Regina’s POVI woke up to pain.It wasn’t the sharp kind that made you scream, but the dull, nauseating kind that wrapped around your skull like a vice and whispered, you survived, but barely.My eyes fluttered open to a blurry ceiling. White. Sterile. Beeping sounds echoed in the background. Hospital.I tried to sit up but I just Couldn’t.My hands were strapped down. Panic rose in my chest.“Nicholas?” My voice cracked like dry leaves. “Mike? Anyone?”The door opened. It wasn’t them. It was him.Paulson Gray.His hair had thinned. His face was harder, sharper, crueler. But those eyes? Same color as mine. Same terrifying depth.He smiled like he had all the time in the world.“Welcome back, daughter.”I nearly threw up.“What do you want?”He walked over, dragging a chair like a villain in a low-budget action movie. Sat by my side and tilted his head.“To talk. To know you. After all… I gave you life.”“And tried to take it too,” I spat.He chuckled. “Details. I needed to get your at
Regina's POVThe smell of smoke clung to everything. My jacket, hair, my soul.I stood in front of what used to be our second design warehouse, gone, reduced to black steel bones and smoldering ashes.My breath caught. "This... this was on purpose."Nicholas said nothing. He was staring at the red letters spray-painted across the burnt exterior."This is only the beginning.""What the hell does that mean?" I asked, heart pounding.Mike walked up, phone in hand, face grim. "The fire marshal says it started near the electrical room, but it wasn't faulty wiring. Someone broke in. There's signs of forced entry.""Security footage?" I asked, already dreading the answer."Wiped. Clean as a whistle."Nicholas cursed under his breath. "They knew what they were doing."I turned to him, watching the way his jaw clenched, how tightly he held himself. "You think this is about me?""I don't think," he muttered. "I know."A sick feeling curled in my stomach. "Jeremy Anderson's still in jail. Kimber
Regina's POVJeremy Anderson stood like the devil dressed in Versace. Polished shoes, clean-shaven jaw, and eyes that didn't know guilt if it danced naked in front of him.He was supposed to be rotting in a cell. Not waltzing into Julia's living room like he hadn't destroyed half our lives.Julia sat frozen. Her teacup didn't even clink in its saucer. Her grip? White-knuckled."You're not welcome here," Nicholas said sharply, stepping in front of me.Jeremy's smile widened. "Relax, Nicholas. I'm not here to hurt anyone.""Too late for that," I snapped.His gaze shifted to me. "Ah, Regina. You've grown into quite the woman. Strong. Bold. Just like your mother."I wanted to slap him. Right across that smug, surgically-polished cheek.But I held back.He raised both hands. "I'm here under a plea deal. I give the full story in exchange for time served and exile.""Exile?" I asked. "What are you, Napoleon?"He chuckled. "Close. Just a man who made mistakes...for love."Julia stood now, her
The Cabin Regina's POVI didn't tell anyone where I was going. Not Julia. Not Jenna. Not even Mike, who looked like he wanted to glue himself to my side.I needed to do this alone.The hilltop cabin sat like a secret at the edge of the city, surrounded by silence and pine trees that whispered like old friends. It was where Nicholas took me the first time we ran away from the world. The first time I let him kiss me like I wasn't broken. Like I was something rare.It was the most dangerous kind of memory, one that made me feel.I pulled into the gravel driveway just as the sun began to fall behind the trees.He was already there.Nicholas stood on the porch, one hand in his pocket, the other holding what looked like baby shoes.My throat tightened.He turned as I stepped out of the car, eyes locking onto mine like they'd been searching for me since I left that hospital room."Hey," I said, keeping my voice steady."You came," he breathed."I needed answers."He nodded and stepped asid
Chapter 151 Regina's POVEverything hurt. My chest felt heavy. My throat like sandpaper. My body didn't want to move, like I'd been asleep for years.But the moment I opened my eyes and saw Julia's tear-stained face, I remembered. Not just the accident.Not just Dan holding my hand in the hospital. I remembered everything.I gasped, sitting up too quickly. Machines beeped wildly, and Julia rushed to my side."Regina," she cried, clutching my hand. "Don't move, baby. You're safe now. You're home."I looked at her. Really looked. Her eyes were the same as mine.The ache in my chest cracked wide open, and I collapsed into her arms."Mom," I whispered.It felt foreign But so right.She held me tighter, sobbing like the years she'd lost had just slammed into her chest all at once.Nicholas entered the room a second later. His eyes locked on mine, and the relief on his face was devastating.He didn't speak.He just walked to my side, knelt down, and kissed my hand. No bravado. No walls, Ju
Regina's POV The little girl was crying now. Alone in a tiny orphanage room with peeling wallpaper and a bed too cold."She won't remember," a man said behind a glass panel. "She's young enough. Just wipe her file."Then there was Lloyd."I should've let her die with him," she spat. "But I couldn't."A pause."Because she looked too much like Julia."The pieces twisted in my mind like a broken mirror.They lied. They all lied.In the hospital, Regina's heart monitor spiked suddenly. Her eyelids fluttered."Nurse!" someone shouted.Her fingers clenched.A whisper escaped her lips..."Lloyd."Let's raise the stakes. Regina's awake—but the fire in her isn't just survival. It's vengeance. Love. Power. And a reckoning long overdue.Everything hurt.My chest felt heavy. My throat like sandpaper. My body didn't want to move like I'd been asleep for years.But the moment I opened my eyes and saw Julia's tear-stained face, I remembered.Not just the accident. Not just Dan holding my hand in t