CHAPTER 121: 121 - A CHOICE

121

~Lisa’s POV

I sat on the edge of the bed, staring blankly at all the things Bella and the guard had brought from the palace. Clothes folded neatly, shoes lined against the wall, even some jewelry I never asked for. The room looked full, but I felt empty. My chest ached, my head spun lightly from hunger, but my body was too weak to argue with itself anymore.

I picked up a fruit from the tray. My fingers trembled as I held it. I hadn’t wanted to eat, not really. Food tasted like dust these days, but my stomach twisted so painfully I had no choice. I took a small bite. The sweetness spread across my tongue, almost foreign, like I didn’t deserve it.

"Eat, Lisa," I whispered to myself, chewing slowly. "You need the strength."

I ate two more pieces before my body begged me to stop. My eyelids grew heavy. Sleep could help me forget everything for a little while. I pulled the blanket over myself, trying to shut the world out.

But then the door creaked open.

Bella’s voice filled the room, sharp and full of disgust. "Ugh. I can’t take this anymore."

The guard followed Bella inside, and the first thing he did was wrinkle his nose like he had just walked into a rotten cellar. His face twisted in disgust.

"This room stinks," he said flatly. "It smells like sickness and dirt."

I blinked at him slowly, too drained to even lift myself off the bed properly. My body ached from the inside out, and every word I spoke felt like it scraped my throat. "What are you talking about?" My voice cracked, hoarse and weak.

Bella looked around the room with her lips pressed tight, then planted her hands firmly on her hips. She looked at me like I had just committed some kind of crime by existing in that bed.

"We can’t sleep here, Lisa," she announced, her voice sharp but full of certainty. "It’s unbearable. The air is heavy, the sheets smell. I don’t know how you’re even lying here."

Her words cut deeper than I wanted to admit. I forced out a bitter little laugh, though it burned my chest. "I’m lying here because this is my place."

The guard shook his head, folding his arms across his chest like he was already done with me. "Well, we’re not staying," he said with finality. "We’ll sleep in the carriage tonight. At least it’s cleaner than this place."

Bella gave a sharp nod, almost relieved that he said it before she had to. "Exactly. The carriage is far better. And tomorrow morning, we’re all leaving. Together. Back to the palace."

Her words hit me like a hammer.

Back to the palace.

My stomach twisted painfully. The thought of going back there, back to Damon and his brothers, back to the suffocating walls that had caged me, was enough to make me feel like I couldn’t breathe. My heart started pounding in my fragile chest. I didn’t want to go back. Not after everything.

But what could I do?

I scoffed quietly, turning my face away from them so they wouldn’t see how broken I felt. My voice came out small but laced with bitterness. "So you’ve already decided everything for me. Just like that."

Bella didn’t flinch. She wasn’t here to listen to me; she was here to control me. "Yes," she said coldly.

"You heard me," she said, already moving toward the door. "We’re not wasting another day here. You’ll come with us tomorrow."

I pushed myself up a little, leaning on my elbows. My throat burned. "I don’t want to go back to the palace."

Bella didn’t even look at me. "It doesn’t matter what you want. You don’t get to rot away here. You belong there, whether you like it or not."

The guard added, "Damon will never let you hide from him anyway. Do you think you can escape him?"

My heart skipped painfully at his name. I clenched my fists under the blanket. "I don’t belong there," I said firmly, though my voice cracked. "Not anymore."

Bella rolled her eyes. "Say what you want, bitch. But tomorrow, you’re going. End of story."

And just like that, they walked out, leaving me with the silence.

I lay there, staring at the ceiling, scoffing under my breath. "Of course. They think they can just decide my life for me."

But the scoff didn’t hide the ache in my chest. My voice sounded bitter, but inside I felt so small, so powerless. Bella and the guard could walk out so easily, so sure of themselves, but me? I was stuck.

Deep down, I knew the truth, the kind of truth that eats at you even when you try to ignore it. I had nowhere else to go. Nowhere. No family waiting with open arms. No place where I could hide and be safe. I didn’t even have a real friend I could run to, someone who could shield me from Damon and his brothers. Every road I imagined led me back to him, one way or another.

I rolled to my side slowly, hugging my knees even though it hurt my weak body. My room was small, suffocating, and yet leaving it didn’t mean freedom. I could already picture Damon’s face if I tried to run. That cold, sharp look in his eyes if he found me where I wasn’t supposed to be.

The thought alone made me tremble. I rubbed my arms, trying to comfort myself, but it didn’t help. "I don’t want to go back," I whispered into the darkness, my voice breaking. "I don’t." Saying it out loud made it feel more real, like maybe if I repeated it enough times it would matter. But it didn’t.

Because I didn’t have a choice.

The weight of that truth sat heavily on me, pressing down until it felt hard to breathe. It was like a chain around my neck, dragging me toward the palace whether I wanted to or not. My whole body sagged with that helplessness. My heart ached, not just from fear, but from how unfair it all was. I wasn’t even given a say in my own life.

Hot tears slipped from the corners of my eyes, rolling down into my hair. I hated crying, hated how weak it made me feel. But tonight, I couldn’t stop. No matter how much I tried to fight it, the fear, the pain, the exhaustion, all of it crashed into me. And all I could do was curl tighter into myself and let the truth sink deeper:

I had nowhere to run. And tomorrow, whether I wanted it or not, I was going back.