Daphne heard ringing in her head, as she slowly peeled her eyes open in the dimly lit space she was in. The light pierced through her skull, her head thrumming from whatever she had been drugged with. She shivered, her jacket had been removed from her body. She gingerly peeled her eyes open and took stock of her situation. Her arms were tied tightly behind her, rope biting into her wrists. Her legs were tied to the chair she was sitting in. Whoever had kidnapped her had put a blanket on her, attempting to at least try to keep her body warm.

  At least I won’t die of hypothermia, I guess.

  She started working with her hands, the rope tightening and biting into her flesh even deeper as she tried to get out of them.

  Daphne’s heart started picking up, and the loudest sound in the dimly lit warehouse was her breaths, picking up in frequency.

  I should have jut stayed home with Tanpopo, just based on the feeling in my gut alone. She gritted her teeth from the pain of the rope. Her stomach was still tied up in the same knot she had felt growing from the moment she had stepped out of her apartment. I should have called the police or something. What did it matter if my goal was to show up a bit early on my first day of work if it also meant that I would not end up showing up at all? I should have just called Asher and told him that something didn’t feel right.

  Daphne bit down on her bottom lip, holding back a cry of pain as she felt the rope chew into her wrist enough to draw blood. Her wrists were sticky now, but nonetheless, she persisted in her pursuit of freeing herself from them.

  Is it Rose’s goal to kill me this time? She was attempting to distract herself from the pain. Last time I didn’t really have any warnings that I was in danger until I died…or at least, I ignored the possible warnings and didn’t check my mail enough to see them. Daphne pursed her lips, thinking for a moment that one of her hands was almost free, before her hand slipped, the rope loosening around her wrist, but, ultimately, keeping her tied up.

  Fuck. I really hope Rose’s goal this time around isn’t to just flat out kill me. Hopefully she won’t be so quick to kill me since I’m dating her brother…Asher’s and Rose’s relationship at least seems decent, so I hope she’ll take into account Asher’s and my relationship.

  Daphne closed her eyes, trying to finesse her hands. Come on, come on! Just a little more… The rope chewed into her hand, and she bit her tongue. Damnit. Whoever tied these knows what the fuck they are doing.

  Daphne opened her eyes again, and her vision was filled with the same pair of red lipstick lips that had haunted her since she had come back to the past. Daphne’s heart dropped into her stomach. Her vision flashed, and she saw the pair of lips smiling at her in the snow, her blood all over the concrete. Daphne blinked and she was back in the warehouse, the owner of the lips stepping away from her, enough so that she could see the owner’s face. Daphne shivered a little upon meeting her captor’s brown eyes, so similar to Asher’s.

  “Rose,” Daphne said, trying to keep her face impassive.

  Rose’s eyebrows darted up into her hair. “You’re not surprised to see me?” she asked. A small smirk played across her reddened lips.

  “Of course I’m not surprised to see you,” Daphne replied, keeping her voice calm. “Did you really think I wouldn’t know it was you who was messing with me?”

  Rose’s arms were tucked behind her back, and one of them came forward, holding a sharp kitchen knife. Daphne swallowed hard, her stomach tightening and lurching simultaneously. Inside, she was coming undone, her heart racing and her breathing feeling forced.

  There’s nothing I can do if Rose has a weapon. I can’t defend myself while I’m tied up like this. Asher may have only just realized that I’m missing in the first place. Daphne bit down her tongue hard, tasting blood. Get it together, Daphne, she chastised herself. Don’t show her your fear. I just have to find a way to live a little longer. I just have to delay Rose just long enough that Asher is able to find us.

  Daphne steadied her breath and looked Rose dead in the eyes. “What are you going to do with that?” Daphne asked, trying to sound confident.

  The words rang hollow within her. I am anything but confident.

  “I’ve already done what I was planning on using it for,” Rose replied cheekily, gesturing with the knife towards Daphne’s hair.

  Daphne’s eyes widened, and she felt cold as she saw piles of her thick, black hair on the floor and around her. Just barely touching her shoulders now, the vast majority of the length of her hair was gone.

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  Daphne’s heart started picking up pace again. Calm down! She screamed in her mind. Now is not the time to react. I have to keep my head straight on my shoulders if I want to have any chance of surviving this.

  Against her better judgment, Daphne shuddered. She could have killed me at any moment when I was passed out, and ultimately decided not to, Daphne thought, trying to reassure herself. Something ahs definitely changed from last time, not just the timing of when Rose is attacking me or the way that she’s going about things. Perhaps this time, Rose’s goal is not just to kill me.

  Daphne looked back at Rose again, just as the woman threw the kitchen knife off to the side. It clanged, nearly ear-shatteringly as it hit the floor of the empty warehouse. Daphne couldn’t hold back a flinch at the noise.

  Rose began dragging a chair from nearby, screeching the wooden legs across the concrete floor. Daphne began working on the binds around her wrists again. Now that she’s not holding a weapon, maybe I will have more of a fighting chance of surviving this situation.

