Kathrine remained seated in the café long after Anna had left, her fingers curled loosely around the cup of coffee she had forgotten to drink.
The liquid inside had long gone cold, just like the sense of certainty she once carried about the past. Her mind replayed Anna’s words over and over, each repetition tightening the knot in her chest.
Anna had not died by suicide.
Soone had killed her.
The thought refused to settle, as if her mind rejected it on instinct. For years, she had accepted the official version without question. It was tragic, yes, but simple. Painful, but understandable. Suicide was sothing the living could eventually make peace with. Murder was different. Murder ant intention. It ant soone had wanted Anna gone.
But who?
Kathrine leaned back in her chair, staring blankly at the ceiling as if the answer might reveal itself there. Her thoughts drifted toward Collin. His sudden reappearance, his desperate search for Roseline, and the fact that Norma had been the one to shelter him and help him escape. Nothing about it felt right. It was not just coincidence. It could not be.
Her fingers tightened slightly against the ceramic cup.
Norma had always presented herself as composed, controlled, and untouchable. She never did anything without reason. If she had helped Collin, there was a purpose behind it. And if Collin was now seeking Roseline again, then whatever he knew or whatever he wanted had to be significant.
A quiet unease crept into Kathrine’s chest.
Everything was beginning to connect in ways she did not like.
Anna’s death. Collin’s return. Norma’s involvent.
It felt like invisible threads were being pulled together, forming a pattern she could not yet see clearly but knew was dangerous.
The discovery was too much to process all at once. Her thoughts felt heavy, tangled, and incomplete. Yet one thing had beco painfully clear. Nothing was as simple as it seed. The truth was not straightforward. It was layered, twisted, and buried beneath years of silence and deception.
She exhaled slowly, her voice barely above a whisper.
"What is going on this ti?"
Her question dissolved into the quiet hum of the café. No answer ca. Only silence greeted her, deep and suffocating.
And then her phone rang.
The sudden sound startled her, pulling her sharply out of her thoughts. She blinked and looked down at the screen, her heartbeat quickening slightly when she saw the na.
Ben.
A flicker of unease passed through her as she answered the call.
"Hello?"
"Ma’am, where are you?" Ben’s voice ca through in a hurried whisper, filled with urgency and barely restrained panic. "Why aren’t you in the office yet? Madam Norma is asking for you."
Kathrine frowned imdiately.
Norma was at the office.
Why?
Norma rarely involved herself directly unless sothing demanded her personal attention. She preferred to control things from a distance, maintaining her authority without exposing herself unnecessarily.
Kathrine straightened in her seat, her instincts sharpening.
"Ma’am," Ben continued, his voice lowering even further, "wherever you are, please co fast."
His desperation did not go unnoticed.
Sothing was wrong.
Kathrine did not respond imdiately. Her mind raced, trying to anticipate what could have prompted Norma’s sudden appearance. Had she found out sothing? Was this about Collin? Or worse, was this connected to Anna?
A chill ran down her spine.
"I’ll be there," she said finally, her voice calm despite the storm brewing inside her.
She ended the call and stared at the dark screen for a mont, her reflection staring back at her like a stranger.
Everything was changing.
The past she thought she understood was unraveling piece by piece, revealing sothing far more sinister beneath it.
Kathrine grabbed her bag and stood up, her movents steady but deliberate. She placed so money on the table without a second glance and walked toward the exit.
As she stepped outside, the air felt heavier sohow, pressing down on her as if warning her to turn back.
But she did not.
Because deep down, she knew.
Whatever waited for her at the office would bring her one step closer to the truth.
***
[Bennett Mansion]
Roseline chose to spend most of her ti inside the mansion, avoiding unnecessary movent and attention.
Hugo’s growing suspicion had not gone unnoticed by her. His eyes lingered longer than before, his questions carried hidden weight, and his silence felt far more dangerous than anger ever could. She understood n like him well. They did not confront imdiately. They observed. They waited. And when they acted, it was precise and unforgiving.
She could not afford to make a mistake now.
One wrong move, one careless decision, and everything she had built over the years would crumble beneath her feet.
So she stayed inside, maintaining her routine, preserving the image she had carefully crafted. Calm. Composed. Untouchable.
But beneath that flawless exterior, her thoughts were anything but steady.
Because no matter how hard she tried to focus on the present, Collin’s words refused to leave her mind.
Daniel.
The na alone was enough to stir mories she had long buried.
She had not expected to hear it again. Not now. Not after so many years.
Her fingers tightened slightly against the armrest of her chair as she stared out the tall window of the mansion, her expression distant.
Daniel was not just anyone. He was the son of the man she had once trapped.
The man whose death had secured her survival.
Years ago, she had stood at the edge of ruin, with no power, no protection, and no certainty of living another day. She had been cornered, vulnerable, and forced to make a choice. It had not been a choice of morality, but of survival.
And she had chosen herself.
She had manipulated the situation carefully, ensuring that the man who posed a threat to her beca the victim of circumstances instead. His downfall had not been seen as murder. It had been accepted as fate, as consequence, as sothing unfortunate yet inevitable.
And with his death, she had secured her own safety.
No one had questioned her. No one had suspected her.
She had walked away untouched.
Or so she believed.
Learning Daniel’s true identity had forced Roseline to confront the past she had spent years trying to forget.
The mories had returned with unsettling clarity. The fear. The desperation. The careful planning. Every calculated move she had made to ensure her own survival.
And now, Collin had brought it all back.
He had not only revealed the truth to her, but he had also extended his hand, offering her the sa escape they had once relied on. His words had been calm, persuasive, and dangerously convincing. He had reminded her of what they had done before and how they had survived it.
He had promised they could do it again.
And Roseline had agreed.
Not because she trusted him completely, but because she understood the alternative.
If the truth ca out, if her past was exposed, she would not walk away this ti. There would be no manipulation strong enough, no influence powerful enough to protect her. She would be detained, questioned, and stripped of everything she had built. Her na, her status, and her carefully constructed life would collapse in an instant.
She could not allow that to happen.
Not now. Not ever.
And so, she made her choice.
She would protect herself.
She did not care about Hugo, the man who had taken her in and given her stability when she needed it most. She did not care about the child she had once claid to sacrifice everything for. Those attachnts, those emotions, ant nothing in the face of her own survival.
In the end, it had always been about herself.
Roseline sat motionless in her chair, her face calm but her eyes cold with quiet resolve. The phone rested in her hand, its smooth surface reflecting her emotionless expression. For a mont, she hesitated, her thumb hovering over the screen.
Then she unlocked it and made the call.
She had been trying to reach Anna for days.
But Anna had ignored her.
Ignored her as if she no longer mattered. As if the years Roseline had spent protecting her, sacrificing for her, ant nothing. As if her new life with Daniel had erased everything that ca before it.
The thought filled Roseline with bitterness she could not suppress.
Anna had chosen Daniel.
Chosen him over her.
Chosen the son of the man whose death had ensured their survival.
Roseline’s jaw tightened slightly. The line rang once. Twice.
Three tis expecting it to go unanswered again. Expected Anna to reject her like she had done before.
But this ti, the ringing stopped.
The call connected.
For a brief mont, neither of them spoke. The silence stretched between them, heavy and unfamiliar.
Roseline’s grip on the phone tightened almost imperceptibly.
Her voice, when she finally spoke, was soft, controlled, and filled with sothing far deeper than simple emotion.
"Anna."
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