جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 10

NADIA POVI 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 stoma

NADIA POVWe started watching her on a Monday.The detective had people. People I did not know. People he trusted. People who were not part of my network. People who could not be traced back to me.They followed Serena. They watched her apartment. They watched her car. They watched her every move.By Wednesday, we knew everything.We knew she went to the gym every morning at seven. We knew she went to the cafe on Fifth Street every afternoon at two. We knew she went to a small storage unit on the edge of the city every evening at six.We did not know what was in the storage unit.But we knew it was important.---DETECTIVE HARRIS POVI had been watching Serena Cole for months.I knew her routine. I knew her habits. I knew the way she moved. I knew the way she thought. She was careful. She was smart. She was patient.But she was also arrogant.She thought she was invisible. She thought no one was watching. She thought she had won.She was wrong.---The storage unit was the key.It was

NADIA POVI saw her.She was sitting in the driver's seat of a dark sedan. The window was rolled down. Her hands were on the wheel. She was wearing a black coat and dark gloves. She was looking at me.I did not move.I did not run.I did not scream.I just stood there. On the corner. Under the streetlight. Looking at her. Looking at the woman who had ruined my marriage. Looking at the woman who had stolen my company. Looking at the woman who had helped replace me.She looked at me too.For a long moment.Neither of us spoke.Neither of us moved.The city was quiet. The street was empty. The night was cold.Then she smiled.A slow, cold smile.A smile that held no warmth.A smile that held only satisfaction.And then she drove away.I stood there. Frozen. Silent. Shaking.I did not know what she was doing. I did not know why she had shown herself. I did not know what it meant.But I knew one thing.She was not hiding anymore.She wanted me to see her.She wanted me to know she was comi

SERENA POVI started following her on a Monday.I had been waiting for this. I had been preparing for this. Eleanor had told me to be patient. Eleanor had told me to wait. But I was tired of waiting. I was tired of sitting in my apartment. I was tired of watching Julian drink himself into oblivion. I was tired of doing nothing.So I started following her.I parked across the street from her apartment at six in the morning. I watched her window. I waited for the light to turn on. I waited for her to appear. I waited for her to leave.She came out at eight.She was wearing a dark coat and carrying a small bag. She looked tired. She looked pale. She looked like a woman who had not slept in days.Good, I thought. Let her suffer.She walked to the coffee shop on the corner. The same coffee shop she had been going to for weeks. She ordered the same thing. She sat at the same table. She stayed for exactly twenty minutes.Then she walked to her lawyer's office.I followed her.She stayed ther