  In front of her, Rose sat in the chair backwards, putting her arms across the top of the back of the chair. She stared at Daphne hawkishly. “Do you really think I don’t know what your’e doing?” Rose asked, her eyes flashing at Daphne for a moment. “Knock it off if you want to have even the slightest chance of making it out of here alive.”

  Daphne bit into her lower lip. Damnit. I very nearly had one of my hands out again. Nonetheless, she followed Rose’s demand and ceased the activity.

  “Good girl,” Rose said with a smirk. “I’ll grab the knife again if I need it, but for now, I just want to talk.”

  “What do you want from me, then?” Daphne shot back to Rose. While her heart was no longer pounding, she could feel each of the beats beneath her skin.

  “How did you know it was me?” Rose asked, placing her chin on top of her hands. “You completely destroyed all of my plans.”

  If I tell her the truth, she’ll probably kill me for trying to lie to her. It’s probably best to mix some of the truth and some lie together.

  “I overheard Fiona talking to you on the phone while I was in the bathroom stalls at work,” Daphne lied.

  “Oh, bull shit!” Rose screeched, snarling at Daphne. “Fiona was so careful. That can’t possibly be why you moved, changed jobs, and changed boyfriends.”

  “Fiona wasn’t as careful as you think,” Daphne shot back with a glare. “But you’re right. It’s not as though I overheard everything in that conversation. That conversation was just the trigger point. I started paying attention and digging into the possible reasons someone could be after me. I only recently stumbled across the connection between our two families. I figured if was probably you, since you pretty much hated me from the moment I first interacted with you and Landon.”

  Rose scoffed. “At least you recognize that you were being a little whore with Landon, like your mommy was with my dad.”

  Daphne gritted her teeth. “You still think I stole Landon from you?” she asked. “I have nothing to do with you and Landon breaking up. All I did was train him. I was still in a relationship with someone else at that point.”

  Rose scoffed at Daphne. “Someone else who I was going to steal from you in return,” Rose growled.

  Daphne shook her head a little. I knew it. Rose was the one who stole Gary from me before I came back to the past. I really ought to think her for showing me what a complete loser he was.

  Daphne shrugged to the best of her ability, the rope around her wrists tightening briefly. “I didn’t really know you were after me at that point,” Daphne admitted. “I just tried to set some boundaries and ended up finding out that he had been cheating on me with multiple people. There wasn’t all that much to it.”

  Rose frowned deeply at Daphne, clearly dissatisfied at the explanation. It probably looks like I suddenly changed. And she wouldn’t be wrong, just looking at the continuity of my behavior up to that point alone.

  “So why pull my brother into all of this, then?” Rose snapped at Daphne. “Was it to get back at me? He seems to truly care about you, but you’re using him to toy with me?”

  Daphne shook her head emphatically. “No,” she said. “I love Asher. I didn’t even know you were after me when he and I started dating.”

  Rose narrowed her eyes at Daphne, her lips curling upwards in response to Daphne’s words. “Don’t lie.”

  “I’m not lying,” Daphne replied curtly. “Believe me when I say I’m not exactly thrilled at the prospect of being your sister-in-law either, but I can’t imagine a life without Asher.”

  For more reasons than you’ll ever know, Daphne added silently.

  Rose scowled at Daphne; her face full of contempt. “You’re rally not using him to mess with me?”

  “I’m not,” Daphne confirmed.

  “Fine,” Rose said, standing up and beginning to pace in a circle around the area where they both had been sitting. “I was going to just kill you, but since he likes you so much, I’ll consider making a deal with you.”

  Daphne swallowed hard. So, Asher is the reason she didn’t attack me with only the intention to kill me this time. Asher did save my life. He’s the only reason I’m still alive to have this conversation with Rose.

  “What’s the deal?” Daphne asked.

  “Your mother, Kimberly Woods, intentionally destroyed our mother,” Rose snarled. “She has to pay the price somehow.”

  Daphne’s stomach fluttered. I’m on the cusp of knowing the last part of my mother’s secret. Hopefully if I play dumb, Rose will tell me everything.

  “What do you mean my mother destroyed yours?” Daphne asked, holding her breath.

  Rose was behind Daphne, so she couldn’t see the face she was making. “Kimberly Woods killed Vivian Hawthorne, and tried to frame it as a suicide,” Rose screeched. It was enough to make Daphne jump, the chair coming a bit off the ground with her and clattering on the pavement as it touched the ground again.

  Daphne’s eyes widened, her body shivering again. She craned her neck to see Rose’s face. Rose was breathing heavy, her eyes fiery.

  “What do you mean?” Daphne asked, as Rose continued in her circle around her. “How do you know that?”

  “I saw her,” Rose snarled, her features contorted into a mixture of rage and despair. “I saw Kimberly Woods Kill my mother.”