< Chapter 5
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Annu
Chapter 5
Third-Person POV
Every head in the room turned at once.
Serena’s eyes narrowed. “Who are you?”
ay Mercer dipped his chin and let out a quiet laugh. “Just someone carrying out Ms. Nadia’s wishes. I’m not what matters here.” He held up the box. “What’s inside is.”
The whole room leaned forward. Every camera swung toward it.
Open it then, Derek said. “Let’s see what Nadia left for Serena.”
Serena stepped forward fast. “Don’t.” Her voice came out sharp. “Something this personal should be opened at home. In private.”
Russell shook his head slowly. He stepped around her and lifted the box himself. “You gave Nadia a grand tribute in front of
veryone.” He pulled at the ribbon. “Whatever she left you shouldn’t be hidden.”
The lid came off.
nside, nestled in tissue paper, was a small USB drive.
Russell turned it over in his palm. “Probably a final message. Something she recorded before the end.”
He walked to the chapel’s presentation table and plugged it in.
The large screen flickered.
Then it filled.
‘age after page after page of documents.
The first page was a wall of chat logs. Serena’s name. The driver’s name. A conversation laid out in full, every message timestamped nd clean. A plan. Written out in their own words.
The room went completely still.
The second page loaded.
Dashcam footage. Technically restored, audio sharpened until every sound was crisp. The crash. The fire. And then Cole’s voice, inmistakable, choosing. Walking away from Nadia’s door. Pulling Serena out first.
Nobody breathed.
The third page.
jerena’s medical records. Official letterhead. A doctor’s signature. And underneath, line by line, the analysis that tore it apart. No heart condition. Never had one. The pills she swallowed every morning in front of the whole family were vitamins.
ust vitamins.
The silence that followed was the kind that has weight.
Then every single person in the room turned.
They looked at Serena.
They looked at Cole.
The color left both their faces at the exact same second.
Serena’s mouth opened. “No. No, that’s not right. I didn’t set her up. I’m really sick. I have always been sick. I—’
Her hand flew to her chest. She started breathing fast, shoulders heaving, fingers pressing in.
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< Chapter 5
Nobody moved toward her.
The reporters didn’t lower their cameras. They stepped closer.
One small voice floated up from somewhere in the crowd.
Isn’t the heart on the left side?”
Serena’s eyes dropped.
Her hand was pressed flat against the right side of her chest.
The room exploded.
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It was all fake.” A reporter’s voice cut through the noise. “No wonder that painting looked like something out of a nightmare. You lon’t paint grief like that out of love for your sister.”
She’s completely twisted-”
A prodigy? She’s a fraud-”
Diane shoved through the crowd and slapped Serena across the face so hard the sound cracked off the chapel walls.
You killed her.” Her voice broke wide open. “You killed my daughter. My daughter!”
Russell lunged forward and grabbed the painting – the devastating, technically flawless, stolen painting – and tore it straight down he middle with both hands.
Derek’s fist connected with Cole’s jaw before anyone saw him move.
No wonder you never pushed for an investigation.” His voice was raw and shaking. “You knew. You knew exactly what happened and you left her in there.”
Cole shoved him back and swung. “Don’t act righteous with me. You favored Serena your whole life. If you’d been in that car, you vould’ve made the same call and you know it.”
The chapel dissolved into chaos. Voices overlapping. Cameras clicking. Somebody knocking over a flower arrangement. The crash of something hitting the floor.
And then –
A soft laugh.
t came from the screen.
Everyone stopped.
A woman sat in a chair wrapped in bandages, a small smile on her face, her voice quiet and completely steady.
Hi, everyone. My name is Nadia Calloway.”
The room went dead silent.
She spoke slowly. No anger in her voice. No trembling. Just calm, the way someone sounds when they’ve already let something go.
She talked about her paintings. The ones taken piece by piece, her name scraped off each one and replaced. She talked about the years she put the brushes down because fighting felt pointless.
She talked about Christmas. How every year, without fail, the gifts under the tree were for Serena.
She talked about the fire. About lying there in the wreckage, skin tearing, lungs filling, watching Cole walk away from her door.
“The flames got in everywhere,” she said. Her voice didn’t waver. “In that moment, I wanted to die. I thought, why am I the one still fighting?” A small pause. “But then I thought – why should I be the one to go? Why should I be the one who disappears quietly and leaves nothing behind?”
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< Chapter 5
Her smile returned. Soft. Unhurried.
I was given one more month. That was enough.”
She tilted her head slightly toward the camera.
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Serena. The name landed gentle as a stone dropping into still water. “You’ve wanted everything I had since we were children. My paintings. My family. My fiance.” A beat. “I gave it all to you. I hope it made you happy.”
The screen held her face for one more second.
Then it went dark.
The silence lasted exactly as long as it took for Serena to understand what had just happened.
The ten million dollars. Given over freely. The paintings, handed across without a fight. The final portrait, placed in her hands like I gift.
All of it designed to make her feel safe. Untouchable. Like she had already won.
Her face cracked.
she lunged at the screen, fingers clawing at the glass, nails scraping.
You set me up.” Her voice came out fractured and ugly. “You planned all of this. You lying, manipulative-I won’t let you get away vith this. Not even from the grave. I won’t let you-”
A hard thud.
Cole’s foot connected with Serena’s side and sent her into the corner. His eyes had gone completely red.
It was you.” His voice was barely a voice anymore. “You planned the whole thing. You put her in that car. You made sure she was in hat seat.” His hands found her throat. His grip tightened. “You killed her. You killed Nadia.”
He didn’t hear the shutters.
Not at first.
Click. Click. Click. Click.
Every camera in the room was pointed at him. Reporters. Phones. Professional equipment. Every angle covered.
When it finally registered, his hands went slack.
de straightened slowly. Looked around at the sea of lenses staring back at him.
He already knew.
t was over.
This was supposed to be a funeral.
at
t became something else entirely. A reckoning for everyone who had failed her. Everyone who had looked away. Everyone who had picked the wrong person, time after time, and let themselves believe that was fine.
Nadia Calloway had given them thirty days.
She had used every single one.
