Chapter 19: Bound by Shadows

Ellie stood in the doorway, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. She had spent the last few hours pretending she wasn't shaking, pretending her heart wasn't breaking.

Ben sat on the edge of the bed, his face buried in his hands. The space between them was thick with silence, with everything unsaid, with every touch he had shared with someone who wasn't even alive.

"I don't know who you belong to anymore."

Ellie's own words echoed in her head, slicing her apart.

Victoria had taken him.

But had he let her?

Ellie clenched her jaw.

"Say something," she demanded.

Ben exhaled, slow and heavy. "What do you want me to say?"

Her fingernails dug into her arms. "That you didn't want it. That you didn't feel her.*"

His silence was deafening.

Ellie's stomach twisted. "God."

Ben flinched. "It wasn't—"

"Don't lie to me," she snapped. "I felt it, Ben. You wanted her."

"She was inside me, Ellie!" His voice cracked, desperate. "I didn't have control!"

"But you didn't fight!" Her voice rose. "You never fight her!"

Ben stood suddenly, his eyes dark, wild. "You think I want this?!"

Ellie laughed, but there was no humor in it. "I think you don't know what you want."

And then—the room shifted.

A whisper of cold slithered over Ellie's skin.

A slow clap echoed through the room.

"Beautiful," Victoria cooed. "*Just *beautiful.**"

Ellie's breath hitched. "No."

The lights flickered.

The air grew heavy.

And then—Ben's body tensed.

His eyes fluttered. His breath hitched.

Ellie's heart stopped. "Ben?"

His lips parted, a shuddering breath escaping—one that was too familiar.

Ellie knew.

Victoria was inside him again.

"You really should stop blaming him, Ellie," Victoria purred through Ben's lips. "It's you he doesn't want."

Ellie lunged, gripping Ben's shoulders. "Get out of him, you sick—"

"Why?" Victoria tilted Ben's head. "*You've always been the other woman, Ellie.**"

Ellie froze.

Victoria smirked. "You thought you won just because I died?" She laughed. "Oh, darling. I was here first. I will always be here first."

Ellie's nails dug into Ben's arms. "Get. Out."

Victoria sighed. "Fine."

And then—Ben's body jerked.

He gasped, collapsing against Ellie, his entire body trembling.

"Ellie—" His voice was broken.

She shoved him away. "Don't."

Ben's face twisted in pain. "Ellie, please—"

"I felt you, Ben." Her voice was cold. "And you felt her."

Tears burned in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.

"I don't think you even know where you end and where she begins anymore."

Victoria's laughter curled around them.

"Then maybe," she whispered, "he was never yours to begin with."

And the worst part?

Ellie was starting to believe it.