Nikke's (Laura's) diary: That day, when I stopped dreaming

   At first, I thought Mr. Silverbane was just another wealthy noble with eccentric taste. His suit was gaudy, heavy with gold embroidery, and his fingers glittered with too many rings. But when he spoke, his voice was warm, polished, polite. 

   That first time he visited our bakery, he placed a large order of small cakes—for a relative’s birthday party, he said. Dad had to sit down from the shock. A noble ordering from our little shop in the suburbs? It felt unreal.

   And that wasn’t the last time. He came again, and again. Always smiling, always with kind words. He claimed he loved pairing our cakes with his morning coffee. 

   I was curious—why would a man like him come here so often? When I asked, he simply chuckled and said he liked walking through the town, seeing how his people were doing.

   At the time, I thought that he really is a kind person. Thanks to his patronage, word spread quickly. Suddenly, our bakery was bustling. Customers who had never noticed us before came, whispering that they’d heard nobles praised our bread and cakes. 

   Business bloomed like spring after a long winter, and I thought that our life is going to get only better from here onward...

   But happiness never lingers.

* * *

   One stormy night, dad drove out to see an old friend—the man who supplied us with flour and sugar. I can still remember his tight hug he always gave me before driving somewhere. 

   He never returned. 

   The police later found his car submerged in a river, his body inside. They told us it was an accident, that his car must have slipped off the road in the rain.

   I can still remember how cold I felt that night. Like the warmth of our oven, the smell of fresh bread at dawn, the laughter of our little family—all of it had been snuffed out in one cruel instant.

   Freya and I clung to each other, both drowning in grief. Neither of us knew how to move forward. And then, once again, Mr. Silverbane appeared. He offered us a place to stay in his mansion until we could regain our footing. His voice was full of sympathy, his eyes soft with understanding. He was so kind that we couldn’t bring ourselves to refuse.

   We stayed in his mansion for a month. But I was lost. Every morning I woke expecting to smell bread baking, only to remember that dad was gone. I wandered those gilded halls like a ghost, waiting for the day I’d finally wake from the nightmare.

* * *

   One night, Freya and Mr. Silverbane wanted to tell me something important. Their faces glowed with smiles as they announced their decision to marry.

   It had only been two months since dad’s death. Two months. My heart screamed, but I forced myself to stay quiet. I told myself Freya must have had her reasons. She had loved my dad—I knew she had. She wouldn’t remarry so quickly unless she had no other choice.

   I was sure, she was sacrificing her happiness for us. For me.

* * *

   After the wedding, both of us became Silverbane in name. Outwardly, our lives seemed stable. Although, being a "daughter" of a current head of Silverbane Family, had its own quirks. Even so, I kept moving forward. I couldn't stand looking at Freya, sacrificing herself, while I do nothing. Besides, Mr. Silverbane was always there to help me. 

   But soon, he changed—or perhaps I had simply been too blind to see what he truly was. 

   He began doing things. Things no man should do to a girl like me. Things I endured in silence, because I feared if I resisted, he would throw us out. I told myself I had to endure for Freya’s sake.

   But one night, drunk and careless, he told me the truth.

   He laughed as he said he was lucky to find two pretty girls in such a filthy bakery. That all it had taken was cutting the brakes of my dad's car. That way, he could have both of us for himself.

   My blood froze. My heart shattered. The man who had pretended to save us had been the one who destroyed us from the start.

   I ran to Freya to tell her everything, desperate, begging her to believe me. To leave with me.

   But she wasn’t horrified. She wasn’t even surprised. She was furious—at me.

   “You think you can take him from me?!” she screamed. “Magnus is mine! A brat like you will never have him!”

   Her words hit harder than any blow. In that instant, I realized. She hadn’t married him for me. She hadn’t sacrificed herself. She had wanted him all along.

   The last piece of my world crumbled.

   I couldn’t stay. I wouldn’t.

* * *

   The next day, the news reported a terrible accident. 

   Laura Silverbane was dead.

   But the truth was different. That girl, that naive daughter of a baker, did die that day.

   And from her ashes, a new person was born.

   Nikke.

   No longer the girl who dreamed of family and warmth. Nikke would carry only one thing forward: revenge. Against Magnus, who murdered her father and took her life. Against Freya, who betrayed them with a smile. Against the Silverbane name that had devoured everything she loved.

   If the world had stolen everything from me, then I would steal back. Piece by piece, until nothing remained of the monsters who destroyed me.