{Republished because many didn't get notified}

SYBIL'S POV

Hunter's Basement,
06:23 pm

I gained consciousness; opening my eyes, I couldn't see a thing. That's how dark the place was. I sat up touching the side of my head as it was hurting. I felt my hair wet and glued to my face because of the blood.

I closed my eyes tightly shut and a low whimper left my lips. My mind recalled the memory of last night.

I was kidnapped.

My eyes shoot open when the realization hits me. My vision slowly got adjusted to the darkness, I looked around to find myself thrown in a dark jail-like place.

I clinched the rods of the closed gate and started to shake it out of fear. " Anyone there? Please help!" I began to scream out as loud as I could for help, but there was no response.

My grip loosened as the time passed. I rested my head on it listening to my sobs in the horrific silence.

I was terrified, thinking I was alone to die there, but I heard the sounds of thick chains moving as well as the breathing of people.

I lifted my head and turned immediately to look around, but the darkness had engulfed the entire place. There was nothing I was able to see, but I was able to feel the presence of people around me.

I felt a person, more like a silhouette of someone, crawling toward me.

" Did-di-did you see my daughter?" A female voice asked in the weakest tone I've ever heard.

The presence nearer, it was a woman with her hands tied with a chain. I don't know for how long it had buried her wrists. Her head was hanging low because of a lack of strength. Her hair, which was cut mercilessly, was covering her face.

" I-I didn't," I replied shaking my head.

I heard the door-clicking sound from behind. I looked back hearing some footsteps. I was about to call out for help but that lady's words stopped me. "They don't care if you die here."

I faced the lady again as a ray of light cast straight to her face.

I gasped before screaming my lungs out.

Her face... was burnt so badly that one of her eyes was squeezed, and her cheekbones were peeking from her skin.

She was looking at me with helplessness. Her lips were trembling as she was trying to form a word. " Please don't be scared of me. They had thrown acid at me."

Her hand, covered in blood, moved closer to me, but I pushed my back against the rods behind me. " I'm sorry." I cried out of fear. I felt my knees weakening as I fell.

AUTHOR'S POV

Hunter had his eyes on the CCTV from where he was watching Sybil.

" She's getting a panic attack, I guess," Dash spoke, examining her condition.

" Starve her until my next order." Hunter stood up from his rolling chair.

Dash looked at him in silence before turning his gaze back at the girl who was now all balled up in a corner.

She was avoiding eye contact with the lady who was lying in the corner.

Scooting backward, resting her back against the wall, she curled up in a corner. As the night turned colder.

It was extremely foggy even inside the cell, and her body was shivering. She pulled her knees more and more to her chest and pulled her sleeve over her freezing palms. She began blowing hot hair from her mouth and rubbed her palms.

Her lips felt like bleeding out of dryness, and so did her throat. She gulped down her saliva painfully feeling extremely thirsty.

The entire night she spent in that corner. There were still no lights, but the only thing that hinted to her that it was morning was the chirping sound of birds outside and a ray at a corner that was coming from a tiny hole in the wall.

She hid her face between her knees that's when her breathing started to get unsteady. Her lower lip began to shake and the girl with Nyctophobia got another panic attack.

She was fighting back her fear to not take control over her mind but she couldn't stop that.

Sybil managed to lift her head to see the cell getting unlocked. She clenched her arms out of fear so tightly that her nails dug into her skin.

The only good thing that happened was that the lights turned on before two men walked inside. She squeezed her eyes, getting blinded by the lights as she was in the darkness for too long.

She tried to adjust her vision, watching those men going straight towards the lady; she thought that the lady was getting free, not knowing from stage one of the torture.

She helplessly watched the lady forcefully getting dragged out. Her gaze followed them as they went out without locking the gate. She knew that she couldn't escape as the security was pretty tight.

A moment later she saw a shadow close to her feet. She raised her head to see Dash standing in front of her with his hand on his wait over his waistcoat under her coat.

"Help me, please, I know you can... I did nothing wrong." She started pleading. "I don't want to die here, please."

Dash sat on his ankle in front of her showing no emotion. His eyes scanned her for a good moment before he spoke.

" There's no way out of here alive. But I can lessen your punishment. You'll get an easy death without begging for it if you'll answer my questions." He spoke in the dead voice staring into her eyes.

" I saw you wearing that code lingerie of Stripper's Den that night and you are the only one who ran out of the club."

" A person gets killed over it?" She questioned.

" Not only killed. You haven't seen the hell you'll be soon pushed in." He answered.

" What was my fault? At least I deserve to know that. " She questioned. " Why am I being targeted just because dancing in a club?"

" The Godfather of Underground was shot four times there, and all the evidence points to you for attacking him," Dash revealed. " And the eyewitnesses of you running away is his son himself. The one you encountered last night."

