Chapter 1 Emily's ruin

The streets of Madrid were quiet that night, the kind of silence that hummed with secrets. The kind of silence that came with ease,peace.... but not for Emily.. Emily slid the last chair beneath the table, wiped her tired hands on her apron, and reached for the café keys. She had been working since morning, and her bones ached with the kind of exhaustion that had nothing to do with work alone. It was the exhaustion of carrying too much, of living each day like a war she couldn't afford to lose.

She looked around for any other thing she needed to do before leaving... Since she was done for the night, she took off the apron, wore her coat, grabbed her keys and stepped outside; locking up behind her. The night air was sharp, tasting faintly of rain. She glanced down the street, expecting the usual emptiness, but then she heard the faint sound of a car engine and withing seconds it became louder. The car pulled up with speed in front of the cafe store; right in front of Emily.

Emily froze... confused and scared. The men dressed in black suits came down. Their faces hard and their eyes like shadows.They all walked towards her like bees attracted to honey. " Who are you?" the words flew out of her mouth.Panic flared in her chest, and her first instinct was to run-but her body wouldn't move. She looked around for anyone while slowly backing away, but that wasn't of help... It didn't make a difference. Two of her steps back was one step towards her. Something in their walk, in their silence, screamed danger.

And then she saw him...Micheal...Her Michael.

He stood just beyond the streetlight, half-hidden in the shadows. For one fragile moment, relief almost brought tears to her eyes. Maybe he'd come to walk her home. Maybe this was all a mistake. But then she saw it-the papers in his hands. The same papers he had once pressed into hers with a gentle smile and soft words about a loan that would save her sister. The same papers she'd signed without reading, too desperate, too trusting.

Her stomach dropped.

Her sister's words came back to her like a knife to the gut: 'Don't trust anyone...No one.'

"Michael?" Her voice cracked, half disbelief, half plea. " Michael!!!" hoping it wasn't what she thought it was, but he didn't flinch... he just stood there and kept on looking. "What's happening?"

He didn't answer. His expression was unreadable-almost calm, almost satisfied.

The men reached her, their grips iron on her arms as she struggled. Panic surged, but so did anger. She twisted, kicked, clawed, even bit one on the wrist... but they didn't flinch. One of them leaned close, his voice a low growl laced with an accent that wasn't Spanish.

"Boss is waiting." Her blood turned cold.

She looked at Michael again, waiting for him to intervene, to explain, to do anything-but he only adjusted his cuffs and gave the slightest nod to the men dragging her away. That was when it hit her.

She hadn't signed a loan. She'd signed her freedom away.

ONE WEEK AGO

The prison reeked of bleach, rust and blood like every breath was filtered through sorrow. Emily carried a small paper bag of biscuits, bottled juice, and a bar of cheap soap as the guard marched her down the corridor. Every clang of keys, every echo of footsteps scraped her nerves raw, but she kept walking. She always kept walking.

The visiting hall was half-empty that day. A few prisoners sat across from weary loved ones, voices muffled behind scratched glass and the faint buzz of fluorescent lights. Emily scanned the rows until her eyes landed on Lilith.

Her sister's hair was shorter than she remembered, chopped unevenly by prison hands. The sharp lines of her cheekbones seemed harsher, her brown eyes darker. But when those eyes caught Emily's, they lit up in a way that made her forget the bars, the uniforms, the years. Lilith smiled-fragile but real.

"Hi" lilithe gave a gentle smile, trying to hide her pain.

"You came," Lilith said, picking up the phone on her side.

Emily sank into the plastic chair opposite her and lifted the receiver. "Of course I came."

"How have you been?" Lilithe asked. I could see through her... how much she is hurting and I hate that I can't do anything about it.

A tear was about to escape my right eye,but I quickly dabbed it with my sleeve. I can't let her see me like this... she needs me more than ever and I need her.

"look at you... your having dark circles. Are you getting enough sleep?" She looked at me, trying very hard not to fall apart; not to cry.

"You work too much. One of these days, you'll collapse before you even get here." she gave a little chuckle.

Emily smiled. "I can handle it... I am fine... how do you expect me to sleep peacefully when i know what they are doing to you in here...Just a few more weeks and I'll have the money for the last installment. The lawyer promised he'll file your appeal as soon as it's complete... and then we can funally end this chapter... I miss you liilthe."

Lilith's expression softened with love, then tightened with worry. "Emi... i miss you too... but please,don't do this to yourself. You're twenty-four. You shouldn't be killing yourself for me...I need you to let it go."

Emily's grip on the phone whitened her knuckles. "Don't say that. You don't deserve prison, Lili. You defended yourself. You survived him. I can't just leave you here like... like garbage the system wants to forget."

Her voice cracked, but she steadied it with a sharp inhale.

I know what she is trying to do, but I can't and will not stop until I get my sister out whether She likes it or not.

Lilith pressed her palm against the glass. Her eyes shone with unshed tears, but her voice stayed steady. "You sound just like Mama. Always burning yourself alive for someone else. Emi... I don't want that for you."

I wish I knew our mother the way lilithe knew her.. but I wasn't that privileged...No, she didn't love me enough to stay.. and I think it's for the best. But, sometimes, I find myself wondering if our lives... My life would have been better if she was still here.

I pressed my hand to the divider. The cold glass bit into my skin. "I'll think of myself once you're free. Not a second before."

The silence that followed was heavy, stretching between them like a secret neither dared to name.

Then, almost mischievously, Lilith tilted her head and smirked. "Tell me-does Micheal know you work yourself this hard?" my heart skipped a beat.

Emily blinked, thrown off balance. "What?"

