Eva Laurent's life turned worse one fateful night. She was just 10 years old.
Inside the Laurent global villa where she lived, surrounded by high walls painted white decorated with endless glass windows and beautiful lighting. It showed an aura of power and wealth.
The lights flickered and gleamed, whispering of wealth and power.
Looking at it from outside, one will think all is perfect inside.
To Eva, she felt like she was in prison.
Stand still.
A silk ribbon was strung around her waist by a lady who's stood behind her.
The silky, stuffy and costly garment glowed under the light from the chandelier.
Eva quietly muttered her disapproval as she looked into the mirror.
Her reflection didn't depict her person. Her features seemed too old and cold for her age.
Like the cloth was intentionally woven together rather than naturally made. "You really don't have to like it dear". You only need to put it on".
Eva curled her small hands into a fist.
"That was the rule in the house: your opinion wasn't just ignored—it was never requested because it never mattered and you don't have a choice.
All you do is to obey. "Turn around."
Eva obeyed slowly.
The lady approved with a nod of her head. "Good" "Tomorrow's guests will be happy".
Visitors.
Eva swallowed
The rumors had lingered all week. She didn't really listen but she heard one thing.
They were not kid-friendly.
The door opened suddenly.
"Leave us." The door opened suddenly. "Leave". The voice though weak carried power and authority.
"Yes sir." The lady immediately moved back.
Without saying anything she left the room.
Eva turned back.
Her father was standing by the door.
Tall and domineering as always.
But tonight....t
Something was off
His eyes were dark pools of agitation. They weren't looking calm.
"Papa?" she replied softly. Papa? She replied.
The door behind him closed with a hushed click.
"Do you trust me?" he inquired. He came towards her carefully with his eyes fixed on her face as though he was memorizing it.
Eva blinked.
The question had caught her off-guard. "What?"
Kneeling in front of her with his hands laid on her shoulder. He asked. Do you trust me, Eva?" His voice was low but sounded urgent.
She answered without thinking twice. "Yes."
A heavy sigh escaped him as if the answer was what he needed to make the next decision. "Good," He murmured. Then his expression changed and was replaced by a resolute resolve.
"We're leaving." He stated.
Eva's brow furrowed. "Leaving? Where?" "Anywhere else away from here."
Her heartbeat caught in her throat. "but…what about the guests?" she said.
"They want me to meet" "You don't have to meet them anymore," he cut in, his voice cracking like a whip.
His held her a little tightly. "They won't be the ones to determine your life."
Eva became frightened.
No one spoke of the Laurents with such defiance. Certainly not in this villa.
"What's happening, Papa?" she cried.
He arose and pulled her closer to his chest. "There is no time for explanations."
With a low voice he said. "They have your life and future mapped out already."
A cold chill swept through her to her marrow. "And I won't let them decide your life." He vowed.
They did not try to escape through the heavy oak front doors. It would have been a trap.
Instead, her father led her through a series of underground tunnels she had never known existed: narrow conduits behind the wall with fingerprint enabled doors, and quiet passages meant for secret get away. Her heartbeat raced faster as they got deeper. "Papa…'' she whispered, are we in trouble?" She asked.
He didn't answer. He only tightened the grip on her hand and kept moving into the dark.
That even worried her more.
They got to a back exit. Behind which a black automobile was waiting. The engine had been on and was running. As though it was planned. Her father opened the car door and helped her in before entering after her.
The gates ground open with a heavy agonizing slowness.
Eva turned back to look. The Laurent Villa loomed behind them, a sprawling fortress that felt both dazzling and suffocating. It stood strong, as a monument of unreachable power.
For some seconds, she hesitated. Her feet paused on the gravel. "Don't look back," her father urged softly in the dark. She shifted her gazed forward. Behind them the iron gates groaned shut with a final metallic thud.
In that moment Eva Laurent ceased to exist.
Life outside the Laurents's villa was different.
At first, the transition felt wrong. Too quiet and simple, with no guards to monitor her movements and no rules to dictate her breath.
They went to a quiet place where no one knew their name.
Her father changed everything about them even their surnames - Their identity and their past. "From this moment on," he told her, "we live as regular people. No more, no less"
And for the first time in her life Eva laughed without fear with her feet dug into the dusty earth.
She attended a new school and made new friends. They wore average clothes and ate food served on chipped plates at a scarred wooden table.
It was a total mess. It was loud, unpredictable and imperfect.
But it was real- and she loved every second of it.
For two years. She'd forgotten how it was to be a Laurent, to be a prize or a target.
Until the night, the world broke.
It began with a simple sharp sound- the crystalline shriek of glass shattering in the dark downstairs.
Eva's eyes flew open. Her pulse instantly jumping into a frantic rhythm. Something was wrong. The house was too quiet, the air suddenly heavy with a suffocating tension she had not felt in years.
"Papa?" she whispered. Her voice barely a thread in the dark.
No answer came. Only the sound of footsteps. They were heavy, slow and terrifyingly deliberate; definitely not her father's.
A cold knot of dread knotted in her chest. She got out of bed. Her legs trembling as she approached the hallway. "Stay upstairs!"
Her father's voice. It wasn't the gentle tone of a man who had spent two years teaching her to garden; it was the sharp lethal bark of the man he used to be.
Eva froze, her hand hovering over the doorframe. Then the silence was shattered by the bone shaking crack of a gunshot.
The noise resonated through the house.
"Papa!" Eva screamed. Her scream ripped from her throat. She ran downstairs without a second thought for her own safety, her bare feet slapping against the wood in a frantic stumbling descent.
The scene in front of her broke her heart. Her father was on his knees in the center of the small living room. Blood stain spread across his shirt.
Standing over him were three figures, dressed in black- col, silent and hauntingly familiar..
Eva's breath died in her throat. She knew them without looking at their faces. Even after two years of peace, the sight of them triggered a primal terror. They were the Laurentian Enforcers.
"No…" she answered gently.
One of them turned towards her. His face not changing. "Target confirmed," he said into a shoulder mounted communication unit. "Alive."
Target? Eva's chest constricted. The word hit her like a physical strike. Before she could process it,
Strong hands seized her from behind pinning her arms to her sides.
She thrashed wildly, her heels kicking at the floor. "Let me go!"
"Eva..." her father's voice drifted to her. Faint and rasping as he struggled to keep his head up.
She looked at him, her vision blurred by tears. "I am here! Papa" "I am here!"
"Please," he gasped, his gaze fixed on the lead Enforcer. "She's just a child. She has nothing to do with this."
"You defiled the bloodline," the Enforcer replied, his voice was flat and cold. "The penalty for this is death''. No!'' Eva shrieked, her body sagging against her captor. ''please don't do this! Please!''.
Her father's gaze shifted back to her and smiled. It was the same gentle, weary smile he had given her every morning for the last two years.
Eva...listen to me,'' He smiled. "Eva… listen to me…"
She shook her head forcefully. "No… "No, please..."
"You are not one of them," he said gently. His voice gaining a sudden clarity. "You are free. Remember that''.
The Enforcer lifted his weapon with an agonizing slowness. Time seemed to stretch, turning every breath into an eternity. "You will spend your life…" Crack. The gunshot rcut off the rest of the sentence. Then silence.
Something deep within Eva cracked a t that moment. The scream building in her throat died before it reach the air and her body went limp, the fight draining out of her as her mind retreated into a numb, white void.
The last thing she saw was her father's body slumping to the ground. His light finally extinguished.
The man who pulled the trigger lowered the revolver slightly and looked squarely at her- his expression cold. As if she was the only thing left on his list.