Chapter 3: Twenty-seven years later

River’s POV

Twenty-seven years. That was how long I had lived before finally transforming myself into everything they had once believed I could never become. Twenty-seven years of carrying wounds nobody could see, living with memories that refused to stay buried. Well, it was time for them to pay. But I was no longer the same helpless girl they had once trampled on. Life, had given me a second chance, and I intended to use every last bit of it.

A slow smile crept across my face as I surveyed the room before me. My little revenge room. A projector hummed softly in the corner, casting a pale glow across the opposite wall, where I had pinned pictures of the people who had destroyed my life.

I took a few steps forward, my eyes settling on the first section. Kehlani George. There she was, wearing that familiar smile in her high school graduation picture. I could almost hear her laughter as I stared at the photograph. Beside it were pictures from her college graduation, birthday celebrations, and vacations.

Then came the photograph that signified her most important accomplishment . Kehlani stood proudly beside Chase Carter, looking every bit the successful woman she is. I stared hard at that singular picture, a vivid reminder of how far she has come and how happy she was.

“Enjoy it while it lasts, Kehlani,” I whispered.

I dropped the photograph back into place and moved to the next section. Nala Wayne. There were pictures from her younger years, celebrations with friends, and several photographs of her standing beside her husband. But her wedding picture always caught my attention. She was smiling beside her husband as though the world had never given her a reason to cry.

Beside it was a family picture, the kind of picture that screamed happy ending. Even her daughter hadn’t been left out. I had pictures of her in her prestigious private school’s uniform, proudly standing beside her parents. Her little face lit up with the kind of carefree happiness I had long forgotten how to feel.

Nala indeed had a beautiful home. I scoffed at the realization. “What an irony!.”

They all had something, beautiful families, successful careers, happy memories. Lives that continued as though nothing had ever happened.

Then my eyes landed on Jade, i walked closer. Three years in a row, three years as the face of Chase Designs. I reached out and touched last year’s picture with the tip of my finger. Her smile was so wide it almost looked painful. She stood beside the hot man next to her, looking like she had everything she had ever wanted. I stared at that smile for several seconds. Then my lips slowly curved upward.

Not this year, this year, I would make sure she didn’t have another picture like this. This year, it was going to be me on that billboard. And every time she would look at the picture, she would feel even a fraction of what I had felt all these years. She would look at the picture everyday just as I had done.

“I wonder how long you’ll be able to keep smiling when you realize someone else has taken your place.” I muttered

I withdrew my hand and looked around the room. This place was more than a collection of photographs. It was a reminder, a reminder of everything I had endured. Everything they had taken from me. Everything they had gotten away with. These photographs were the faces of the monsters who had walked away from the destruction they caused while I was left to pick myself up from the ruins, while they built beautiful lives on the other side of my suffering.

For years, I had waited for karma to do something. Anything. But each time I checked on them, they were winning, attaining feats. And me, I was still struggling,

My jaw tightened as I looked at their smiling faces. “Karma isn’t real,” I whispered.

“Fine.” My gaze moved from one photograph to another. “If karma isn’t coming for you, then I’ll become your karma.”

A soft creak interrupted my thoughts. I turned toward the door just as it opened slightly, revealing Chloe standing in the doorway. She held an envelope in one hand and a steaming cup of coffee in the other.

Her eyes wandered over my shoulder, briefly settling on the photographs covering the wall. Then she looked at me. “It’s today,” she said quietly. “How do you feel?”

I lifted my chin and met her gaze. “Good,” I replied. And made my way toward the door,

Chloe raised an eyebrow. “Good?” She followed me into the hallway, the envelope tucked against her chest. “Really? I mean, you’ve spent months preparing for tonight.”

A small laugh escaped me. “Then you should know better than to expect a dramatic speech.”

“So, you’re not nervous at all? I means it’s Chase Carter.”

I stopped walking. “Of course I am,” I admitted, rubbing my palms together. “I’ve spent so much time imagining how this would go that I don’t know what I’ll do if things don’t happen the way I expect.”

“And what if he doesn’t fall for you?” she asked, following me toward the kitchen. “What if he doesn’t even entertain you?”

I glanced at her. “He’s a man, Chloe.”

“What?. You’re talking about Chase Carter. The man has probably turned down more women than either of us can count. You can’t just assume he’ll fall for whatever you have planned.”

“I don’t assume anything.” I opened the refrigerator and bent slightly to inspect its contents. “That’s why it is my backup plan.”

Chloe leaned against the kitchen counter. “Yes! You have completely changed but the second she recognizes you then it’s all for nothing,”

I slowly exhaled. “She’s very shallow, I doubt she will, which is why, I need to make sure Plan B works in case Plan A doesn’t.”

I turned back toward the refrigerator, but something caught my attention before I could close it. A small carton sat on the shelf, tucked behind a carton of milk. I stared at it.

Chloe noticed my expression and followed my gaze. “I got you something, just in case you win, It’s all you’ve talked about since I met you. Now you’re finally almost there.”

It was strange hearing someone else acknowledge how far I had come. I had spent so much time focusing on what I still needed to accomplish that I rarely stopped to consider everything I had already survived.

I turned to Chloe, my smile softer this time. “Thank you.”

She gave me a small nod, “By the way, Howard College approved my contract to supply cupcakes to the school during lunch hours.”

I looked up at her, barely able to contain my excitement. “I told you they would. Didn’t I tell you? Your cupcakes are good.”

I gave her hand one final squeeze before releasing it. For a brief moment, the kitchen fell quiet, then my phone beeped from my back pocket. I slid it out, a new message glowed on the screen and I opened it.

‘He just walked in’