The Three Who Chose Me
Chapter 32: The Forgotten Girl

Chapter 32: The Forgotten Girl

Josie

I didn’t know what day it was anymore.

Maybe the third. Maybe the tenth. Or maybe time didn’t matter when you were tied up, starved, and left to rot in your own sweat and fear.

My throat was raw from the gag that had been shoved in and out of my mouth. My wrists were blistered from the rope. The skin around them felt hot, infected, like my body was beginning to rot from the outside in. The corners of my lips were cracked and bleeding. My breath came in shallow pants, each inhale feeling like knives slicing into my lungs.

But what hurt more than any of that... was the hunger.

My belly had folded in on itself, gnarled and empty. The only thing inside me was the burning ache of need—not just for food, but for safety. For a familiar face. For Thorne’s voice yelling at me like I was some wild brat. For Kiel’s cold sarcasm. For Varen’s maddening patience. For anything that wasn’t this.

So when the door suddenly banged open, slamming against the wall with enough force to make the rusted hinges scream—I didn’t even flinch.

My head turned slowly, muscles protesting with a whimper of pain. I stared through the dim light as a shadowy figure stepped into the storage room like he owned the whole damn world.

"More stubborn than I thought," a man’s voice said—deep, sharp, void of warmth.

I blinked.

The light pouring in from behind him cut into my eyes, but as he moved closer, I finally saw his face.

He looked like a man who had once been handsome... until life carved that beauty into something grotesque. His jaw was strong, but his face was weathered. Scarred. Eyes cold like death. There was no humanity left there—just a predator in human skin.

Something in my gut twisted violently.

He didn’t need to tell me who he was.

I knew.

"You," I croaked, voice hoarse and unfamiliar in my own ears.

"Alpha Ian," he said with a slow, sinister smile. "But you can drop the title. You’ll be screaming my name either way."

He took a step closer. I caught the scent of old whiskey and stale blood. He bent down, and I tried to pull back, but my body barely listened to me. His face was inches from mine now, and I felt his breath brush over my lips.

Then he leaned in.

And tried to kiss me.

I turned my head, spat right in his face.

There was no hesitation.

His palm collided with my cheek so hard, I saw white. My head snapped to the side. Pain exploded from the side of my face and rang through my skull. My eyes watered, and my lip split.

I gasped, stunned.

My cheek throbbed like it had been hit with a hammer. I blinked rapidly, trying to stop the room from spinning. His voice slithered into my ears like poison.

"You belong to me now."

My breath caught.

Something inside me recoiled so violently I almost threw up.

"No," I whispered, my voice barely a thread.

But he only smirked. "You’re in my pack, under my roof. That makes you mine, little omega."

A laugh escaped my cracked lips, short and bitter. "You’re insane if you think I’d ever belong to someone like you."

He didn’t reply.

He just watched me with that smug, vicious glint in his eyes. He was enjoying this—my helplessness, my pain, my defiance.

It made me hate him more.

Then came the twist.

"You weren’t taken because of your mates," he said, pacing in front of me like a predator circling prey. "You were taken because of you, Josie. You."

My blood froze.

"What...?" My voice was trembling now, too afraid to understand.

"You’re not some side piece in a bigger war. I sought you out."

"No," I breathed. "No, that’s not—"

"Because even if your precious Thorne had never touched you, I still would have," he sneered.

My mouth went dry. My stomach clenched with something far worse than hunger.

He leaned down again. "It wasn’t about them. It was always about you."

I felt dizzy.

Thorne had been hurt... because of me.

Not because of some power struggle. Not because of some territorial feud.

Because of me.

And that—that—was what broke me.

I lowered my gaze, my lip trembling. I didn’t want to cry. I didn’t want him to see it. But the guilt was too thick. The image of Thorne slumping to the floor, bleeding and gasping in that car... it clawed at me like a demon.

"Finally quiet," Alpha Ian said with a chuckle. "Good. That means you’re coming to terms with things."

I raised my head slowly.

"No," I whispered. "I’m just trying not to puke."

His smile faltered.

"You think you’re clever. You think your little fire will save you. But those Alphas you drool over? They’ll think you’re dead soon. You’re forgettable, Josie. That’s what you’ve always been."

The words struck something deep inside me. That voice that always lived in the back of my head. The one that sounded too much like my mother.

You’re not special, Josie. You’re just an omega.

No one stays for omegas.

But then I remembered Thorne’s touch. Kiel’s glare when he thought I wasn’t looking. Varen’s soft voice when he told me I mattered. And I felt the ember inside me flicker again.

"If I’m so forgettable," I rasped, "why’d you go through all the trouble to find me?"

His face twisted.

I hit a nerve.

"Because I paid for you!" he barked.

I blinked, stunned. "You what?"

"You think your mates are the only ones who can buy things they want? You were up for sale, Josie. And I paid."

"No," I said quietly, heart thudding in my ears. "No, no, that’s not—"

He grinned cruelly. "Your parents sold you. Took the money. Signed the papers."

The world shattered around me.

My parents.

They sold me?

They sold me like I was some piece of meat. Like I wasn’t their daughter. Like I wasn’t even human.

I couldn’t breathe.

I couldn’t feel.

My chest caved in with a silent scream.

I didn’t even realize I was crying until the tears slid into the corners of my cracked mouth.

"You’re lying," I choked out.

He shrugged. "Believe what you want. But the contract was signed in their name. You’ve been mine since the day I paid."

I wanted to die.

Not because I was scared of what was coming next.

But because I finally understood—I’d never mattered to anyone who should have loved me.

"You bastard," I spat. "You think you can break me? You think I’ll just roll over for you because I’m an omega?"

"Oh, I don’t think," he said, stepping closer, reaching for my neck. "I know."

His hand clamped down around my throat, squeezing hard enough to make my eyes bulge. I gasped, gagged.

"You’ll learn to obey," he growled. "Or I’ll make sure one of your precious Alphas bleeds for your defiance."

My entire body went still.

His grip loosened slightly.

I coughed, gasping, the taste of blood rising in my throat.

"You won’t get away with this," I whispered. "They’ll come for me. They’ll burn you to the ground."

He leaned in close again. "We’ll see, little omega. We’ll see."

Then he walked away.

The door slammed shut behind him, leaving me in suffocating darkness again.

And for the first time... I wasn’t afraid.

I was furious.

Because I wasn’t just fighting to stay alive anymore.

I was fighting to make it back to the men who loved me.

And I’d rip the world apart just to get to them.