"She’s so lucky.""Her boyfriend literally threw himself into danger just to save her.""Do you know how he’s doing?""I’m not sure… I don’t think he’s gonna make it."The voices drifted through Cassandra’s ears like echoes in a tunnel. The sedatives were still heavy in her system, pinning her down. She could barely keep her eyes open.“Cassandra… hey, Sandra…”That voice. So familiar.Her eyelids fluttered open slowly. Harsh light from above stung her eyes, but she blinked against it, adjusting to her surroundings.She turned her head. Daddy Irfan and Mommy Mona were sitting right beside her. The look of relief on their faces was impossible to miss.“Thank God,” Mona exhaled, reaching for her hand. “You’re finally awake.”Cassandra’s brow furrowed. Her eyes flicked from one face to the other.“Uncle Marc… where is he?” Her voice cracked.There was only one person she wanted to see. The one who had become her hero. The one she'd foolishly tried to push away just days ago.She turned t
Without thinking twice, Cassandra dashed into the thick, choking smoke. She ran straight to the spot where she had last felt Marc’s hand tightly gripping hers.Coughing hard, her chest burned with every breath of the acrid air filling her lungs. She waved her hands around desperately, as if that could somehow push the smoke away. It was useless — the smoke was too thick, too overwhelming.She froze when a shadow began to take shape in the smoke — a tall, stumbling figure coming toward her. From the silhouette, she could tell it was a man… and her heart knew exactly who.Her feet dragged forward, even though every breath hurt more than the last. Her lungs screamed, her legs buckled, and she swayed on her feet.“Uncle Marc,” she whispered with the last of her strength, her voice barely audible.Luckily, he caught her just before she collapsed en
Marc looked around the scorched room, panic rising in his chest. Cassandra was nowhere in sight—not even in her bedroom. The bed, once a silent witness to their shared love, was now engulfed in flames. But something caught his eye: an object out of place. A few scattered belongings still clung to the mattress—proof that just moments ago, she had been there.A sudden crackling explosion startled him. Her phone had overheated and burst open from the flames beside the nightstand."Her phone’s still here. She hasn’t left," Marc muttered under his breath.Then, faintly, he heard it—a cough.Instinct kicked in. The bathroom.Marc rushed to the bathroom door, flung it open, and froze. Cassandra lay limp in the tub, barely conscious, half-submerged in water. The small room was heavy with smoke, the air choking.Through half-lidded eyes,
In a rush, the woman stepped into the lobby of Riverside Garden Apartments. A security guard immediately blocked her path—of course, her face wasn’t familiar to anyone in the building.“Excuse me, ma’am. Who are you, and what’s your business here?” asked the tall, broad-shouldered man standing in front of her.His eyes scanned her up and down, clearly trying to figure out if she lived there. Then his gaze landed suspiciously on the bag she was clutching.“I’m heading to the second floor to visit my daughter, Cassandra,” she said smoothly, offering a convincing smile. “Would you be kind enough to escort me?”“In that case, let me call Ms. Cassandra to confirm,” the man replied.“No!” she suddenly shouted.The guard blinked, startled, and eyed her more carefu
Marc stared at the slim device in his hand. The email had finally arrived—those expensive DNA test results he’d been desperately waiting for.He held the phone to his ear, exhaling a shaky breath.“Alright. Let’s file the lawsuit right away. She needs to be held accountable for this chaos,” Marc said to the person on the other end. “I have to clear Cassandra’s name—whatever it takes.”“To be honest, I took this case for her,” the lawyer replied. “I saw someone’s video on MeTube… that night. The way they treated her—she must be traumatized.”“She’s been isolating herself,” Marc replied quietly. “And just when she started opening up again… they attacked her all over. With words sharper than knives.”His jaw tightened as he recalled it.
“Move! Move! Out of the way!” a porter shouted as he pushed through the crowd. The sack on his shoulder swung to the side, knocking Cassandra off balance—she fell hard to the ground.And right at that moment, another egg came flying—smashing right on top of her head. She closed her eyes, lips trembling, as egg yolk dripped slowly from her hair down her cheek.When she opened her eyes again, the woman from earlier wasn’t alone anymore. There were now several women standing behind her, all of them glaring with judgment in their eyes like they were ready to burn her at the stake.“She’s so pretty and still so young. Why can’t she find her own man?”“Exactly! Why steal someone else’s husband? And they say it’s her uncle—basically her own blood!”“This world’s completely lost it!”The voices sliced right through Cassandra’s ears. She wanted to run, but her legs wouldn’t move. She didn’t even know how many eggs had hit her by now.Her body began to tremble. Her heart felt like it was shrink