LOGINSleep refused to come.Eva lay on her side, staring at the faint outline of the curtains as moonlight slipped through the narrow gap. The room was quiet in the way only night could manage—too quiet, as if the walls themselves were listening. Every time she closed her eyes, Amira’s voice crept back in, low and rasping.‘You think this is over?’Eva shifted, drawing the blanket tighter around her shoulders. She had faced threats before. She had survived betrayal, sickness, humiliation, abandonment. Yet this felt different.Amira’s words had not carried the desperation of someone begging for relevance. They had carried certainty.Beside her, Emerson stirred.He hadn’t been fully asleep either. He had felt the tension in her body the moment she slipped into bed, the way her breathing never quite settled. He turned toward her, sliding an arm around her waist, pulling her gently closer until her back rested against his chest.“You’re not sleeping,” he murmured, voice low and steady.Eva hes
The room smelled faintly of medication and flowers that had begun to wilt despite daily care. Sunlight filtered weakly through half-drawn blinds, casting pale lines across the bed where Amira lay.She looked smaller than Eva remembered, almost shrunken into the white sheets, her skin drawn tight over her cheekbones, lips cracked and dry. Tubes traced quiet paths around her body, machines humming softly like restrained breaths.This was not the woman who once walked into rooms with her chin lifted, voice sharp with entitlement. This was not the woman who wore confidence like armor and cruelty like perfume.When the door opened, Amira’s eyes shifted slowly toward the sound. Recognition flickered, followed by something like amusement. A weak laugh escaped her throat, rough and broken.“So…” she rasped, voice thin as paper. “You came.”Eva closed the door behind her gently. She stood just inside the room for a moment, taking everything in, the medical equipment, the stillness, the undenia
The news arrived quietly, almost respectfully, as though even the media understood that noise would be inappropriate this time. Amira Finley had been transferred to hospice care early that morning.No dramatic headlines. No flashing banners. Just carefully chosen words layered with implication.Eva saw it while standing in her bedroom, sunlight filtering through the tall curtains at Mills Manor.Her tablet rested loosely in her hand as the headline scrolled past once, then again. Hospice care. End-stage management. Comfort-focused treatment.She read it twice, not because she didn’t understand, but because part of her expected something else to appear.A correction. A reversal. A miracle.Nothing changed.Her thumb locked the screen, and she placed the tablet gently on the dresser, as if sudden movement might disturb something fragile inside her. Her face remained composed, but her chest felt tight, not with panic, not with grief, something quieter, heavier.From downstairs came the m
Bradley stood in the middle of the living room, unmoving, as the front door of the Cooper mansion closed behind him with a hollow thud. The sound lingered longer than it should have, echoing through the vast space like an accusation.The house no longer smelled lived-in. No perfume. No laughter. No arguments. Just the sterile scent of polished marble and abandoned luxury.The chandelier above him glowed softly, but the light felt cold. Every step he took echoed too loudly, reminding him of how empty the mansion had become.The walls, once filled with voices and plans and bitterness, now felt like silent witnesses to his downfall.He loosened his tie and tossed it onto the couch. It landed without resistance, sinking into cushions that had not been used in days.His phone buzzed once in his hand, a notification from a bank app he no longer bothered to open. He already knew what it would say. Frozen. Restricted. Under review.Bradley exhaled sharply and turned away.He climbed the stair
The iron gates of Mills Manor slid open with a low, familiar hum as Eva’s car pulled into the driveway. The sound alone stirred something deep in her chest —a sense of return, of belonging she had not allowed herself to feel for a long time.The mansion stood bathed in warm evening light, its cream-colored walls glowing softly against the darkening sky.Tall trees lined the path, their leaves whispering gently in the breeze, as though the estate itself was welcoming her home.She stepped out of the car slowly, heels touching the stone driveway, and paused for a brief moment.The air smelled different here; cleaner, steadier. Safe. A far cry from the sharp tension of public scrutiny, hospital corridors, and whispered threats.Inside, the house was calm. The familiar rhythm of the grandfather clock echoed softly through the hallway.A housekeeper greeted her with a respectful smile, eyes shining with something close to pride. Eva returned the smile, then made her way into the dining roo
The hospital room never truly slept.Even in the deepest hours of the afternoon, when visiting hours thinned and footsteps outside softened, machines continued their quiet vigilance.A steady beep echoed through the room, slow and uneven, rising and falling like a fragile reminder that life was still clinging on, barely.Amira lay in the narrow hospital bed, her body sunk into white sheets that looked far too clean for the chaos inside her. Her skin had lost its glow completely, turning ashen, almost translucent.A faint line of dried blood lingered beneath one nostril, stubborn despite the nurse’s earlier efforts to clean it.Every breath she took seemed to demand effort, her chest lifting shallowly, as though her lungs had grown tired of their duty.Beside her, Mrs. Finley refused to move.She sat in the same chair she had occupied since morning, her back bent, her fingers tightly wrapped around Amira’s cold hand.Her lips moved continuously, murmuring prayers under her breath—some







