All Chapters of Ripples And Hills: Chapter 131 - Chapter 139

Jon. Night. I haven’t left my cousin’s side in hours. Truth is, I was with her all through when the calls wouldn’t stop coming in. We ignored most of them, sitting cross-legged on the floor instead, talking. Catching up on lost years. Alexa is back. My Alexa is back. She never died. She never left me. ‘Why didn’t you tell me you were alive?’ I’d asked at one point, as we tore into the box of Barney’s chocolates I’d ordered to celebrate. Even while I savored the sweetness, bitterness lingered. The pain of mourning her all this while, when she had been breathing somewhere, hidden. ‘I wanted to,” she’d whispered. “So many times. But Helia and Grandma asked me to wait. Especially after that accident on Grandma, we got scared.’ I’d accepted that. The accident still haunts Dad; to this day he mutters about how the culprit hasn’t been caught. Now we’re here, gathered in the Hills mansion. Jace, Eve, their kids upstairs, Grandma, Helia, Mum, Dad, we’re all at dinner. Roast beef, baked

Alexa.12th January, Monday. Three days later…Morning.“So, ladies and gentlemen, if everyone cooperates, like we just suggested, everything will go smoothly, and we’ll be out of your hair in no time.” Mr. Price, head of the investigative team, projects his voice across the boardroom. The members of the board shift uncomfortably in their seats, fear etched in their faces, even though Mr Price's repeated for the umpteenth time that they should relax.Their alarm only mirrors half the panic I know Erwin and Ashley will feel once these investigations cut deep. They’re the only two missing from the board today.“Miss Hills, any further questions?” Mr. Price directs to me.I blink, snapping back to the present. “No, Mr. Price. That would be all. I only wanted the board to know I was working with them, not against them. They worried about how the investigations would go, and now they have your assurance it’ll be smooth.”I sweep my gaze across the table, waiting. Tentative nods ripple aro

Ashley. Meanwhile… Tears blur my vision as I drive, my chest thundering with every beat of my heart. I can’t stop replaying everything that has happened since that night, since I was exposed before everyone. Fury had driven me thereafter. So much fury that I went straight to Hulio’s house to wait for him. ‘Hulio…let’s talk about this…I can prove that girl isn’t my sister…’ I had tried to defend myself, clinging to my story. But the empty look in his eyes, the slump of defeat in his gait it unsettled me. Still, I pressed on. And then he spoke words that rooted me where I stood. ‘But can you prove you didn’t say those words she accused you of?’ I stared at him, shocked. Silent. And when I had nothing, when my own silence betrayed me, his voice turned to steel. ‘Get your things and leave my house. I don’t ever want to see you again. If I do, I’ll do something you won’t be happy to discover.’ Shame found me then. Heavy. Merciless. I grabbed my things and left without another word.

Helia. Minutes later… Alexa sits on my bed, exactly where I told her to sit. Sheets red as sin spill around her like they were made for her body. ‘You’ll do whatever I say. No questions,’ I had whispered as we walked in. She looked at me with wide, unblinking eyes, hunger burning behind them, and nodded. That nod was all I needed. Now she’s perched there, waiting, green dress snug on her, coat gone. I shrug out of my trench coat and move closer, heat already coiling low inside me. “Close your eyes.” My voice is quiet, but it cuts through the stillness. She obeys instantly. I slide a red blindfold over her, fingers brushing her cheek. Her breath hitches, and I smile,because she trusts me. I ease her back into the sheets, her long legs spilling free through the slit in her dress. I lift one leg, resting it on my shoulder, trailing my lips down her calf, her ankle, until I suck her toes into my mouth. She gasps, body jerking, tongue flicking over her bottom lip. “So beautiful,

Ashley. Alexa brings us to our late father’s office. Or what’s left of it, now that Erwin has gutted and remodeled the place to his taste. The smell, the walls, even the desk, it’s all different. But my body remembers. My skin crawls. Memories claw back of when he fucked me here, fresh from Cancun with Mum, like it was his right. “I… I know we haven’t had the best relationship in years.” I snap my gaze to her voice. It's truly her. My sister. And suddenly it hits me, why didn’t I see it before? That the voice was truly Alexa's. Maybe because I stopped paying attention to Alexa long ago. Maybe because somewhere along the line, I stopped being her sister and started being her rival. She’s standing there, words trembling out of her mouth, and I just stare. I was already halfway gone, heading back to my hotel. Just came this morning to pick up a few documents I need before I disappear. Travel. Run. I know Erwin won’t spare me after I challenged him. He’ll come. He always comes. And I