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Chapter Twenty Six;The Fallout
publish date:
2026-09-26 15:03:10NADIA POV
The news came at noon.
I was sitting on the floor of my hotel room. I had not slept. I had not eaten. I had been staring at the wall. Thinking. Planning. Waiting.
My phone buzzed. It was the detective.
"Turn on the news," he said.
"What?"
"Turn on the news. Right now."
I grabbed the remote. I turned on the television. I changed the channel.
And I saw her.
Serena.
Walking out of the police station. Smiling. Waving. Free.
I stared at the screen. I did not move. I did not breathe. I did not do anything.
She was out.
She was free.
The charges were dropped.
"No," I whispered. "No. This cannot be happening."
I called the detective.
"What happened?" I demanded.
"The charges were dropped. The evidence was lost. The file was misplaced."
"How?"
"I do not know yet. But I am going to find out."
"How could this happen? She tried to kill me. She planned to kill me. She had the poison. She had the car. She had everything."
"I know."
"Then how is she free?"
He was silent for a moment.
"Someone got to the evidence. Someone got to the officers. Someone with power. Someone with connections."
"Eleanor."
"It appears so."
I closed my eyes.
"I am going to find out who it was," he said. "I am going to fix this. I promise."
"Do not promise me anything," I said. "Just find out the truth."
I hung up.
I sat there in the dark.
I thought about Serena. I thought about the way she smiled at me. The way she looked at me. The way she drove away.
She was free.
She was out there.
And she was coming for me.
---
SERENA POV
I went home.
Not to my apartment. Not to the place Julian had paid for. That was gone. That was in the past. I went home to my son.
He was staying with my sister. She had been taking care of him while I was in custody. She did not ask questions. She never did. She just opened the door and handed him to me.
I held him.
I held him tight.
He was so small. So fragile. So innocent. He did not know what I had done. He did not know what I was. He did not know anything.
But I knew.
I knew what I had done. I knew what I was. I knew what I was going to do.
I looked at him. I looked at his dark hair. His dark eyes. His chubby cheeks. He looked like me. He did not look like Julian. He never had. He never would.
Because he was not Julian's son.
He was Damian's.
Damian Cross. The man I had been working with from the beginning. The man who had helped me plan everything. The man who had helped me destroy Julian. The man who had helped me destroy Nadia.
He was the father of my son.
Not Julian.
Never Julian.
I held my son close.
"I am going to make this right," I whispered. "I am going to finish what I started. And then we will be free. We will be together. We will have everything."
He did not understand.
But he would.
One day.
He would understand.
---
JULIAN POV
I saw the news in my motel room.
Serena. Free. Walking out of the police station. Smiling.
I stared at the screen. I did not move. I did not breathe. I did not do anything.
She was out.
She was free.
And she had not called me.
She had not texted me. She had not reached out. She had not done anything. She had just walked out of the police station and disappeared.
I picked up my phone. I called her.
It went to voicemail.
I called again.
It went to voicemail.
I called a third time.
It went to voicemail.
I put the phone down.
She was done with me. She had been done with me for a long time. I had just been too blind to see it.
I lay down on the bed. The bed was hard. The room was cold. The city was quiet.
I thought about Nadia. I thought about the way she used to smile at me. The way she used to laugh with me. The way she used to hold me.
I thought about the baby. The baby she lost. The baby I did not mourn. The baby I replaced.
I thought about the life I had destroyed.
I thought about the life I was about to destroy.
I did not know what to do.
I did not know if I could stop it.
I did not know if I wanted to.
---
ELEANOR POV
I sat in my new apartment and watched the news.
Serena. Free. Smiling. Walking out of the police station.
I smiled.
A slow, cold smile.
A smile that held no warmth.
A smile that held only satisfaction.
She was out.
My plan was working.
Rachel was exposed. Nadia trusted no one. The police were compromised. Everything was falling into place.
All I had to do now was wait.
Wait for Nadia to come to me.
Wait for her to beg for help.
Wait for her to trust me.
And then I would end this.
Once and for all.
---
NADIA POV
That night, I received another message.
This one was from Eleanor.
I told you there were others. I told you they would find you. I told you they would not stop. Now you know. Now you see. You cannot trust anyone. Not your lawyer. Not the police. Not anyone. You can only trust me. When you are ready, call this number. When you are ready, we will talk.
I stared at the message for a long time.
I did not respond.
I did not delete it.
I just saved it.
I saved it because I needed to remember. I needed to remember that the game was not over. I needed to remember that there were others. I needed to remember that I was still in danger.
I saved it because I needed to win.
And then I heard it.
A knock on the door.
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