Six hours earlier…
AVA
I had just stepped off the plane, legs aching, eyes burning, and heart racing with the kind of dread that settles deep in your stomach when you realize there's no turning back. The airport buzzed with too much noise and too many faces, but all I could focus on was the weight of what I'd just done. I had uprooted my entire life, left behind my family, my job, everything that was familiar. And for what? A gut feeling and a one-way ticket to the capital city.
My phone buzzed again, lighting up with my father's name. I stared at the screen for a second, thumb hovering. I didn't answer. I knew what he'd say, the shouting, the disappointment. I silenced the call and shoved the phone into my coat pocket before stepping outside. This was the umpteenth time he was calling me. I trembled imagining his voice. The disappointed look he would give me snaked around me like a vine to a tree
My family would disown me if they found out what I had done. There was no going back now. I made the choice, I chose this. I reminded myself as I kept walking on the polished tiles of the airport, people zooming past me like I was just another person, ordinary, in a sea of ordinary people too.
What they didn't know were the choices I made beneath the facade of simplicity. The fact I no longer had a home, even though my family hadn't said it out loud because they simply didn't know. I was sure if they were to get a whiff, just an inkling of the crazy decision I made…
I shivered at the thought as I stepped outside the airport.
The cold air slapped me across the face like it had been waiting to punish me too. Who wouldn't punish me? But I had to take a chance, take this risk. My life could become better and it had to, that was the only option.
Dread settled in my lungs as I breathed out to stabilize my thoughts. I couldn't go spiraling or rethinking, I should have done that before I boarded the plan and arrived here. But the capital city wouldn't be so bad and this opportunity was one in a billion and I would be mad if I didn't take the chance presented to me.
My breath curled out in clouds as I raised a hand to flag down a taxi. One pulled up almost instantly, sleek and spotless black, which was strange considering the city's reputation for traffic and grime.
I climbed in, glancing up to meet the eyes of the driver.
He looked like no taxi driver I'd ever seen. His jaw was sharp and clean-shaven, cheekbones pronounced, and there was a calm, dangerous kind of stillness in how he held himself. His suit looked tailored beneath his coat, expensive, pristine. I couldn't stop staring.
He looked sinful, strong, like those fallen angels one read about in the books.
There was something unsettling about him, something I couldn't place. The familiarity of his face gnawed at the edges of my mind. I fumbled with my seatbelt as I gave him the address of the apartment I'd barely managed to rent. He didn't say anything, just nodded and pulled away from the curb like he already knew where he was going.
Our eyes locked and I saw the most beautiful grey eyes, stormy like thunderclouds but calm like the sea on a beautiful summer day. They were hypnotic. I had seen grey eyes but his? They were a work of art.
It felt like every swirl was intricately designed to make one be drawn in, only to be deceived. This wasn't how a taxi driver would look. He was so different.
The city blurred past us, tall buildings streaking against the car windows as I tried to shake the feeling. My fingers curled around the strap of my bag like it might tether me to some kind of reality. This would be my new home and all must go well here. I could imagine myself here, walking down the streets like people were doing or even riding a bicycle, the image so random.
My mind was trying to get me to calm down and stop the constant beating in my chest.
That's when we passed a billboard.
My breath hitched.
There he was. His face. Larger than life, lit up against the gray sky. Same eyes, same face, same impossible beauty.
He was a public figure. A model. An entrepreneur. I couldn't remember the details, but I had definitely seen him before. Magazine covers, advertisements, interviews I hadn't paid attention to at the time. He wasn't just familiar, he was famous.
Why was someone like him behind the wheel of a taxi?
Something was wrong.
My hand slipped into my coat pocket slowly, fingers brushing my phone. I didn't want to alert him. Maybe he was being forced. Maybe this was a setup. Maybe if I dialed quickly enough, whispered to the dispatcher, someone could help.
I didn't even get the chance.
He moved so fast I barely saw it. One hand off the wheel, the other snatching the phone from my grip like it had been nothing. It clattered to the floor of the car, and before I could lunge for it, his boot came down hard. Glass cracked, metal crunched.
"What the hell," I snapped, trying to reach across, but he didn't even flinch.
Instead, he pulled something from his coat pocket. A small vial. He blew the contents in my direction before I could scream.
The powder sparkled for a split second in the air, like frost. Then it hit my face.
My lips tingled. My eyes stung. Then the numbness spread.
It rushed down my throat, across my chest, into my fingers.
I couldn't move.
My vision blurred.
My heart slammed once, twice, and then everything tilted.
The last thing I saw was his face in the rearview mirror. Calm. Cold. Watching me.
Then the darkness swallowed everything.