The pain didn't just live in my chest—it buried itself into every corner of my body. Darkness had swallowed me, and for a month, I drifted in and out of nothingness. When my eyes finally fluttered open, everything was a blur.
My throat was dry, my lips cracked. I tried to move, but pain screamed through my ribs. A fog clung to my mind, like waking from a nightmare I couldn't remember.
Lights bled into one another. The white walls. The steady beeping of a monitor. The sterile scent of antiseptic.
"Linda," a voice called gently beside me.
I turned slowly. My vision struggled to focus.
"Amelia?" I whispered. Her name echoed in my head. Amelia? I blinked hard, trying to clear my sight.
Suddenly, the memories returned like a flood. The fire. The screams. The explosion. I broke down into sobs.
How was she here?
Nich… Where was Nich? My father? Rosa?
Tears poured as I turned away from her. "Everyone is gone," I murmured through the ache. "Aren't they? How are you here?"
She said nothing at first. Just held my hand, her face unreadable. When I finally calmed, she spoke softly. "Your father and Nich… have been buried. Rosa's body hasn't been found. The cops found me tied up in one of the kidnappers' vehicles. They had parked far away during the exchange. Maybe they panicked after the explosion and dumped me in a vehicle before fleeing."
"The two men handling the ransom exchange died in the explosion," she added
According to her, she had been out of the hospital for a week now
She looked almost too put together for someone who'd been through hell.
"And the money Nich brought?" I asked quietly.
Amelia blinked. "The police didn't find it at the scene."
My breath caught. "Then where is it?"
She shook her head slowly. "No one knows. They think someone might have taken it before or after the explosion… maybe one of the kidnappers who escaped."
I swallowed hard, my mind spinning. All that money. Gone. Just like that.
Her voice cracked. "My precious daughter…"
I looked at her through swollen eyes. None of it made sense.
She added, "We have lost the house too… because of the debts. I'm staying with Aunt Martha now."
I didn't respond. My gaze stayed fixed on the ceiling. I didn't want comfort from Amelia. Not her. But her hand remained on mine—steady and unshaken. Cold, like this was all just business to her.
________________________________________________________________________________
I was discharged two days later. I immediately went to the station and confirmed what Amelia had told me. It was all true.
The silence in my new life was louder than any scream. I took a job at a small convenience store—anything to stay distracted. I couldn't even think straight, much less deal with the mess of my father's collapsed business. Days melted into weeks. I cried at night and forced myself to keep moving by day.
Then one afternoon, while I was restocking shelves, my phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Your presence is required in regard to your sister," a cold male voice said.
"My sister is dead," I replied flatly.
"Rosa is here. Come to the address. Raphael Armand expects you."
His name hit me like a punch to the chest. I had forgotten. Forgotten that I owed him. That my life was no longer mine. Oh, he had warned me that hell would find me first. I was already in hell. Now, I was being dragged to its core.
Rosa was alive? Her body was never found, but still—how? And why now?
The house was huge. Not just big—but the kind that made you feel small the moment you stepped through the gates. Tall black walls surrounded it, cold and quiet like they were hiding secrets. The driveway alone could fit a football field.
I knew he was rich, but this kind of rich—my eyes had never seen. I actually whispered, "Wow," at the mansion. From the entrance to the glass windows, everything screamed luxury.
The same man who had questioned me at the gate urged me forward. I walked in slowly. The marble floors sparkled beneath my feet, and the lighting danced off the walls through the tall glass windows. My eyes wandered around the grand space, sweeping the room in a slow, cautious circle.
But then I caught myself. I wasn't here to admire luxury. I was here for Rosa.
Everyone I passed looked straight ahead, avoiding eye contact.
One woman passed with a tray balanced in one hand. Her eyes flicked toward me and then away like I wasn't worth the glance. Another man whispered something into a tiny earpiece tucked beneath his collar. It was like the house itself had rules—unspoken ones that weighed on my shoulders.
I was directed to the sitting room.
Then I saw them.
First Amelia, seated with a calmness that chilled me.
"Were you also called here?" I asked her, confused.
She scoffed quietly, like a satisfied villain, then stood.
Before I could understand what was happening, I gasped. "Rosa?
Alive. Standing. Breathing.
Is it really you?"
I moved forward, but before I could touch her, large arms seized me from behind. I struggled.
"Let me go!"
"I think I'm done here," Amelia said coolly, rising with ease.
She turned briefly toward one of the men in black near the hallway—almost like she was signaling. Then she walked past me, Rosa beside her.
"Rosa!" I screamed, trying to reach for her. But she didn't flinch. She didn't even look back.
"You now belong here, Linda," Rosa said.
Her voice was calm—too calm. But there was something in her tone. That sharp edge. That satisfaction. Her lips curled in a faint smirk.
And suddenly, everything made sense.
It wasn't the fire that had burned me first. It was the lie.
My knees weakened.
Amelia. That witch. What exactly had she orchestrat
ed?
"Enjoy being a maid," Rosa whispered with a chuckle, then turned and disappeared through the doors with Amelia.