I wake up with an unyielding headache. My throat is so dry, swallowing is nearly impossible and my body feels like it has been run over by a truck.

Remembering what happened, I sit up, awake and alert. I'm in a bed I don't recognize and my first thought is that I've been sold. No... that can't be right, I think to myself. I should be dead, not sold. I was... I was taken away by those men and...

Without warning, I throw up next to the bed.

What happened? I remember what was done to me, but I don't remember anything after that... Why am I in some fancy bed that I don't recognize? I look down and my wounds have been bandaged. Was I saved? And if I was, does it mean Jude and Kelly are safe too?

Not able to take the tension, I get up, feeling woozy for a second as I lose my balance before stumbling to the grand oak door. I stagger my way out of the room, leaning against the hallway wall for balance. My legs hurt, but my arms hurt more. I can barely feel my shoulders.

Slowly, I make my way down the hallway until I get to a flight of stairs leading down. I can hear voices in the distance and so I quietly descend, hoping not to disturb anyone dangerous. I make my way down and walk over to a kitchen where someone is preparing food. He doesn't spot me and so I sneak past, to where I hear those voices. I walk past a grand living room as well as an entertainment room until I reach the source of those voices right outside a study.

"We need to make that bitch pay," someone says and I immediately recognize that voice.

Owen! Owen was in my high school. He was the leader of the East, wasn't he? But then East pledged themselves to Sterling? I can't be sure, because I've never been too involved with the gangs. Most of the information I got was from Camila.

"Jane will pay, but we can't rush into anything. We have to wait for Xavier and Amber to get back and telling them now what happened will only distract them from their mission," some other man says. I don't recognize his voice. 

"So, we just let Nessa rot until they get back? If they get back!?"

"Her body is kept at the morgue, she'll have her burial once our leaders are back. When they are back."

"And Jane just gets to walk free in the meanwhile?" Owen scoffs.

But that name... That name sends my blood boiling...

Jane.

Not hiding anymore, I storm into the study, fire blazing from my eyes as I stare the two men down. Owen is in a wheelchair, in front of the desk while the other brunette man is sitting behind, hands clasped together as though he's restraining himself.

"What happened?" I ask, "Where is everyone?"

The man behind the desk raises his brows at me. "You're awake," he says, "You've been asleep for a couple of days."

"Where are the others?" I ask again.

The man's eyes turn dark as he looks down at his empty hands. "What's your name?" he asks.

"Lovebird."

"Lovebird? Strange name. I'm Daniel, but you can call me Danny if you'd like."

"Where are my friends, Danny?"

"Dead," Owen answers this time. He looks over at me with an expression I've never seen on any person before. The face of a man with nothing left to lose.

"Jude? And Kelly too?" I ask, but instantly regret it when I remember that Kelly was Owen's sister.

Owen's dark eyes flash even darker and there's no need for an answer.

"You're the only one from that warehouse to survive," Danny answers.

The... only one?

"Now, we usually have a policy regarding these matters," Danny continues, "I first have to ask if..."

Unable to listen further and with unbearable weight sitting in my chest, I crumble to my knees, right there in front of them. I bury my face in my hands, but I can't cry. Jude is dead? There's no way. We've been through so much. After Camila left and Jane showed her true cards... after we were captured and sold... We promised each other that we'd both make it out alive. And I thought offering myself up instead of Kelly would mean their safety... How was I the only one to survive? Why me? Kelly was so young and Jude... Jude needed to live. She had so much she still wanted to do with her life. 

I couldn't even tell her...

I stop. Slowly, I stand up again and wipe my braid back. "Where is she?" I ask.

"Who?" Danny asks.

"Jane. Where is that bitch?"

Danny sighs, rubbing at his head as though to remove potential wrinkles.

"We'll deal with Jane when the time comes. Right now I need to get you home. Do you have a family?" he asks.

I scoff at the word. 

"I'd rather not go back to those people," I say.

