No One’s Pov

Elias stood still, a satisfying smile stretching his lips as he began to turn. In his mind, he had already won.

The second his back faced her, Vivien’s weak facade vanished instantly. Her eyes turned cold. She didn’t hesitate, she slid the glass shard from beneath her sleeve and dashed toward him.

Elias spun around just in time. He caught her forearm, the glass stopping inches from his throat. Vivien didn’t panic. She used his grip as a Chance, swinging her legs up and locking them around his waist. She used her momentum to slam him toward the floor.

Elias hit the ground hard, but he recovered with grace, rolling away and springing back to his feet.

His smirk vanished, replaced by coldness "Oh, baby... you’re going to pay for deceiving me," he hissed. He lunged toward her, no longer playing around.

Vivien wasted no time. As he closed in, she feinted left and drove the shard toward his chest. Elias twisted to the side, his fist connecting with her ribs. She groaned as the air left her lungs, but she didn’t fall. She spun on her heel, using the moment to swing the glass

Shred.

The glass caught him across the shoulder and chest, making a successful deep cut. Blood began to seep through his shirt, but Vivien didn’t stop. she attacked again and agan, until his clothes were shredded.

Finally, the fabric fell away enough for her to see it.

His entire torso was covered in the same weird symbols into his skin.

They both stumbled back, ten feet of blood-stained floor between them. Both were heaving, their breath coming in ragged gasps.

Vivien’s hair was a mess, her face splattered with red, but she held the glass shard.

She wiped a trail of blood from her lip and let out a mocking laugh. "Hah... so you’re copying me now, huh?" she panted,

They both spat blood onto the floor.

"Everything is bound to be mine in the first place. Your ideas count too," Elias said, his voice straining through the pain as he gave her a wink.

Vivien let out a huff as she looked for her next move. "Hah... if copying me makes you think you’ll finally be better than me, then sure, go ahead. Keep playing dress-up with my words,"

she mocked.

"In the end, I am the better," he hissed, his eyes narrowing. "Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here, captive in my house."

She smirked. She could see the vein in his forehead pulsing; she was getting under his skin, and she loved every second of it.

He was becoming sloppy, driven by ego instead of strategy. Her eyes darted to a particularly large shard of the broken mirror nearby.

Before Elias could bridge the gap between them, she stormed toward it, sliding across the floor and snatching it up.

As he lunged, she drove the glass deep into his thigh.

Elias let out a groan, his leg buckling as the shard sunk into the muscle.

Vivien didn’t waste a time. She bolted for the door.

Thankfully, Elias’s arrogance had worked in her favor- he had dismissed the guards from the hallway, thinking he wouldn’t need help to handle her. Because of the thick soundproofed doors, the sounds of their struggle hadn’t alerted the rest of the facility yet.

She was safe for a second, but she knew the clock was ticking.

She bolted down the dim corridor.

Turning a corner, she saw two guards patrolling the floor. She pressed her back against a pillar, her breath coming in shallow gasps.

The moment the first man passed her position, she reached out, grabbed him by the throat, and slammed his head into the pillar. He went down silently.

She snatched his handgun from his holster just as the other guard began to turn. Before he could raise his weapon, she heard a sound that made the hair on her arms stand up.

Elias’s roar echoed from the room behind her.

The second guard froze, distracted by the scream of his boss, giving Vivien the split second she needed. She lunged, using the butt of the gun to crack him across the jaw, sending him spiraling into unconsciousness.

"He’s coming," she whispered to herself, checking the hallway

Outside was going dark. Vivien watched from the darkness as Elias’s men scrambled toward the room she’d just fled.

Taking the chance, she snatched a cap from the unconscious guard, pulling it low over her eyes to mask her face.

She scanned the ceiling. The cameras were everywhere.

I can’t disable them all, she realized, but I can disable the eyes that use them. She raised the handgun, took a steadying breath, and fired.

The first light fixture exploded.

The sudden noise attracted the guards, who came sprinting toward the sound.

Vivien didn’t wait, she bolted in the opposite direction, staying low. Every few yards, she fired another shot, systematically shattering the overhead lights until the hallway was dark.

Elias men started firing. She shot them back while dodging.

Finally, the hallway was pitch black.

Vivien slid down the wall, sitting on the floor as she fought to regulate her breathing. Her chest burned, but she was out of the immediate kill zone. She went to stand up, but a familiar voice stopped her.

It was the maid- the one who had tucked the drugged tea onto her tray and helped Elias.

