Chapter 18
Tori's POV:
I slipped away while Lucas was still interrogating the Price family, my cheek stinging from Hannah's slap.
The bathroom seemed like the only sanctuary in the crowded venue, somewhere I could escape the prying eyes and whispers that followed me like shadows.
Locking the door behind me, I leaned against the cool marble counter and stared at my reflection.
The angry red mark on my cheek stood out starkly against my pale skin.
I turned on the faucet and splashed cold water on my face, hoping to reduce the burning sensation, but the heat persisted—a physical reminder of my humiliation.
"Some things never change," I whispered to my reflection.
Tracy stirred within me, her anger still simmering beneath the surface. We should never have come here.
I couldn't disagree. Being here was a mistake, but one carefully orchestrated by Fiona.
As I dried my face with a paper towel, the pieces finally clicked together in my mind.
Fiona had made sure Hannah forced me to attend tonight. Not just to witness her triumph with Ethan, but to publicly humiliate me.
The decorations around the venue—silver moonflowers with blue winter frost lilies, arranged in crystal vases tied with silver ribbons—were exactly what Ethan and I had once planned for our own ceremony.
I had shared those details with only two people: Ethan and, foolishly, Fiona during our so-called friendship.
A bitter laugh escaped my lips. "She really went all out, didn't she?" I murmured to myself.
The entire setup was designed to remind me of what I'd lost, to flaunt her victory in the most painful way possible. And she'd almost succeeded perfectly.
The only variable she couldn't have accounted for was Lucas Grayson's unexpected intervention.
Fiona would be too preoccupied with damage control to notice my absence now. I didn't need to stay for the rest of the ceremony either.
I straightened my dress, took a deep breath, and headed for the door.
When I turned the handle, it didn't budge.
"What the—" I tried again, jiggling the handle with increasing force. Nothing.
My heartbeat quickened. "Hello?" I called out, rapping my knuckles against the door. "Is anyone there? The door seems to be stuck!"
"Oh, it's not stuck," came a sickeningly sweet voice from the other side. "It's locked."
"Mia?" I recognized her voice immediately. "What are you doing? Open the door."
"Why should I?" Mia's voice dripped with venom. "You've been nothing but trouble since you came back. First Ethan, now Hunter? Do you have to try to take everything that doesn't belong to you?"
"This is ridiculous," I said, fighting to keep my voice steady. "Open the door, Mia. Now."
"Go ahead and yell," she taunted. "Scream your lungs out. No one will hear you from this section of the restaurant. It's closed for renovations—I checked."
The calculated malice in her voice sent a chill down my spine.
Before I could respond, there was a scraping sound above me. I looked up just in time to see a bucket tilting over the partition.
The next second, ice-cold water cascaded down, drenching me from head to toe before I could even react.
I gasped as the freezing water soaked through my dress, my carefully styled hair now plastered against my face.
"Mia, stop it!" I shouted, rage surging through me.
My hands curled into fists as fury replaced shock. "Open this door right now!"
Her laughter echoed from the other side. "Consider this a lesson. I warned you to stay away from Hunter, didn't I? But you just couldn't listen."
The cold seeped through the thin fabric, sending shivers through my body.
"I hope tonight's slap and this little bath help you understand your place," Mia said, her voice receding slightly. "You'll never win against us, Tori. Never."
"Mia!" I pounded on the door. "This isn't funny anymore!"
"It was never meant to be funny," she replied coldly. "Enjoy your evening, sister."
I heard her footsteps fade away, leaving me alone in the locked bathroom with water soaking my dress and shoes.
I leaned my forehead against the door, trying to control my breathing and the panic rising within me.
We need to get out, Tracy urged. Break the door down.
I shook my head firmly. "I can't," I whispered.
"I've just been released. I'm not allowed to shift for two months. If I do..."
The consequences didn't need to be spoken aloud. We both knew what would happen—immediate return to Silver Fang.
I'd already come dangerously close to losing control during Hannah's slap earlier.
"I can't go back there, Tracy. "
My wolf growled in frustration but didn't push further. She understood as well as I did what was at stake.
This vulnerability was likely why Mia felt so confident locking me in here. She knew exactly what I could and couldn't do.
I pulled out my phone to call for help, only to realize I had no one to call.
Morgan and Mrs. Blake wouldn't be at an event like this. And everyone else... well, they either hated me or didn't know me well enough to care.
I scrolled through my meager contact list anyway, desperate for options. Just as I was about to try Morgan, my phone screen flickered and went black.
Dead battery.
"Perfect," I muttered, sliding down against the wall to sit on the wet floor.
I hugged my knees to my chest, trying to preserve some body heat as the air conditioning chilled my wet clothes.
I'm not sure how long I sat there, the minutes stretching into what felt like hours.
The humiliation of my situation weighed on me more heavily than the cold or discomfort. I had promised myself I wouldn't be a victim again, yet here I was.
Just as despair threatened to overwhelm me, I heard something—faint footsteps approaching from the hallway outside.
"Hello?" I called out, scrambling to my feet. "Is someone there? I'm locked in!"
The footsteps paused, then quickened toward the door.
"Please help me!" I pressed my palm against the door, hope rising in my chest for the first time since Mia had walked away.
The handle jiggled from the outside, followed by a concerned voice.
"Tori? Are you in there?"