"Well, usually with girls that don't have families to go back to, we offer to get them a job. If you want we could give you enough funds to get yourself a place somewhere else. Or, you could work for us. Right now we seem to have room for you to either be a maid or a gardener. We treat our people fairly and you'll get a decent salary," Danny explains, "But I can't promise there won't be any risk."

"I'll work here," I answer, "I'll take any job I can get, but I want to be one of the people that get to hunt that bitch Jane down."

Danny sighs again. "I think we should all get some rest. I'll tell the head maid that you'll be joining her team."

I want to argue, but seeing Danny's tired expression, I hold back. I look over at Owen who's been keeping an eye on me this whole time. I have no idea what he's thinking.

"Oh my god, finally a new maid!" my new superior squeals as she grabs my hands, taking me to the back of the mansion. "We've been in need of one for a while. The last girl, uh well, she got fired. Fired in the head that is. With a gun. But that doesn't happen too much. It's pretty rare actually. Usually, we get to do the firing around here when we're attacked."

Chatty, I note. I had my suspicions that she would be chatty when the stern head maid assigned her as my superior, showing me the ropes. She did not look like a superior. Though she still looks to be older than me by a couple of years with amazingly smooth dark skin and gorgeous black eyes, she's wearing at least seven hair clips, all in different colours and all glitter-based. Paired with bowtie earrings and a colorful scrunchie to keep her curly hair together, she looks like she's cosplaying as a maid instead of actually being an experienced superior.

"Oh, by the way, my name is Quiet. It's not my real name of course lol. My real name is Nadia, but everyone always calls me Quiet. They're always calling out like, hey, Quiet! So, I figured that's like my nickname or whatever. What's your name?" Quiet asks, not living up to her name.

"Uh, Lovebird," I answer, following Quiet to a sort of laundry room with extra maid uniforms we could use. Though they're modernized they still have that classic black and white color to them with a maroon trim.

"Lovebird? Like, for real? That's your real name?" Quiet turned around and asked.

She's uncomfortably close to my face.

"No," I answer, "But nobody calls me by my real name."

"Right. Well, Lovebird is super cute in any way. Maybe I'll change my nickname sometime to something like that. I could be, like, I don't know, Pigeon. Pigeons are cute, right? Should I change my nickname to Pigeon?"

"Please don't"

"Alright, I'll follow your advice. You're my superior after all. Wait, no. I'm the superior," Quiet giggles, snorting in the process, but not looking like she cares. "I'm used to being the new guy around here lol. Anyways, give me your size so I can get you an outfit."

By some miracle, my ears are still intact after getting my maid uniform as well as my assigned schedule. The good news is that I don't have too much work to do, but the bad news is that I have to share a room with Quiet. 

I spend the rest of the day learning the ropes and taking it slow. Quiet even takes me outside to the shooting range to show me how to use a gun. All the workers here need to be able to use one. While firing at the target, I imagine Jane's face, and my anger only grows. It's still so surreal to me. It feels like Jude would run up to me any moment, telling me I'm a loser, and get me a milkshake while she stalked all the hot guys. I didn't mind of course. It was fun watching her in her element. Even if I wished she would just look at me...

Friday it is apparently Quiet's turn to do grocery shopping and I have to tag along to help carry everything. Quiet says grocery shopping was always her favorite job to do. She loves being in charge of a credit card and buying things. Half the day we don't even spend buying essentials, but browsing nail polish instead. I did not even notice Quiet's intricately painted nails and though a part of me is annoyed with listening to her all the time, another part of me is genuinely impressed with her nail art. Jude liked doing her nails as well. I was a bit more of a tomboy in that aspect.

"Oh, lovebird, you have to let me do your nails!" Quiet said as she turned to me.

"What?" I asked.

"No, wait, a whole makeover!" Quiet grinned, "You have such pretty baby blue eyes! I can definitely get you rocking with orphan blue nail polish. Oh my god, yes, and if you remove your glasses. Oh goodness, yes, yes yes. I can see it. You have average-girl-turns-super-model-at-the-end-of-the-movie genes! Remove the glasses, take your hair out of that braid, and bam! Main character shit right there."