She was frantically whispering into a radio nearby.

"Tsk, tsk... I ain’t leaving without taking my revenge," Vivien muttered, her voice a low.

In a heartbeat, she lunged out of the shadows. She grabbed the woman by her hair, jerking her head back with a snap.

"Ouch! Who’s this?! You bitch! How dare you!" the maid shrieked, clawing at Vivien’s arms.

"Listen here, you greedy little thing," Vivien hissed.

The maid started to draw a breath to scream, but Vivien slammed her palm over the woman’s mouth, pinning her against the wall. She leaned in close, her eyes cold. "Shhhh... I’ll make your punishment quick, since I’m in a hurry."

Without a second of hesitation, Vivien tightened her grip on the woman’s hair, pressed the barrel of the gun against the side of her head, and pulled the trigger.

The body went limp. Vivien didn’t even look back. She let the corpse slump to the floor and sprinted toward the front doors

The cool night air hit Vivien’s face for a fleeting second as she reached the lobby, but the sight through the front doors made her blood run cold.

It wasn’t just guarded, it was totally protected. Elias wasn’t letting her walk out the front door.

"Tsk," she hissed, her eyes darting upward.

She turned and bolted for the grand staircase, her legs burning as she reached the second floor gallery. Her eyes locked onto a long glass window. Without a moment’s pause, she grabbed a heavy chair from the hallway, hoisted it over her shoulder and slammed it through the glass.

The window shattered into a million pieces. Vivien took a deep breath and jumped.

She hit the grass with a thud, the impact vibrating through her teeth. She rolled, the wet blades of grass staining her already ruined dress, and scrambled to her feet.

She was ready to run but the world had different plans.

Dozens of flashlights clicked on at once, blinding her. She was in the center of a perfect circle of guards. And standing directly in front of her, was Elias.

He didn’t scream. Instead He just stood there, his white shirt soaked in blood, his eyes devoid of anything resembling humanity.

BANG.

Before she could do anything, heavy thud of the metal baseball bat connected with the side of her skull.

Vivien didn’t even have time to gasp. A white hot explosion of pain blinded her, and the world tilted.

As her knees buckled and she slumped into the dirt, the last thing she heard was Elias’s voice,

"I told you, Vivien... I’m the one who decides when the scene ends."

___________________

Vivien’s eyes snapped open to the sound of a click- the sound of a wine glass clicking together.

For a moment, Everything felt like it was a dream. She blinked, her vision clearing to reveal a scene that felt utterly wrong.

She wasn’t in a cellar. She wasn’t covered in blood.

She was sitting at a candlelit table on a rooftop.

The city lights can be seen from above, they were in pretty much high building. A heavy wind whipped through her hair, tugging at the fabric of an elegant silk dress she didn’t remember putting on.

The scent of rotting blood had been replaced by the aroma of expensive truffle pasta and vintage red wine.

"Baby, are you enjoying the food?"

The voice was smooth.

Vivien looked across the table. Elias was sitting there, looking perfect in a tailored charcoal suit.

His hair was perfectly styled, and his face was clean- no sign of the cuts she had carved into his skin just hours ago.

He was smiling at her with a gentle, adoring warmth that made her skin crawl more than his madness ever had.

Vivien looked down at her hands. They were clean. The bandages were gone. Even the scars from the mirror had vanished, leaving her skin smooth.

She felt a cold pit form in her stomach as she looked around. They were high up.

"What... what is going on?" she whispered, her voice trembling with confusion. "Where are we? Elias, I just- you hit me. I was in the garden. There was blood everywhere."

Elias paused, a forkful of pasta halfway to his mouth. He let out a soft chuckle and shook his head, looking at her with pitying affection.

"You must have had a nightmare, my love. You fell asleep while we were waiting for the main course," he reached across the table, his hand warm as it covered hers.

"The wedding stress must be getting to you. But don’t worry. There’s no blood here. Just us, the stars, and the ending we both deserve."

Vivien pulled her hand back instantly. Her mind screamed that this was a trap- a reality she couldn’t explain.

"The wedding?" she stammered, her eyes darting toward the edge of the rooftop. "Elias, I am married to Dante. You kidnapped me on my wedding day."

Elias’s smile didn’t fade, but his eyes turned as cold.

"Dante? Who is

that, baby? You’ve been reading too many of those dark novels again." He took a slow sip of his wine, watching her over the rim of the glass

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TO BE CONTINUED