Chapter 40After fifteen minutes of waiting, I gave up. My apartment wasn’t that far. It was just a twenty-five-minute walk but the road leading home was not one I liked walking at night. It was too quiet, flanked by stretches of overgrown bushes and abandoned buildings where shadows pooled.Still, I didn’t have much choice.I started walking, hugging my bag close to my side. My footsteps echoed faintly against the cracked pavement, the sound far too loud in the emptiness. Every now and then, the wind would stir the bushes, and I’d find myself glancing over my shoulder.I tried to tell myself I was being paranoid, but the silence felt… wrong.The road’s streetlights were sparse, some flickering weakly, others dead completely. I stayed in the light as much as possible, quickening my pace. I could almost hear Ava’s voice in my head: If Mia’s still out there, she’ll come for you.My heart picked up speed.I was about ten minutes away from my apartment when I noticed something. The road a
Chapter 39The chatter in the hospital waiting area was unusually loud for that hour of the afternoon. Normally, around this time, the place was quieter, with patients resting after lunch and nurses shuffling between rooms. But now, everyone seemed glued to the television mounted on the wall. Even the receptionist, who was usually too busy flipping through files, stood frozen, her hand covering her mouth.At first, I thought it was some political scandal or a celebrity accident which was something people liked to gossip about during breaks. But then, I caught the look on Nurse Pauline’s face. Her face was pale and stiff. Her eyes darting between the screen and the doorway as if the story might reach out and grab her.A knot formed in my stomach.I walked closer, my curiosity prickling against my skin. “What happened?” I asked, my voice low.No one answered right away. They were too engrossed in the broadcast. So, I turned my eyes to the television… and my heart slammed against my rib
Chapter 38I could feel the tension before the police even spoke. The air in the hospital lobby was heavy, like everyone’s breath had decided to hold itself hostage.One of the officers, tall with sharp eyes, stepped forward. “We are looking for Mia Collins,” he announced.Dr. Bertham, our hospital manager, raised an eyebrow. “May I know what she has done?” Her tone was polite, but there was a nervous twitch in her jaw.“Call her here,” the officer said. “Then we’ll tell you exactly what she has done.”Dr. Bertham gave a small nod to a nearby nurse, who ran upstairs to fetch Mia. I folded my arms and leaned slightly against the wall, my heartbeat thumping against my ribs. I already knew what this was about, but watching it unfold was something else entirely.A few moments later, Mia came down the staircase, her heels clicking against the polished tiles like a countdown. She wore her usual smug expression, as if the hospital itself belonged to her.“Mrs. Bertham, you asked for me?” she
Chapter 37That night, after Ava left for something urgent, I sat on my bed and made copies of the files..... multiple copies. Flash drives, hidden cloud accounts, even an encrypted email to myself. I wasn’t just going to have one backup. I was going to have backups of my backup.What I didn’t know was that someone else had been lurking outside my door.Cassandra Rivers.She’d been quiet enough that I didn’t hear her, and I wouldn’t have suspected a thing, until later.It was sometime after midnight when I woke to the faintest sound. My room was dim, lit only by the thin strip of moonlight cutting across the floor. My eyes adjusted slowly, and that’s when I saw her.Cas.Standing over my nightstand with my phone in her hand.“What are you doing in my room and that too with my phone in your hand?” My voice was sharp, cutting through the dark.She startled, but not much. Just enough to make it look believable. “Oh,” she said, holding out my phone. “I saw it on the floor. I thought I’d p
Chapter 36The day they finally wheeled me out of the hospital, the air outside felt foreign. It was lighter, fresher, and yet there was a heaviness inside me that the breeze couldn’t touch. Ava was right there beside me, pushing my wheelchair towards her car with that protective determination in her eyes.... the kind that dared anyone to even breathe wrong in my direction.Not once during my stay had my adoptive mother, Mrs. Rivers, or my “sister” Cas come to see me. Not a single call. Not a single bouquet of flowers that wasn’t from strangers or Nathan. I wasn’t expecting warmth from them. I’d given up on that kind of hope years ago but some small, ridiculous part of me still thought they might come. Maybe out of duty, maybe just to keep up appearances.They didn’t.When Ava pulled up to my family’s house and helped me inside, I didn’t even have to go looking for them. My mother and Cas were in the living room, their faces already set like masks carved out of disdain.“Well,” my m
Chapter 35When I opened my eyes again, it felt like waking from a dream where all the colours were washed out.But what I saw next turned the world black.It was Jasper.He was sitting beside my bed like he belonged there, as though our shared history wasn’t tainted with betrayal, lies and a bullet to my side.I jolted upright.“What the hell are you doing here?”He smiled. The same smug, crooked smile that used to charm me, back when I didn’t know better.“Easy, sweetheart,” he said. “I came to see you.”I laughed bitterly. “See me? Who gave you that right? What made you feel that I would like to see a demon like you??? Huhhhh???”I looked towards the door, wishing for a nurse, a guard, anyone.“Relax,” he said. “I pulled some strings.”My skin crawled. “I don’t want you near me, Jasper. Your presence just makes me sick.”His expression faltered, just for a second. Then he plastered on a look of fake concern.“You shouldn’t be like that, Elena. I didn’t mean to shoot you. It was an