" Lia," Sybil mumbled, looking down at the floor, being unable to proceed. "I'm not the girl you all are searching for." She spoke making him arc his eyebrow that made Sybil continue." My home mate... Lia replaced me with her for a night." She spoke her voice wobbling.

" You telling me you replaced a girl when the club arranged the pole setting only for a night." He chuckled.

She looked up. " You are mistaken, Lia used to do pole dancing there."

"Let's believe it, but then again... why the club has your biodata." Dash chuckled. " I have a proof." He said taking out her identity card from his coat.

She took that in her shaky hands. " It is not possible. Why would she do that?" She mumbled.

" Ask her." He pulled out his mobile phone as well and unlocked it. "I'm giving you a chance to phone call her and prove yourself."

She immediately tried to grab it but he moved his hand away. She looked up at his face with desperation and confusion. " If I hear someone other than that stripper...you'll bleed...bad." He warned before forwarding her the mobile.

She gulped, took the mobile, and started to dial Lia's contact number.

"Put it on the speaker." He commanded almost in a whispering tone.

She nodded and obeyed him quickly. Her palms were sweaty and she was clenching her mobile tightly.

'This mobile number does not exist. Please check it correctly.'

Hearing the recorded voice of the lady, Dash snatched his mobile and checked himself. " There's no number in existence, probably nor the girl. Now stop playing dumb and answer me." He shot a glare.

She gulped under his hard gaze. " She fooled me, she took advantage..." She started blabbering out of fear. " Please believe me. I did nothing wrong. I didn't attack anyone." Her chest was moving up and down witnessing his blank gaze.

He blipped and sighed. " Let's consider you didn't do anything and have a conversation."

She wiped her tears, didn't even realize when she began to cry, but now she was already hiccuping, yet she nodded.

" Do you know me?" He asked.

She shook her head. " You are my downstairs neighbor." She answered.

" Have you heard of Kings before?" He asked another question.

" One of the m-m-ma-mafias." She stuttered.

" Very well answered. Now. Tell me one thing," He paused leaning close to her face, looking deadly into her eyes. "Who sent you on this mission?" He questioned.

" I'M NOT ON ANY MISSION." She started to cry out loudly out of frustration. " I WAS SENT BY MY FRIEND TO DANCE THERE FOR A NIGHT, THAT'S IT. I DON'T EVEN KNOW POLE DANCING. SHE FORCED ME, SAYING SHE'LL LOSE HER JOB."

Dash sensed a hint of honesty and fear in her eyes. The way she was shivering reminded him of Zoe. She, too, was innocent but wasn't trusted.

" Keep your voice low." He said what was to be said in the first place before giving her a nod. "I will search for this girl. But if I'll get to know that you are lying this time. Then Kings knows how to deal." A ray of hope shined hearing him; she followed his tall figure through her innocent gaze as he stood up. "How does she look like?" He investigates, sliding his hands into his pants pocket.

" She was tall, too fair, had freckles under her eyes." She replied.

"Did she come from the same town as yours?" He questioned memorizing each answer.

Sybil shook her head. " She belongs here." She replied that she realized she didn't know her basic background, while Lia knew almost everything about her.

" I hope you are not lying; otherwise, beg for death in front of your abductor because once I find out that you lied, I won't be there to save you. No one will." He turned to leave but heard her speak above a whisper as she was afraid to ask for another favor.

"Could you please leave the lights on?" She spoke above a whisper.

He didn't respond but the lights didn't turn off after he was gone.

Sybil fell back on the surface looking up at the ceiling full of spider webs. A tear rolled down from the corner of her eye as she found herself entangled in a web of betrayal.

She was just a simple girl until a few days back, living in her little world, but then she decided to switch places with her friend to help her, now she has unknowingly become the target of the mafia boss's wrath, who believes she is responsible for the attack on his father.

Confused and frightened, she has to face the daunting task of proving her innocence in a dangerous game she had never intended to play.

The betrayal has left her broken from the inside; after uncovering the shocking truth that Lia has orchestrated the entire scheme, she's hurt badly.

She's betrayed, manipulated, used, and abandoned by the person she has trusted the most. Yet she knew she must navigate the treacherous waters of the criminal underworld to clear her name and seek justice for the havoc wreaked upon her life because no one gonna come to her rescue.

She has to prove her innocence, truth may be her only salvation in a world where trust is a rare commodity.

• Beneath the surface of night, the darkest stories unfold, haunting the depths of our souls.

Chapter Published On: 11 August 2024.

🔍⍤⃝🔎 🔍⍤⃝🔎 🔍⍤⃝🔎
Vote! Vote!! Vote!!!