Chapter Twenty Two:The Others

NADIA POV

I did not sleep that night.

I sat on the floor of my hotel room with my back against the wall. My knees were pulled to my chest. My phone was in my hand. The message was still on the screen.

You think you have won. You think you are safe. But you are not. Serena was not the only one. She was not the only one watching. She was not the only one planning. There are others. Others who want you dead. Others who will not stop. Others who will find you. No matter where you go. No matter what you do. We will find you.

I read it three times. Four times. Five times. I did not cry. I did not scream. I did not do anything. I just sat there. And I thought.

Serena was in custody. She was not going anywhere. The detective had told me that. The charges were serious. She was not going to get out.

But whoever sent this message was not Serena. This was someone else. Someone who knew Serena. Someone who was working with Serena. Someone who was still out there.

I pressed my hand against my stomach. The baby. The tiny life inside me. The only thing that mattered.

"We are not safe yet," I whispered. "But we will be. I will make sure of it."

I picked up my phone. I called the detective. He answered on the second ring.

"Nadia. What is wrong?"

"I received a message."

"What kind of message?"

"A threat. From an unknown number. It says Serena was not the only one. It says there are others."

He was silent for a moment.

"Forward it to me."

"I will."

"Do not respond. Do not engage. Do not do anything."

"I will not."

"And Nadia."

"Yes?"

"Be careful."

I hung up. I forwarded the message. I sat there in the dark.

I thought about Serena. I thought about Eleanor. I thought about Victor Cole. I thought about all of them. And I realized something. I did not know who I was fighting. Not really. I knew Serena. I knew Eleanor. I knew Victor Cole. But I did not know everyone. I did not know who else was out there. I did not know who else wanted me dead.

But I was going to find out.

---

The next morning, I called Rachel.

"I need you to do something for me," I said.

"Anything."

"I need you to look into Eleanor Ashford. Everything. Her past. Her family. Her connections. Everything."

"Eleanor? Julian's mother?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because she is involved. She has been involved from the beginning. And I need to know how deep this goes."

Rachel was silent for a moment.

"I will look into it," she said.

"And Rachel."

"Yes?"

"Do not tell anyone. Not David. Not Maria. No one."

"You think someone in your network is feeding them information?"

"I do not know what I think. I just know that someone found me. Someone knows where I am. And the only people who know where I am are you and me."

There was a pause. A long pause.

"I will find out," Rachel said.

"I know you will."

I hung up.

I sat there in the dark. I thought about Eleanor. I thought about the way she looked at me at family dinners. The way she smiled at me. The way she called me daughter. The way she pretended to love me.

She had been planning this from the beginning.

She had been planning my destruction.

And I had not seen it.

Until now.

---

JULIAN POV

I sat in my motel room and stared at the television.

The news was still covering Serena's arrest. They showed her picture. They showed the police cars. They showed the courthouse. They showed everything.

I did not watch. I just sat there. Staring at the wall. Staring at nothing.

I had not spoken to anyone in days. I had not eaten in days. I had not slept in days. I was a shell of a man. A ghost. A nothing.

I picked up my phone. I called Nadia.

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 not going to answer. She was never going to answer. 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.

---

NADIA POV

I met with the detective the next morning.

We sat in a small cafe on the edge of the city. It was quiet. It was anonymous. It was safe.

"I ran the number," he said. "It was a burner phone. Disposable. No name. No records. No trace."

I closed my eyes.

"Whoever sent it knew what they were doing," I said.

"They did."

"They did not want to be found."

"They did not."

I opened my eyes. I looked at him. I looked at the man who had been helping me. The man who had saved my life. The man I was starting to trust.

"Who else is out there?" I asked.

He was silent for a moment.

"We do not know yet. But we are looking."

"Who are the suspects?"

"Eleanor Ashford. Victor Cole. And someone else."

I looked at him.

"Who?"

"We do not know. But we know there is someone else. Someone who has been helping them. Someone who has been funding them. Someone who has been pulling strings from the beginning."

I felt a chill run down my spine.

"Who?"

"We do not know. But we are going to find out."

---

JULIAN POV

I went to see my mother.

I did not know why. I did not know what I was looking for. I just needed to get out of the motel. I needed to get out of my own head. I needed to talk to someone who was not Serena. Someone who was not Nadia. Someone who was not myself.

I walked to her house. The house I grew up in. The house she had never left. The house she had controlled for as long as I could remember.

I knocked on the door.

No answer.

I knocked again.

No answer.

I tried the handle. It was unlocked.

I walked in.

The house was empty. Not just empty of people. Empty of everything. The furniture was gone. The art was gone. The photographs were gone. Everything was gone.

I stood in the middle of the living room. Frozen. Silent.

"What the hell?"

I walked through the rooms. Every room was the same. Empty. Cold. Stripped.

I went to her bedroom. The bed was gone. The nightstands were gone. The curtains were gone. Everything was gone.

I went to her study. Her desk was gone. Her chair was gone. Her books were gone. Everything was gone.

I went to the kitchen. The table was gone. The chairs were gone. The appliances were gone. Everything was gone.

I stood in the middle of the empty house. The sun was setting. The light was fading. The city was quiet.

And I had nothing.

I pulled out my phone. I called my mother.

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 gone.

She was finally gone.

And I did not know where she was.

---

NADIA POV

That night, I received another message.

This one was from the same unknown number.

You are looking for us. We are not hiding. We are waiting. We are watching. We are everywhere. You cannot find us. You cannot stop us. You can only wait. Wait for the moment. Wait for the end. Wait for us.

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.