.

She reached the perimeter wall. There was a loose stone near the old oak tree. She used it as a foothold and hauled herself up and over.

She landed hard on the sidewalk outside the estate, the impact jarring her bad knee. She stumbled but forced herself upright. The half-mile walk to the main road felt like a marathon. Every shadow seemed to hold a threat, every rustle of leaves sounded like the footsteps of a bodyguard.