Lauren's POV When I opened my eyes, I was stunned and taken aback by the bright, sterile whiteness of the hospital room. The beeping of the heart monitor beside me was a steady, rhythmic reminder that I was still alive. I blinked a few times, looking around and trying to clear the fog from my mind, and that’s when I saw him. Damien was sitting beside me, shirtless, with fresh bandages covering his wounds. Worry and exhaustion we’re etched on his face as his dark eyes watched me with an intensity that almost made me uncomfortable. Seeing him there brought back the tangle of emotions inside me that he made me feel all at once—relief, anger, and everything that came with them. “How are you feeling?” His voice was quiet, but the room was quieter save for the uniform beeps. “I don’t feel one hundred percent,” I admitted, my voice barely loud enough to be considered a whisper. “Everything hurts. My body feels so weak.” Damien nodded, his expression tur
Lauren's POV My breath caught in my throat, my mind reeling with confusion and terror as I looked at Damien. “What… what is this?” I stuttered, shaking my head in disbelief at the fact that a corpse had gone missing. “Where is she?” Damien remained silent, his expression a mix of shock and disbelief. The world tilted beneath my feet, my legs threatening to give way as the horror of the situation sank in. My mother was gone. And someone had taken her. But I was not going to accept that things were that way. What could anybody possibly want with her now? It was more than enough. She had gone through enough. “This is ridiculous!” I scoffed aloud, turning around and taking steps away from the coffin to avoid the visual reminder of what was happening. “She can’t be missing. This doesn’t make any sense.” “I’ll make a call to the morgue and make enquiries. This has to be a mistake,” Damien assured me as he pulled his phone out of his pocket, not knowing
Lauren's POV It took a long moment of waiting before a large vehicle pulled up to the cemetery with the right coffin. The past few weeks had been a blur of police investigations, yelling at and confronting the possible suspects. All of that faded into the background of my mind as I finally stood in front of the coffin which was now open, exposing the woman who had both been through a lot and had put me through a lot as well. “I’m sorry,” I whispered to her as I stepped as close as the distance between me and the coffin would allow. Her being dead was a reality that I was still finding difficult to grasp. Even at that, I knew that this was goodbye and there was nothing I could do to escape it. I knelt beside the coffin and placed a small necklace that she had given to me as a child beside her. It was something that I outgrew but still took with me everywhere I could. “Say hello to Dad for me, okay?” I said. “I love you. Goodbye.” The men who ha
Lauren's POV When I opened my eyes the next morning, the first thing I felt was the sharp, pounding ache in my head. The room was dim, the curtains only partially drawn, letting in slivers of sunlight that made me wince. I rolled over, expecting to find the bed empty, but there was a faint dent in the sheets beside me. My heart skipped a beat as I remembered. Damien. I groaned silently, hoping and praying that I had imagined him being here, that it was just a piece of my drunken delirium. The thought of him actually being here, of him hearing my embarrassing confession, made my stomach twist with dread. I forced myself to sit up, the pounding in my head intensifying with each movement. “Please, let it have been a dream,” I whispered. Deep down, I knew better. I could still feel the warmth of his hand, the weight of his presence beside me. And the words I had let slip in the haze of alcohol. “I love you.” The memory hit me. How co
Lauren's POV Conrad’s words stunned me into silence. Jameson, the man I had accused, the man I had believed to be involved was innocent? The thought of it left me reeling, my mind struggling to make sense of it all. “Why should I believe you?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. “Why should I believe anything you say? He’s your father. For all I know, he has brainwashed you into trusting him since you started to stay with him.” Conrad sighed, running a hand through his hair. “You don’t have to believe me, Lauren. But I’m telling you the truth. There’s more going on here than you realize, and if you want to find out who’s really responsible for your mother’s death, you’re going to have to dig deeper.” His words hung in the air between us, heavy with the weight of his seemingly empty words. I wanted to argue, to demand proof, but something in his eyes stopped me. This was bigger than I had ever imagined, and I wasn’t sure if I was ready to face i
Lauren's POV My phone buzzed in my hand, dragging me out of the fog of uncertainty that had settled over me since my conversation with Damien. I stared at the screen, the new message glowing ominously. My fingers trembled as I swiped it open. “Look into the person Damien wanted to marry before you. The one he left at the altar—Katarina. Did you really think she would die without someone seeking vengeance?” A chill ran down my spine, cold and paralyzing. Katarina. The name hit me like a punch to the gut, stirring up memories I’d long buried. I hadn’t thought about her in a while. She’d been nothing more than a nightmare in our relationship, a lingering shadow that neither of us wanted to talk about. But she was gone. Dead. The word echoed in my mind, loud and insistent. Damien had killed her. I tried to steady my breath, but it came in short, sharp bursts, each one more panicked than the last. My fingers tightened around the phone as if it migh
Lauren's POV As I stepped out of the police station, the afternoon sun hit my face, but I barely felt its warmth. My thoughts were swirling, churning with all the new information Detective Rhodes had just given me. I needed answers. I couldn’t keep chasing shadows. I pulled out my phone and scrolled to find Damien’s number. I hesitated for a moment, my thumb hovering over the screen, before finally pressing the call button. The phone rang twice before he answered. “Lauren,” Damien’s voice was cautious, as if he was bracing himself for whatever I was about to throw at him for the umpteenth time. “Damien,” I replied. “I need to ask you something, and I need you to be honest with me.” There was a pause on the other end, and I could almost hear the gears in his mind turning. “What is it?” I swallowed hard, trying to steady my nerves. “Katarina… Was there anyone apart from Santino who would have wanted revenge for her death?” His silence was
Lauren's POV I sat across from Shirley’s father, the realization of the truth sinking into me but refusing to settle. My mind was still reeling from the revelation, the connection that I had never imagined possible. Shirley and Katarina were sisters. How had I missed that? How had Damien missed it? Or had he known all along? Most importantly, why had Shirley hid it from me this whole time? He looked older than I remembered, though it had been years since I’d seen him. There was a weariness in his eyes, a heaviness that suggested he had been carrying secrets for far too long. And now, it seemed, he was ready to let it all go and reveal it all. “Tell me everything,” I repeated, my words sounding more like a plea than a demand. He nodded slowly, his expression unreadable. “I will. But understand, Lauren, this is not a story with a happy ending. Whatever you find out right now, how you choose to take action about it is up to you.” I didn’t need to be