"You heard me." Lilith's smirk grew, but her eyes stayed sharp. "The café all day, the cleaning job at night, the tutoring on weekends... You never stop. And yet somehow you still make time for that boyfriend of yours. Micheal, right?"

Heat rose in Emily's cheeks, and she laughed softly. "You make it sound like I'm juggling a dozen lovers. Michael's not like that. He... he understands why I do this."

Lilith raised a brow, unimpressed. "Does he? Because I've been here six years, Emi, and I've never seen him walk through that door."

Emily's stomach tightened. She'd rehearsed this excuse so many times she almost believed it. "He doesn't like places like this. He says it makes him sick. You know how sensitive he is to... things like this."

Lilith snorted. "Sensitive? Please. A man in love will walk through fire if it means standing beside you. Don't tell me he's afraid of a prison hall."

Emily fiddled with the hem of her coat. "It's not like that. He works, too. Long hours. He sends his love every time I come."

Her words felt brittle. But she clung to them, weaving the lie like thread patching over a gaping hole.

"You've been dating him for four years," Lilith pressed. "Four years, Emi. And still, not once-"

"One day," Emily cut in, her voice firmer than she felt. "One day I'll bring him here. I promise." I knew that was a lie, but I love Michael... he is the only thing keeping me sane aside from my sister in this cruel world. All I would love is for lilithe to see that too.

Lilith studied her for a long moment, her smirk fading into something softer, sadder. "You really love him, don't you?"

Emily swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded. "He's... he's all I have left outside of you. He makes me believe there's more waiting for me. For us."

Lilith leaned back in her chair, folding her arms. " I know you love that man, all I want is for you not to get hurt... I know you won't understand what I am saying, but just promise me you will be careful. Love makes people blind. And blind people get hurt."

Emily forced a laugh, trying to lighten the weight of her sister's words. "You sound like an old woman... I promise... Michael loves me" I said,feeling my heart slow down.. whenever we get into this conversation, it's always racing.

"I feel like one," Lilith said quietly. "Prison will do that."

They sat in silence for a moment, only the distant sound of another visitor sobbing filling the space. Emily's chest ached.

"Lili," she whispered, her voice breaking, "I'll get you out. I swear. No matter what it takes."

Lilith's eyes softened again. She pressed her hand against the glass once more. "I know you mean that. And that's what scares me the most."

Emily placed her palm against her sister's again, the cold barrier between them a cruel reminder of how far apart they truly were.

"I'll bring Michael next time," Emily said softly, almost as if to convince herself.

Lilith only nodded, but the sadness in her eyes said everything.

A female guard from Lilith's end came in and gripped her arm. " Visiting time is over," the guard said. She jacked Lilith up like she was nothing... like she was a criminal.

Lilith winced in pain. Her left shoulder began to bleed. " Wait.." Emily shouted. Stopping them in their tracks. " What's that? Your arm is bleeding... what did they do to you" she yelled furiously, making all heads turn towards her direction.

"Emily, I am fine, go home" Lilith said as she was dragged away by the female guard. Emily's eyes were filled with rage. She grabbed her things and marched out of the ward, throwing the things she brought in the dustbin.

Emily stumbled out of the prison gates, the weight of her sister's sentence crushing her chest until she couldn't breathe. Her knees hit the ground, and before she could stop herself, she screamed-loud, broken, desperate. The sound cracked through the afternoon heat, bouncing off the stone walls. Tears blurred her vision as she whispered her vow into the empty air.

Tears rolling out like a river. " I mark this day...fifth of September... I Emily Jacobs will get you out of prison, even if it means selling my soul to the devil"

That day, the walls,the ground and the air heard her...deep within her she knew her life meant nothing and she was ready to sign a contract with the devil to make it something.

But she wasn't alone.

Slow, deliberate footsteps broke her haze. She wiped her eyes and looked up, and there he was...an imposing man in a black suit, flanked by two silent bodyguards. His gray eyes locked onto her like a hunter finding prey. He had just stepped from a sleek black car, clearly on his way inside, yet now he stood still, watching. His right hand in his pocket.

He just stood there staring at her, observing, analysing every inch of her body.

A smirk tugged at his lips. "Quite the show," he said, his voice deep, smooth, and merciless. "Do you do this every time you leave the prison, or is today special?"

Emily's body stiffened, her pride clawing past her grief. "Excuse me?" she wiped her tears with her sleeve as she got up from the ground.

He took a step closer, unbothered by her glare. "Crying on the ground in broad daylight. Screaming like the world owes you something." His eyes flicked over her with sharp disdain. "Pathetic. If you were looking for sympathy, darling, you won't find it here."

Her cheeks burned, fury igniting. "How dare you? Who the hell do you think you are? ," she snapped. "You don't know me. You don't know anything."

He chuckled darkly, cruel and amused. "I know weakness when I see it. And right now, you reek of it."

Emily stood, wiping her face with the back of her hand, forcing her voice steady. She stepped closer to him, looking at him dead in the eyes "You wouldn't last a day in my shoes."

His smile widened, sharp and shameless. "And you wouldn't last a second in mine."

The air between them tightened, charged with something neither of them could name. Finally, Emily shook her head in disgust. "You are just a cold man with too much arrogance and no humanity."

His smirk faltered just slightly, then returned, darker. "Sympathy is for fools."

"I'd rather be a fool than to know a man like you or have anything to do with you... unbelievable"

Emily's chest rose and fell with anger, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of getting a reaction out of her . She turned sharply, walking away with her head high, each step defiant.

Alexander's eyes followed her, lingering shamelessly as the fire in his smirk deepened. His gaze trailed down her frame, unapologetic, predatory.

"Stubborn little thing," he murmured under his breath, the corner of his mouth curving. "I'll remember that...when the right time comes, I'll make you beg"