[Same Night – Elias's Hotel Room]
Click.
Elias closed his door and leaned on it.
He did not switch on the light.
Instead, he stood there in the darkness, the buzzing of the AC echoing in the silence. His hand shook slightly. He shoved it into his pocket and drew out the small bottle of sanitizer.
One pump. Rub. Again. Calm down.
"She remembers my voice," he growled.
His jaw tensed.
Two Years Ago.
Cold concrete. Rusted chains. A girl—bloody, barely conscious—dragged into the bunker.
He hadn't even known her name at first.
She had whimpered in pain. Fought him. Cried in her sleep.
But she trusted him. Eventually.
"Don't talk," he'd whispered to her in the dark, covering her mouth when someone passed. "They'll hear."
"I'm scared," she'd whispered.
"I know."
He'd protected her. Smuggled water. Pretended to be sick and left behind with her. When he'd made his escape, he'd retrieved her.
He'd always intended to reveal it to her.
Then. Luke came back from "a business trip," and Adeline was discovered in the middle of nowhere. No one ever suspected anything.
Elias did.
He sat on the bed with head in hands.
She was never meant to recall.