I can't help but laugh at the girl's silly line of thought. 

"Girl, this is serious shit!" Quiet scolds, "We might just be maids, but you could definitely score a hot businessman. Xavier has a lot of them visiting."

I cough.

"Why don't you snag yourself a man?" I ask.

For the first time, Quiet actually lives up to her name. She keeps the smile, but it's halfhearted as she slowly puts away the nail polish.

"It's mostly just joking," she says, "You'll find that not one of the maids working for Xavier will likely ever find a man."

I feel my chest go a little cold at that.

"Quiet..." I say softly, "Are you guys..."

"Oh my God, we're not all Lesbians!" Quiet suddenly says, back to her usual self, "I mean, not all of us at least. Lol, I just realized I made it sound like we're some sort of super army of lesbian maids. Wait, that actually sounds kickass."

I laugh again, helping Quiet get all the groceries to the checkout.

"We're all just like you, is all," Quiet grins.

"Like me?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah. We're all survivors. And I don't think any of us could really trust men again. Xavier is great, obviously. Very easy on the eyes, but I... I don't know. Imagining some sexy stuff is fun and all but if I even get near some rando that I don't know, I instinctive kick them in the balls and run away. It's a bad habit."

I look at Quiet a little differently. She can be pretty annoying and chatty, and yet... I admire her for it. She lived through the same thing as me, but she did not let that take her spark away from her. She stayed positive.

"I respect you," I say out of nowhere.

"What?" Quiet asks, looking at me like she's never heard the phrase before.

"You're not so bad, Quiet," I smile at her.

She looks at me confused for another second before a massive grin spreads across her face.

"Well, I am pretty awesome," she says.

We finish up with groceries no problem and make our way back to Isabella where the guards check us before letting us in. I help Quiet with getting everything inside and once we're done unpacking, I excuse myself.

I want to be like Quiet. I want the joy that was stolen from me back. But before I can do that...

I all but storm over to Owen's room, where I swing the door open and step inside before closing the door again. He's on his bed, looking out the window, and slowly turns to look at me before turning his back again.

"Lovebird," he greets, "What do you want?"

"I want to be your legs!" I announce, walking over and standing in front of Owen, facing him down.

"What?" he frows up at me, "My legs?"

I crouch down, on my knees so I can level with him.

"I saw your face when you talked about Jane," I say, my hands on his knees, trying to get my point across. "You looked the way I felt. Like a person with nothing left to lose. All you want is revenge now? Right? To make Jane pay for everything she did."

Owen stares at me firmly. His skin is pale and eyes are sunken in from too much crying, and still... there is something unbreakable about his expression.

"There's nothing more in the world that I want," he says.

"Then let me be your legs," I repeat, my grip on his knees tightening. "You have the authority, but not the means. I have the means, but not the authority. Let me be your legs, Owen Rhodes. I will be your body, your strength. All I seek is revenge too, but I'm broken just like you. If we unite, we can be whole, and only then can we get our revenge."

Owen has that same look he had when I was in the office with him and Danny.

"I've been thinking the same thing," he says, extending his hand to me.

I smirk, before clasping his hand and we shake on it.

"We have a deal, Owen Rhodes," I say. 

Jane will pay in blood. For what she did to me... For what she did to Jude, to Kelly and so, so, many more... I'll make sure her death counts.

Heyyy mah cabbages!

So, this was just a fun little new POV. I know we want to know more about how the inner gang is dealing with things, but we have an international gathering to focus on.

I'm having a lot of fun with Jane lol. I think this revenge deal with Lovebird and Owen would've felt a lot better if we weren't slowly getting to know Jane. So on one hand we would love to see her die a horrible death, but on the other, we want to see her redeem herself. Such a hard choice hehe.

Oh btw, who's your favorite character so far? I'm curious :)

Stay Golden, Stay Cabbage

~ Holly Shmit