Chapter 4

Neriah's POV

I couldn’t move.

My body was still here, barely, but something inside me had gone completely still. Numb. Stuck between disbelief and the kind of heartbreak that doesn’t come with tears.

He said I was dead.

Liam. My husband. My partner. The man I held when his company was collapsing, when the board wanted him gone, when he couldn’t look his father in the eye. The man I stayed up with every night, researching investors, rebranding proposals, cutting off friends, trading my freedom so he wouldn’t drown.

I was the one who’d skipped sleep, who handed him my time, my youth, my peace like it meant nothing, just so he could have a future.

And now, he stood on national television and said I was dead. 

I turned my face away from the blank screen. My eyes burned, but no tears came. My hands trembled from gripping the sheets too tight. 

I reached for the drawer beside me, praying like a fool that my phone was still there. I didn’t even realize I was holding my breath until I opened it and it was empty. Completely empty.

That’s when I remembered the crash. The way my phone flew from my hand and vanished into the road. I closed the drawer slowly, and let out a frustrated sigh, trying not to scream.

Instead, I reached for the old landline on the nightstand. It looked like something from a decade ago, but I didn’t care. I just needed something that'd connect me to the outside world.

I dialed Liam's number. 

The call didn’t even ring. It cut off immediately.

‘The number you have dialed does not exist.’

I stared at the receiver.

I double-checked each digit and tried again. But I received the same response.

I slammed the receiver down and pressed my palms into my face, the pressure did nothing to stop the pounding in my skull. My whole body was shaking and I felt nauseous.

He didn’t just announce me dead. He erased me.

No phone. No visitors. No trace, like I never existed in the first place.

I was gone and he made sure it stayed that way

The door opened and I quickly wiped under my eyes as the nurse walked in. Her face was calm. Like this was just another shift for her.

“Hi there,” she said softly, checking my IV. “How’re you feeling now?”

I forced a nod. “I’m… okay. Just… tired.”

She smiled politely and kept working. I watched her closely, unsure who I could even trust at this point. She made a few notes on her tablet and was about to leave, when I stopped her.

“Sorry,” I croaked. “Where am I? I mean… what hospital is this?”

She looked surprised by the question. “St. Margaret’s. We’re in Tennessee.”

Tennessee.

I blinked, confusion washing over my mind. Hell, that made no sense. I crashed just outside Atlanta. How did I end up in a completely different state?

I tried to swallow the panic rising in my throat, straightened my voice, and cleared my throat to keep me from sounding insane.

“Oh,” I said, swallowing hard. “Um… do you think I could borrow your phone? Just for a minute. I lost mine in the accident and…”

She hesitated. Her fingers tightened around the tablet in her hand.

“I just… I need to call my sister. She gave birth last week. I’m the only family she’s got.”

Her expression changed in an instant, turning into a softer one.

She reached into her pocket and handed me her phone. “Here. Just press 9 to dial out. When you’re done, buzz me on the intercom.”

I held the phone like it was oxygen.

“Thank you,” I said, my voice cracking. “Thank you so much.”

She nodded and stepped out of the room, gently closing the door behind her.

And then it was just me again. The second the nurse shut the door, I snatched up the phone. My fingers trembled as I dialed Laura’s number. I didn’t even have to think… I knew it by heart.

The phone rang.

‘She’s gonna pick up,’ I thought to myself. ‘She has to. I’m her only family. She’s mine. Blood doesn’t just... disappear.’

But even thinking that felt like a lie.

By the third ring, she answered. “Hello? Hello? Who’s this?” Her voice was bubbly and bright .

I didn’t say a word. I couldn’t. My voice caught in my throat.

Then I heard it. His voice. Liam.

“Babe,” he called faintly in the background, “hurry up and come join me in the shower.”

My heart stopped and my chest tightened like someone had reached in and twisted it with bare hands. I couldn’t breathe. My thumb slammed the red button before my tears could betray me.

I sat there, shaking, the phone slipping slightly in my grip.

But no, I wasn’t done. I needed answers. I needed her to hear me… to hear what she’d done. I wiped my face, gathered what was left of me, and called again.

This time, she picked up on the first ring.

“Whoever you are,” she snapped, “fucking speak and stop wasting my time!”

I swallowed hard.

“Lau…” I breathed. My voice cracked, barely audible.

There was a pause. I heard her inhale sharply, suppressing a gasp.

“Who’s this?” she asked, her voice suddenly quiet.

I bit down hard on my lip, willing myself not to cry again. “It’s the sister you backstabbed,” I said slowly, shaking from head to toe. “The one you’re trying to bury.”

There was another pause, then, a scoff. Followed by a sigh that made my blood boil.

“I see,” she said lazily. “I always knew you were stupid, but I didn’t think you were this stupid, N.”

“Why?” I asked. My voice cracked. “Laura, I treated you like family. I gave you everything. And this is what I get?”

“Exactly,” she retorted sharply. “You treated me like family. Like I was just your little charity case. Like I was lucky to be in your shadow while you played the perfect wife, perfect sister, perfect woman.”

She laughed, loud and dry and unhinged.

“Bitch, you were living the life I always wanted. Did you really think I was gonna play supporting character while you got to be the perfect little star?”

My throat tightened.

“You’re really dumb, Neriah,” she hissed. “You should’ve stayed dead.”

“What?” I choked. “Laura, don’t you dare—”

“Or what?” she snapped. “What will you do, huh? You don’t exist, Neriah. Don’t you get it? You’re dead. You’re nothing.”

My fists clenched. My eyes burned with tears and rage suddenly began to bloom in my chest, so thick I could barely breathe through it.

“I swear to God, if you think—”

Before I could complete the sentence, the line went dead. I stared at the phone, frozen. For a second, I couldn’t move.

“Fuck!”

I screamed, clutching the phone like I could crush it in my hand, like that would somehow make the pain go away. My whole body trembled, and the tears came fast, pouring down my face like my soul was leaking.

I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood.

And then the realisation dawned on me…

They wanted me dead.

But beyond the pain of betrayal that pricked every nerve in my body, there was something much more sinister lurking behind the curtains. I noticed the sudden movement from the balcony.

I held my breath as I turned my head to the left, and that was when I saw it… 

A masked figure dressed in all-black with a loaded pistol. He was standing a few feet away from my bed, the nose of his pistol directed towards my head.

A sinister smile spread across his face, causing my stomach to churn in fear and almost immediately, Laura's words came rushing back to my mind.

“You’re really dumb, Neriah. You should’ve stayed dead.”

A lump formed in my throat as tears began to pour down my face. Is this how I’m really going to die?

“Don’t worry, I’ll make it fast and painless,” the masked assassin said, approaching me. 

Fear crawled up my spine like ice water. My knees buckled slightly, and I couldn’t even move. My tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth, and whatever pleading words I meant to say dried up before they ever reached my lips.

The assassin stood a few feet away, his face blank, and eyes empty like he’d already buried me in his mind. His gloved hands adjusted the grip on the gun, slow and steady, like he was savoring the moment. 

He raised the weapon, his finger resting on the trigger. My heart pounded so hard and I shut my eyes.

Every muscle in my body clenched as I whispered my final prayer, begging whatever force out there to make it quick or show mercy.

“You have your husband to thank for your death,” the assassin’s voice boomed, and just as he was about to pull the trigger, a faint click of gun sounded in the background. 

“Three million dollars to let her go or I'll shoot you in the head right away,” a brusque masculine voice sliced through the thick air. 

One after the other, my eyelids fluttered open and standing right behind the assassin was someone I never thought I’d see again in this life. 

“D…Denver?” I gasped in surprise.