LOGINAria's POVI ran and ran.And even when I was out of breath, I didn’t stop.When I was sure I had put enough distance between myself and Jason's apartment, I slowed down.My feet were so sore I couldn't feel them.I was still clueless on where to go and what my next survival plan was. All I knew was I wouldn’t let them get me.I looked at my phone. It was now useless. But throwing it might end up bad if someone picked it up and took it to the cops. They would follow the track and find me.Was I being paranoid?Maybe.But I couldn’t take chances.My mind went to Mom. She was the only family I had. And I am all she has too. But still, I did not trust how she would take the news that I killed Alina. Plus, the cops must have surrounded the house too. They would be expecting me to show up.I needed water. My throat was so dry I doubted sound would come out if I tried to talk.I needed just five minutes of rest. Maybe if I did, I would get an idea on what to do next.I looked left and right
Aria's POVPlans changed. The driver was now dead.I parked the car, then moved to the front seat.I did not want my clothes stained with more blood than they already were, so as carefully as I could, I pushed his body to the passenger seat.There was an old, filthy rag lying in the car. I grabbed it and wiped the blood from the driver's seat and the steering wheel as thoroughly as I could.I looked at the man one more time. The blood in his open neck was slowly drying up. I shook my head. I have never seen this much blood in my life.I forced my gaze away, then I started the engine.I didn't drive straight ahead or reverse.I turned left.According to the Maps app, if I kept going in that direction, I would get to a big open lake.And it wasn't wrong. Because fifteen minutes later, I could see the body of water.I pressed the accelerator pedal hard. The closer I got to the lake, the harder I pressed it until I was sure it was going at a speed that could not be stopped.I was just a f
Alina's POVI sat down in the main living room of the Vale mansion. Waiting.My feet tapped the marbled floor, and my hands played drumsticks on my thigh. Edrick and Hannah were talking to Anna, and I would be a liar if I said I did not want to be there to hear everything she knew about the case.But Anna wanted only family, and I could not blame her. She had every right.I took a deep breath, leaning back on the sofa.After this, then what? Will Aria get caught? And after that, then what? Anna stays a witness in court? What about Edrick and me? Will we finally get to be together, or was I just dreaming too hard?"Who are you?" The voice snapped me out of my daze.I opened my eyes, and standing above me was none other than Edrick's father, Mr. Vale, with the most bitter scowl on his face.I sat up, but I did not answer his question. I had no answer in mind. He already knew me as Liana Bennett, and that was enough."You are here to ruin my family," he added."No," I said, my voice comi
ARIA's POVMy favourite SUV crashed into a tree. The view should have been horrifying, but I had better things to think about. Better things to worry about. Things like getting out of this. Not going to jail.I did not have time at all. Once they get me, I am done for. Anna will stand as a witness in court. They will dig up more shit, and I will be in jail for Alina.Alina, who is already ashes.I stopped the first car that I saw passing the road. Lucky for me, he was a nice old farmer."Sir, I am stranded. Can you please take me to the nearest store?"The man frowned, probably wondering what a person who was just in an accident wanted to do in a store, but he did not question me.He opened the front door of his truck, and I hopped in.The drive was long, which I was grateful for. The farther I got from the scene of the accident, the harder it would be for them to track me.The old man dropped me by an old, dusty store with a roof falling apart. If it wasn't for the open sign hanging
EDRICK'S POV"Our men have already followed every possible trail. There is no sign of her," John said, pointing at the footsteps on the ground. The trail was from the car and ended on the road."You think she hailed a cab?" Alina asked.That made sense. She crashed her car and hailed a cab. Now, catching her will be harder than ever."Edrick, you still haven't explained how you found out she did it. What evidence do you have? We need a statement in order to get a legal arrest warrant."I went quiet, my mind trailing back to Anna again."One of the witnesses confessed.""Well, bring them to the station for a proper statement. In the meantime, we will keep searching for her."I nodded in response.Alina and I were back in the car and on the road again.It took another hour to get back to the Vale mansion."Where is Anna?" I asked Hannah, who was in the living room.She stood up, worry in her eyes."Edrick," she said, fighting back tears. "Uncle refused to let her leave the house. So she
ALINA'S POVI should have had worry or pain in my heart when Anna said it. When she said, "Well, why don't you come tell your sweet Edrick how you gave the orders to burn Alina to death."I should have felt even if it's a little tremor. But all I felt was relief.I wasn't hallucinating. I wasn't wrong all these years. What I heard was true. Aria was the one on the phone. The one who asked them to burn down the place. It was her. It was really her.Anna was mad. She was mad. She thought Aria had spilled her secret. That means they were keeping each other's secrets all this while.She picked her phone to call someone. I didn't know who.Well, at least not until the phone began ringing from the entrance.Edrick and I exchanged glances. We were a bit lost. At least, until Anna said, "Oh, so you're here! Why are you hiding?"It was Aria. Aria was there.Without another thought, we all raced to the door.But all we saw was a car driving out of the tall gates of the Vale mansion."She's gett
Alina’s POVI sit there, frozen. My body trembling so violently I can hear my own teeth clicking. Everything around me feels far away, like I’m underwater, sinking deeper and deeper, no air left to breathe.Edrick is staring at me.The same man who once looked at me with warmth, with love, with ten
Edrick’s POVI watch her walk away.Alina.The woman I held.The woman I kissed.The woman I touched like she was something precious.The woman whose body I memorized, whose laugh I carried in my chest, whose presence felt like oxygen after years of numbness.And now she’s walking out of the hall l
Alina’s POVThe good part about this night is that the Vale security did a great job chasing all the gossip journalists away before I stepped out. I walked out of the hall like a ghost, quiet, trembling, empty.My legs didn’t feel like mine anymore. My body felt tight, drained, as if all the bones
Alina's POV.The night kept moving.Slowly. Uncomfortably. Like walking on thin ice.I didn’t say anything to anyone, not to Edrick, not to Anna, not to Hannah who waved at me from across the room. My smile stayed glued on, fake and stiff. But my eyes… They kept drifting.Again and again.To the ta







