The Call She Never Wanted To Make.
Zyrah’s Point of View.
The cell door slams shut behind me with a sickening finality.
The sound rings in my ears, sharp and cruel, like the crack of a gavel sentencing me to a life I never saw coming.
My body collapses onto the hard cot, my knees buckling beneath me.
I couldn’t breathe.
The air was thick, suffocating, pressing down on me like an invisible weight, making it impossible to draw in a full breath.
I stare at my wrists, the angry red marks where the cuffs had bitten into my skin. The pain is there, burning, but it’s nothing compared to the gaping, bleeding wound inside me.
The life I built and the love I thought was unbreakable are all gone.
Ronan left me here.
He set me up, destroyed me, and then he walked away, throwing away the keys.
A broken sob rips through my chest, my body folding in on itself as I press my hands against my face.
“Oh my God,” I whisper, rocking forward. “Oh my God.” My lips trembled.
This isn’t real.
It can’t be real.
One moment, I was in my home, serving tea to my husband’s ex, the perfect wife.
The next, I was in handcuffs, dragged through the mud, my name splashed across headlines as a fraud, a thief, a crim- inal.
And the worst part?
Ronan let it happen.
I shake my head violently, pressing my fingers into my scalp as if I can physically force this nightmare out of exis-
tence.
With shaky fingers, I picked up the pen, signed the divorce papers, and handed it to the detective, who smiled.
“A wise decision.” He said, picked up the papers, and walked out, shutting the door.
0.0 %
15:31
Tears blur my vision, hot and unrelenting, streaming down my face as I press my forehead against my knees, trying to make myself disappear.
But the truth is here.
The cell.
The betrayal, the utter, unforgivable destruction of my life.
And now?
I have nothing, no money as Ronan froze my accounts. No allies, I gave up my family for him.
No freedom, I was completely alone.
After an hour, some cops walked into the interrogation room, I was still in handcuffs as they escorted me into the cell. I got in and quickly, they locked me, leaving me groaning in pain.
I sat motionless, my body curled into itself on the cold, unforgiving cot.
I have cried all my tears out and I felt like there was no more left to cry.
My mind swirls in chaos, torn between grief, fury, and the overwhelming need to escape.
This can’t be how my story ends, rotting in a prison cell for a crime I didn’t commit.
Branded as a thief, a fraud, and a liar.
While the man I loved, the man I sacrificed everything for, the man who framed me, walks free, unscathed, and un- touched.
No!
Never!
I refuse.
My fingers twitch, curling into the thin fabric of my prison-issued clothes. My heart pounds, but this time, it’s not from pain or betrayal.
It’s from something else.
Determination, because if there’s one thing I know about myself, I don’t break.
I bend, I shatter, I bleed, but I never break.
And I sure as hell don’t rot in a prison cell while my traitorous husband enjoys the life he stole from me.
I force my shaking hands to steady.
17.3%
15:31
“Think, Zyrah, think!” I yelled, clenching my hands into fists.
I have no money and No way out, but I still have one thing.
A name, a name I abandoned, a name I swore I’d never use again..
A name that could shake the entire world.
Darius Kael Aeternum, my older brother.
The second the thought enters my mind, my stomach twists.
No.
No, I can’t call him.
Darius warned me.
Three years ago, when I left behind the Aeternum legacy, Darius had stood in front of me, his expression cold, his voice lethal, and said:
“If you walk away now, Zyrah, you walk away forever.”
“You choose him? Then don’t come crawling back when he betrays you.”
At the time, his words had infuriated me, I thought he was being ruthless, unforgiving, and cruel.
But now?
Now, I realize he wasn’t being cruel, he was being right.
A sharp pain lodges itself in my chest, not from heartbreak, not from betrayal, but from regret, because I had a family,
a real one, and I threw it away for a man who just sold me out for a million dollars.
I close my eyes, a shaky breath leaving my lips.
Calling Darius would be admitting defeat.
It would be proving him right.
It would be giving up the last piece of my pride, but then I remember, I am sitting in a prison cell.
“What’s the use of my pride?” I asked myself as I have no more pride left to lose.
“Mrs Zyrah!”
The guard’s voice cuts through the heavy silence. “Are you making a call or not?”
I lift my head, my throat tight and dry.
“Yes,” I muttered as he handed me the phone.
