CHAPTER 240

It was a late afternoon when I found myself pacing the length of our living room, staring at the untouched coffee on the table. The memories of that night refused to leave me, the moment that had haunted me for weeks now. Justin—a name I had hoped would never cross my mind again. But the fear had taken root, growing like a dark shadow that loomed over me.

I had watched him fall.

I had watched him bleed.

So why did the idea of him being alive claw at my insides?

Leon's voice echoed in my memory from that night, strong and certain. “He’s dead, Margarette. There’s no way anyone could have survived that.” Jack had been there too, nodding, reassuring me that Justin was gone. But now, as the doubts took hold, all I could think about was the possibility that maybe we had all been wrong. No body was ever found. What if he had survived? What if he was hiding, plotting?

I shook my head, trying to shake off the creeping paranoia, but it was too late. The seed had been planted.

It had started wi