Chapter 58 The threat

Chapter 58 The threat
Adeline

I told Lisa to stop, but deep down I did not actually want her to stop at all.

I wanted her to continue.

I wanted her to say something sharp enough, cruel enough, anything that would make Mia lose that calm expression she always wore like she was above everything.

I wanted it to break.

I wanted Mia to react.

To lose control.

To finally look like she was not untouchable.

Because every time she stood there like that, calm and composed, it felt like something inside me was being insulted without her even needing to try.

What a bitch.

The thought came so fast, so sharp, that it almost surprised me how natural it felt.

I hated her even more in that moment.

Not just disliked.

Not just irritated.

Hated. But Lisa didn’t continue.

She didn’t push back.

She didn’t say anything else.

She just stood there, silent, like she suddenly remembered who she was supposed to be in this situation, like she suddenly became afraid of crossing a line she already had one foot over.

Mia didn’t look at her anymore after that.

Her attention shifted fully to me. Like she was choosing me as the target now that Lisa had backed down.

She stepped closer to the cell, her movements calm, unhurried, completely controlled, and I hated how that control looked even better on her than anger would have.

She stopped right in front of me.

Just close enough that I could see her expression clearly through the bars.

Nothing that showed she was standing in front of someone locked up and powerless.

I felt my chest tighten immediately.

She tilted her head slightly, looking at me like she was observing something she had already decided was beneath her attention.

And then she spoke.

“I hope you rot in here forever.”

The words were simple.

Clean.

Delivered without raising her voice.

And somehow that made it worse.

Because there was no emotion in it that I could grab onto and twist back.

No anger I could respond to.

Just finality.

Like she was closing a door and locking it from the outside.

Then she turned.

Just like that.

Like I was nothing worth staying for.

Like I was nothing worth watching.

And she walked away.

For a second I just stood there, staring at the space where she had been, feeling something in my chest twist so sharply it almost hurt physically.

And then it snapped.

I rushed forward and slammed my hands against the bars.

Hard.

Once.

Then again.

And again.

“Fuck that bitch,” I shouted, my voice breaking as I hit the metal again. “Fuck that bitch, fuck that bitch.”

The sound echoed through the prison corridor, bouncing off the walls, but it didn’t feel like enough.

It never felt like enough.

The rage inside me was too big, too messy, too loud in my head for my body to fully release it.

Lisa moved closer immediately, her hands half-raised like she didn’t know whether to touch me or stop me.

“Adeline, please,” she said softly. “Calm down. Please just calm down.”

But I couldn’t.

I couldn’t calm down.

Every time I replayed Mia’s face in my head, every time I heard that tone again, something inside me burned hotter.

I turned on Lisa suddenly.

“Shut up,” I snapped.

The words came out sharper than I intended, but I didn’t care in that moment.

Lisa froze instantly.

Her eyes widened slightly, and I could see it immediately, the way her expression shifted from concern to hurt and confusion.

“I…” she started, her voice smaller now. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry, okay.”

She lowered her head slightly, like she was trying to make herself smaller, less visible, less of a target.

But even that didn’t soften what I was feeling.

I was still shaking.

Still furious.

Still trapped inside that moment where Mia had looked at me like I was nothing.

Lisa nodded again quickly, like she was trying to fix something without fully understanding what she had done wrong.

“I’ll help you,” she said quickly. “I’ll get you out of here. I promise.”

That word again.

Promise.

It made something in me snap even more.

I turned fully toward her now, gripping the bars tighter, my voice dropping lower but more dangerous.

“You need to get me out of here,” I said slowly, each word heavy with meaning.

Lisa hesitated.

Just for a second.

That was enough.

I stepped closer to the bars, my eyes locked on hers.

“Or else,” I continued, my tone colder now, “I will tell everyone that you are in on it too.”

The silence that followed was immediate.

Thick.

Uncomfortable.

Lisa’s face changed instantly.

Fear returned.

Real fear this time.

Her lips parted slightly like she wanted to argue, to deny it, to say something that would undo what I had just said, but nothing came out properly.

Because we both knew what that threat meant.

And worse than that, we both knew it was not entirely empty.

Lisa took a small step back, her hands trembling slightly now as she looked at me like she was seeing me differently than before.

“I… I didn’t mean for it to go this far,” she said quietly.

But I didn’t care about that.

Not anymore.

All I could think about was Mia’s voice.

Her face.

The way she walked away like she had already won something I didn’t even realize I was losing.

I leaned closer to the bars again, my voice low and sharp.

“Then fix it,” I said. “Before I make sure you drown in this with me.”