Chapter 219 - Replaced / End of Book 1

Chapter 219 - Replaced / End of Book 1
Margot’s POV

The room held its breath.

Every single one of us.

Waiting.

Watching.

Dreading…

Lisa Wittacker didn’t rush. Of course she didn’t. A woman like her didn’t need to. She stood there, hands clasped neatly in front of her, scanning us like we were files… not people.

“Good morning, ladies,” she began smoothly. “Firstly, I would like to apologise for the distress and disruption caused during the early hours of today.”

Her tone was calm.

Too calm.

Like she was addressing a minor inconvenience… not whatever the hell this was.

“However,” she continued, her eyes sharpening slightly, “I must insist that you all listen very carefully to what I am about to say… as it will directly affect each and every one of you.”

Beside me, Cara’s grip tightened around my hand painfully hard now, causing my pulse to race.

I couldn’t look away from the woman on stage.

Couldn’t breathe properly now.

“Things are about to change drastically for you all,” she repeated.

Drastically?! 

The word echoed in my head like a warning siren to run...

“But first… I would like to thank you.” She stated, which threw me.

A small frown pulled at my brows… 

“Thank us?” Cara whispered under her breath.

Lisa nodded slightly, like she could hear the confusion rippling through the room.

“For playing a very special role as the first wave of female participants to take part in this project. Your commitment, resilience, and cooperation have not gone unnoticed. It is respected… by all of us.”

My stomach twisted as we listened.

Why did that sound like a goodbye now? 

My heart started hammering harder now, loud in my ears.

Just stop dancing around it… 

Just say it… 

Just tell us what’s wrong… 

“However…” she continued.

There it was.

That word again.

Sharp.

Heavy.

“It is with great regret that we have had to place the project on immediate pause.” A murmur broke out across the room instantly at that.

Confused.

Panicked.

“What?!” someone shouted from the front.

“Pause? What does that mean?!” another yelled.

My fingers tightened around Cara’s without thinking.

Pause…?

B-But what about Coban…?

What about us? How well we’ve been doing? How well he’s been doing?! 

“…as it appears,” Lisa went on, her tone tightening just slightly, “that we may have a few… or potentially more than just a few… individuals within this operation who are not what they claim to be.”

Silence.

Then she stated: 

“Rats.”

The word dropped on us like a bomb.

Cold.

Ugly.

Final.

My stomach dropped instantly with it.

“Rats?!” Cara hissed beside me, her voice sharp with panic. “What the hell does she mean rats?!”

I shook my head.

I couldn’t even form a thought.

My brain felt… scrambled.

“This threat,” Lisa continued, unfazed by the growing unrest, “was brought to our attention late last night following a serious incident.”

Serious incident?

My mind flashed to the chaos this morning.

The guards.

The shouting.

“Due to the severity of what has occurred,” she said, her voice cutting clean through the rising noise, “we have been left with no alternative.”

My chest tightened.

No alternative… to what?! 

“We will be relocating all of our current female participants to a secure, military-controlled town going forward.” Gasps filled the room with that part.

“What?!” someone cried.

“That isn’t what we signed up to!” Said another. 

My heart slammed violently against my ribs.

Military-controlled town?! 

“For at least, the next few months,” Lisa continued, as if she hadn’t just shattered every sense of stability we had, “you will remain there to allow for a full investigation to be carried out.”

My vision blurred slightly.

Few months…?!

“Each of you will be assessed individually, and as a group,” she went on. “Until we can determine the source of the breach within this project and make appropriate arrests.”

My hands started to shake.

Actually shake.

This wasn’t a test.

This was real! 

“We cannot disclose further details regarding the incident at this time,” she added. “As doing so may compromise our investigation.”

Of course.

Of course they wont even tell us what’s actually happened to lead to all of this! 

“But what you need to understand,” she said, her voice hardening now, “is that as of this moment… you are all under full government detainment.”

The words hit like a slap.

Detainment… 

Prisoners…

“We will be transporting you off the island today,” she continued. “You will be housed, given jobs, and provided for accordingly...”

My breathing grew shallow.

Off the island… today?! 

Away from… Coban?!

“…however,” she added, and my stomach dropped even further, “be fully aware that this town operates under full lockdown conditions.”

No.

No, no, no… 

“You will not be permitted to leave until we say.” My chest tightened painfully.

“You will not be paid during this period either.” She stated. 

Everything I’d signed up for… gone! 

“And you will remain there until we resolve the situation in full.” And that was when the room erupted.

Voices shouting.

Girls crying.

Chairs scraping.

Chaos…

But I was in utter shock.

“We understand you will have questions,” Lisa continued, raising her voice just enough to cut through the noise. “And we will answer what we can in due course.”

But it didn’t matter.

Nothing she said mattered now.

Because then, she decided to drop the final blow… 

“Before relocation,” she said, “each of you will complete a formal handover.”

My heart stuttered.

“A full report on your assigned inmate and how they have been in the project...”

No…

My grip on Cara’s hand tightened.

“…these notes will be passed on to the second wave of female participants we plan to bring in,” she finished.

Second wave… 

New girls…

Replaced! 

Taking… him?! 

My chest caved in and I couldn’t breathe.

“Thank you again for your participation,” she concluded smoothly. “And again, we apologise for the inconvenience moving forward.”

Inconvenience?!

Then just like that, she stepped back, and walked off the stage.

Her heels clicking sharply with every step.

The room exploded.

Girls panicking.

“What the hell is this?!”

“You can’t do this to us!”

“I want to go home!”

Guards shifted along the walls, alert and ready.

But me?

I didn’t move.

I couldn’t.

I sat there.

Frozen.

Completely numb.

“Margot…” Cara’s voice broke beside me, shaking. “What… what will we do?”

I didn’t answer.

I couldn’t.

“Are we… are we the damn prisoners now?” she whispered, her voice cracking, tears spilling over.

It seemed we were… 

But I wasn’t thinking about that.

Not really… 

Because one thought had taken over everything else.

Crushing me heavily… 

Coban.

He was still in that prison… 

And they were giving him someone new.

Another girl.

My replacement.

Like I had meant nothing this whole time.

My chest tightened so hard it hurt.

That last look he gave me this morning- 

The way he’d tried to reach for me-

That was it.

That was the last time I’d ever see of him.

My vision blurred.

My throat tightened.

And for the first time in a long time, I felt completely and utterly helpless...

\- THE END / OF BOOK 1 -

Start of Book 2 coming this month
Thanks for reading! :)