Chapter 5: Arrested

Flashback Continuation...

A day had passed since Thalia last saw Alina, but the memory of their encounter clung to her like a bruise that refused to fade.

She tried to return to her routines. She answered work emails, read proposals, edited drafts. But no matter how much she busied her hands, her thoughts remained restless. Every quiet moment was haunted by Alina’s face,. That pale expression, the hollow eyes rimmed with tears, and the sharpness in her voice when she’d screamed at her to leave.

Thalia had replayed it over and over in her mind. She had gone there to make amends. She wanted to be happy for her friend. She had made a choice that cost her her own heart and yet, Alina hadn’t let her in. She had shut her out completely. Without explanation. Without a single word of what had broken between them.

And now, no matter how many times Thalia had tried calling and messaging her, she wouldn't answer. Maybe Alina just didn’t want to see her. Maybe she was still angry. Maybe she had every right to be.

But the more Thalia thought about it, the more it gnawed at her.

Was it because Alina found out she had left the engagement celebration early?

Or worse… did she somehow find out the truth?

Thalia swallowed hard at the thought of her memory of Kael’s eyes when she confessed, the way her voice trembled, how she slipped away afterward like a coward. Did Alina see her leave? Did someone tell her what happened before the proposal?

Guilt began to coil tighter around her chest, feeding on the endless questions that had no answers. Maybe Alina thought she was jealous. Maybe she was. But not of what Alina had—just of how freely she was loved.

She never wanted to steal anything from her.

She would never hurt her.

She just… hadn’t known how to bury her heart quietly enough.

And now she was paying the price. Her best friend hated her, and she didn’t even understand why.

Thalia sat back in her chair, staring blankly at the glowing screen in front of her. The coffee she made hours ago had gone cold. Her inbox was still full.

But all she could think about was Alina’s trembling voice and the way the door had slammed in her face.

And the echo that followed her home.

What have I done so wrong?

But before the thought could form again, the room shifted.

A strange hush fell over the office floor. The typing stopped and the chairs stilled. Then came the unmistakable sound of heavy, synchronized footsteps cutting through the silence.

Thalia looked up slowly, brows knitting in confusion as heads turned toward the entrance.

A group of police officers stepped into the room.

One stood slightly ahead of the others. He was tall and expressionless as his gaze swept across the office until it landed directly on her.

“We’re looking for a Thalia Ruelle,” the officer announced in a firm voice, carrying over the stunned silence. “Is there a Thalia Ruelle here?”

She blinked with her heart tripping over itself.

“I… I’m Thalia,” she said, rising uncertainly to her feet.

The lead officer approached, pulling a folded paper from his pocket. His eyes didn’t waver.

“Thalia Ruelle, you are under arrest for the murder of Alina Lowe.”

The words didn’t register.

“What?” Her voice came out hoarse. “Murder…? Wait—Alina?” She stared at him, unblinking. “She’s dead?” she asked in utter disbelief and horror.

She took a step back, as though her body might refuse what her mind couldn’t comprehend. “No... No, that can’t be right. I just saw her. I—she was alive. She was upset, but—”

But the officer didn’t answer. Instead, he began reading her rights with the same steady calm that made her blood run cold.

“Thalia Ruelle, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…”

The words became static in her ears.

She simply couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

Alina... is dead?

The thought struck like a crack of lightning.

Her mind reeled, frantically flipping back to that last morning. The bouquet of tulips still dewy in her hands. The trembling croissants in their ribboned box. Alina’s bloodshot eyes. Her screams. The way the door had slammed so violently in her face, like she had become poison overnight.

But dead?

“No…” the word left her lips in a whisper. “That’s not possible.”

But the officers kept moving. One stepped forward to secure her arms as the other resumed reading her rights. Her colleagues looked on in stunned silence, some wide-eyed, others already murmuring among themselves. Someone pulled out their phone.

Her pulse roared in her ears.

"I didn’t—" she choked out, her voice cracking, but her throat sealed shut before she could finish. She didn’t even know what she was trying to say.

Explain?

Defend?

Cry?

Her knees buckled slightly as the handcuffs clicked into place. The cold metal bit into her skin, grounding her in the nightmare she couldn’t wake from.

She searched the room for a familiar face. But no one moved to help. No one dared.

To them, she wasn’t Thalia, the well-behaved coworker, the dependable assistant, the woman who never missed a deadline.

She was the suspect now.

A potential murderer.

“Ma’am,” the officer said firmly as he began to guide her forward, “we’re escorting you to the station for further questioning.”

Thalia’s lips parted, but no sound came. Her feet moved numbly beneath her, her body somehow obeying commands her mind couldn’t process.

Behind her, whispers swirled like smoke.

And in her heart, a new pain had begun to bloom...one colder than guilt, sharper than grief.

Not just for Alina.

But for the horrifying possibility that whatever fragile life she had left… had just come undone.