Chapter 10%
Everything around me just stopped. For a few seconds, I couldn’t move until the truth hit me like a truck, and I stumbled back, my chest tightening, my breath catching
“All of this… Shannah did all of it?!” I choked out, barely recognizing the sound of my own voice.!!
It was like a dam broke. Everything I had refused to see came crashing down all at once.
“Zareena…she really was still pregnant?! And I… I actually thought she was faking it! I accused her of lying!”
The weight of it was too much. My knees buckled beneath me, and I collapsed with a heavy thud, hitting the floor hard. My fingers clawed into the carpet like I could tear through the moment–rip away the guilt–but it wouldn’t budge. It just stayed there. Crushing me. It was too late.
I felt hollow. Like something inside me had been punched out and wasn’t coming back.
For a long time, I just knelt there, stunned and numb.
Then, all at once, I clutched my head and completely broke down, sobbing like a man unraveling.
“She… she was carrying my babies! And because of a few lies from Shannah… W–What did I do? I just stood there and watched my wife suffer! She was in labor–bleeding out–and I locked her in the basement like a criminal! I didn’t let anyone help her!“}
The shame was suffocating.
I don’t even remember standing up–just that I somehow made it to my feet, heart pounding with panic–and ran. I needed to see her. When I burst into the villa, everything felt eerily quiet.}}
My footsteps echoed through the halls as I made my way to the basement.
And when I finally opened the door, the metallic stench of blood hit me square in the face.
I froze.8
The room was empty.
The spot where I’d locked her up… was bare now. Nothing left but a cold cement floor, stained dark with blood. Dried. Old.
I dropped to my knees again, crawling to where she had once lain, the stains like shadows etched into the floor.”
“No, no, no…”
My fingers scraped against the floor, desperate, frantic. As if digging at it could bring her back.}
“Zareena… please…” My voice cracked. “Where are you…? Come back, okay? I was wrong. I was so, so wrong…”
The words echoed off the basement walls–loud, desperate, hopeless.
But no one answered me… Only silence.
Then, a voice–sharp, cold–cut through the air like the crack of ice.
“Stop looking. Zareena’s already gone!”
I stiffened. My breath hitched.
Slowly, I turned toward the sound.
And there, standing at the top of the stairs, was Mom, her face unreadable.
Her voice didn’t tremble. It was calm. Controlled. Too controlled.}
“I’ve already looked into it,” she said, descending the steps one at a time. “That Shannah–she was never who she claimed to be.“}}
I blinked, confused, my throat going dry. “What… what are you talking about?”
Her heels clicked against the concrete, her eyes filled with something that looked like both anger and disappointment. Each step made my stomach twist.
“She’s not the daughter of the man who saved your life,” Mom said flatly. “Everything she told you–those so–called tragic stories–every bit of it was fake. The truth? She’s just some escort from a nightclub. She sells herself for money.”
Sullivan stared at her in shock, unable to process it.
I just stood there, paralyzed, her words barely registering.”
“She heard about your accident one night,” she went on bitterly. “Heard someone mention Zareena. That’s when she got the idea. She faked her identity. Bribed an old witness. Pretended to be the daughter of your saviour.
“She planned everything. Every word. Every look. She knew how to talk, how to act–how to make you fall for it.“@
My stomach turned. It felt like I might throw up.
“I warned you!” she snapped, her voice shaking now. “But you wouldn’t listen. You let her lie to you, manipulate you, and drag this family through hell. You were so desperate to believe her. And what did you get for it? A twisted story you wrote for yourself–where you looked noble, and everyone else paid the price.”
Her voice cracked with rage.
“You made a fool out of yourself, Sullivan. You dragged Zareena through the mud! You–you’re a weak, infertile man raising someone else’s child like some act of charity!”
She stepped closer. Her next words were barely a whisper.
2/2
209%
“You destroyed her. You crushed Zareena.”
Her next words hit like bullets.
“And worse than that?” Her voice trembled. “You killed the man who saved your life. You killed your wife. You killed your unborn child!” My breath caught
“I–I don’t know how I ended up with a son this blind… this stupid.”
Her words landed like a slap.
For a moment, I couldn’t find my voice. I couldn’t even breathe.
“You’re saying… Shannah lied to me?” My voice was barely audible. “Her father wasn’t the one who saved me?”
I tried to make sense of it–tried to reconcile it with the images in my mind. “But I remember… I remember everything. In my last life-“N My thoughts spiraled. My head throbbed.N
Every so–called memory I had… it had come from Shannah.N
Then suddenly–like a knife through fog–it came back.N
That day. That awful, unforgivable day. When I forced the doctors to shove the babies back inside Zareena–because I didn’t believe her. “Sir, please,” one of the doctors had begged me, “the children are innocent. If you force them back… neither your wife nor the babies will survive!”
I shuddered violently, like something inside me snapped.
‘Of course. Of course Zareena’s father shouldn’t have saved me…”
He gave everything–his health, his future–just to pull me from that wreck. He ended up in a coma because of it.
And the last thing he ever said was a simple request.
‘Take care… of my daughter. Please, take care of Zareena.’N
I’d sworn I would. Now I couldn’t even look my mother in the eye without shame.
Hers were red now, but her voice stayed firm–grief and fury lacing every word.
“I told you to take care of her. Even if it was just as a sister. But you-” she spat the word-“you insisted on marrying her. You promised me you’d love her forever. Do you remember what you said?“N
“You said if you ever let her down, you’d die a thousand painful deaths.“W
Her voice cracked–just for a second–before turning cold again.
“But in the end… what did you do?”
I was too ashamed to say a word.
“She gave you everything. Every part of her heart. And you–you and that woman–drove her to her death. You locked her up while she was in labor. You left her to bleed out, alone, in that freezing basement.“}
Her voice broke completely now. “Zareena… She died surrounded by blood!“}]
She looked away.”
“I was the one who had to pick up her body.”