35.2%
15:31
The Call She Never Wanted To Make.
288 Vouchers
My hands shook violently as I pressed the last digit of the number I never thought I’d call again.
The number that once meant home, the number I swore I would never need.
The dial tone rings, at first he didn’t pick. I called again, still there was no response from the other end.
“Please, one more time.” I said to the officer who didn’t look pleased.
I dialed his line again and this time, he picked.
“Who is this?” His voice is sharp, clipped, and unfamiliar in a way that makes my stomach twist.
I open my mouth, but nothing comes out.
Where do I even begin?
How do I call the man I abandoned and tell him he was right?
That the sister he once protected, the one he warned never to trust a Lancaster, is now sitting in a prison cell with nothing left?
A bitter, choking lump forms in my throat.
I force myself to swallow it down.
“Darius,” I whispered.
At once, there was dead silence at the other end, a long, cold, suffocating silence.
Then, a slow exhale was heard.
“I was wondering how long it would take before you came crawling back.”
His words are calm and effortless.
But beneath them, I hear it, the ice, the control, the quiet, simmering rage.
The same rage that once made entire corporations crumble overnight.
My stomach knots.
“I didn’t have a choice,” I whisper, my voice weak and shaky. “I… ”
“No.” He cut me short; his tone was absolute.
“You had a choice, Zyrah. And you made it.” He said bluntly.
I flinched because he was right.
I did choose, I chose Ronan.
I chose love over power, and look where it got me.
51.8 %
15:31
I press my fingers into my forehead, my breath coming out in sharp, uneven bursts.
“Please, Darius,” I say, my voice cracking. “I know I don’t deserve to ask, but I need…”
“You need help.” His words are not a question.
I squeeze my eyes shut, my fingers clenching around the phone.
“Yes,” I muttered.
There was another long pause.
When he spoke again, his voice was lower, colder.
“Tell me what happened, every single detail.” He ordered.
I suck in a breath, fighting back the fresh wave of tears.
“Ronan framed me.” The words spill out quickly, broken, desperate. “He set me up. He used me, took everything, and left me in jail to rot. I have nothing, Darius. No money, no way out. Please, help your little sister.”
There was another beat of silence at the other end.
Then, his voice shifts, subtle, and dangerous.
“How much did he sell you for?”
The words are spoken so casually as if he’s asking about the weather.
A sharp pain lances through my chest, humiliation flooding me.
I don’t want to say it.
I don’t want to admit it, but I have to.
“A million dollars,” I whisper.
At once, the line went completely still, with no breathing or movement.
There was completely no sound, and then, I heard the sound of glass shattering, and my heart jolted in fear.
“Darius?” My voice wobbles.
This time, the calm in his voice was gone; pure, unfiltered rage filled it.
“He sold you for a f**king million?” Darius roared in rage.
I swallow hard, gripping the receiver until my knuckles turn white.
“Yes.”
There was a sharp inhale.
68.8%
15:31
“That’s insulting!” The words are sharp.
“Darius, please,” I whisper, my voice breaking. “I just need… ”
“No, Zyrah.” He spoke out, his voice was cold.
“What you need is revenge.” He said the word lingers, heavy, suffocating.
Something twists inside me.
“I don’t care about revenge,” I lied, my throat aching. “I just need to get out of here.”
“And then what?” He scoffs. “Run? Disappear? Start over?”
I squeeze my eyes shut.
Yes.
That was the plan.
Wasn’t it?
“Listen to me, little sister,” Darius continues, voice smooth, deadly. “I’ll get you out of that goddamn cell, I’ll make this all disappear. But understand this…”
He pauses, and when he speaks again, his words send a chill straight down my spine.
“Once I step in, you don’t get to be weak anymore.”
I swallow hard, my heart pounding violently.
“You don’t get to be soft, you don’t get to run away again.’
My breath catches.
“Because once I pull you out of this mess, you’re mine.” He declared possessively.
The air rushes from my lungs, and I grip the phone tighter, my hands trembling.
I don’t hesitate or think because I have nothing left to lose.
“Fine,” I whisper. “Do it.”
There was a pause, and then he spoke out.
“Good girl.”
Immediately, the line goes dead, and just like that, I know;
Ronan Vale Lancaster’s life is over.
85.7 %
15:31
