Chapter 120

Chapter 120
Chapter 120

Lucia’s POV

The room felt too quiet.

Not peaceful. Not calm. Just quiet in a way that pressed on your ears until it started to hurt.

I lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. I had been there for hours. Maybe more. I did not check the time. I did not want to.

My body was still. My mind was not.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the cathedral. I heard their voices. I saw their faces when everything fell apart.

David’s shock.

Yvonne’s rage.

Anna’s silence.

And mine.

Cold. Empty. Done.

I opened my eyes again. The ceiling looked the same. White. Clean. Perfect. Like nothing had ever happened.

Like I had not burned my whole life to the ground just to survive.

A soft knock broke the silence.

I did not move at first.

Another knock. Careful this time.

“Miss Mendez?”

The maid.

Her voice was small. Almost scared.

“Yes?” My voice came out rough. Like I had not used it in a long time.

“There is someone here to see you.”

“I am not seeing anyone.”

“She said it is important.”

“I said no.”

There was a pause. I could hear her shifting outside the door.

“She is crying, ma’am. She said she will not leave until she speaks to you.”

Something in my chest tightened.

“Who is it?”

A small hesitation.

“She said her name is Anna Morrison.”

The air left my lungs.

Anna.

For a second, I could not breathe.

My fingers curled into the bedsheet.

Of course she would come. Of course she would show up now. After everything. After the truth. After the damage.

After I had already bled out and rebuilt myself into something else.

“Tell her to leave,” I said.

“I tried, ma’am. She refused. She is on her knees.”

My eyes closed.

On her knees.

Begging.

The image came too easily. Too clearly.

Just like I had been once.

My chest hurt.

“Fine,” I said quietly. “I will come down.”

\---

Every step down the stairs felt heavy.

Like I was walking back into something I had barely escaped.

The house was quiet. Too big. Too clean. Too cold.

By the time I reached the foyer, I already knew what I would see.

But it still hit me.

Anna was on the floor.

Not sitting.

Not standing.

Kneeling.

Her knees pressed into the marble. Her hands on the ground like she needed it to hold her up. Her head bowed.

Her shoulders shook with quiet, broken sobs.

For a moment, I just stood there.

I remembered another time.

Another place.

Another version of me.

Begging. Crying. Breaking.

And nobody came.

“Get up,” I said.

She lifted her head slowly.

The moment she saw me, her face broke completely.

“Lucia…”

My name sounded strange coming from her.

Soft. Familiar.

Like nothing had changed.

Everything had.

“Get up,” I repeated.

She shook her head.

“No. I can’t. I don’t deserve to stand in front of you.”

“Then stay there,” I said.

If she wanted to kneel, let her kneel.

I felt nothing. Or maybe I felt too much.

“What do you want?” I asked.

Her lips trembled.

“Forgiveness.”

The word fell apart as it left her mouth.

“I know I don’t deserve it. I know I have no right to ask. But please… please forgive me.”

I stared at her.

My chest tightened, but I held it in.

“Forgive you for what?”

Her breath broke.

“For everything. For not defending you. For believing them. For spreading lies about you. For calling you unstable. For standing there and doing nothing while your life was falling apart. For betraying you. For being the worst kind of friend.”

Tears ran down her face, fast and unstoppable.

“I am so sorry, Lucia. I am so sorry.”

I let the silence sit between us.

Heavy. Ugly. Real.

“Sorry,” I said slowly, “does not fix anything.”

“I know,” she whispered. “I know it doesn’t. But I needed to say it. I needed you to hear it from me. Not from anyone else.”

I stepped closer.

Each step felt like walking through broken glass.

“You chose them,” I said.

Her eyes dropped.

“Yes.”

“You chose lies over me.”

“Yes.”

“You chose to destroy me instead of stand beside me.”

Her voice cracked. “Yes.”

I swallowed hard.

“Did you know?” I asked.

She looked up, confused.

“Did you know what they were planning? The money. The theft. Everything.”

Her head shook quickly.

“No. I swear I didn’t. I thought it was just… just an affair. I didn’t know they were taking everything from you. I didn’t know it would go that far. I didn’t know you would lose everything.”

“You still helped them.”

“I know.” Her voice broke again. “I know. And that is enough. That alone is enough to make me hate myself.”

Something inside me snapped.

“I trusted you!” My voice rose before I could stop it. “Do you understand that? I trusted you like family. I told you everything. I stood by you when no one else did. I defended you. I helped you. I loved you. And you stood there and watched me fall apart like I meant nothing!”

My chest heaved. My hands shook.

“Do you know what it felt like? To lose everything in one day? To stand there alone while everyone looked at me like I was crazy? While my own friend called me unstable? While you said nothing?”

Tears filled my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.

“I had nobody,” I said, my voice shaking. “Nobody. And you were supposed to be there.”

“I know.” She was crying harder now. “I know. I know. I was a coward. I was jealous. I was angry at things that had nothing to do with you. And I took it out on you. I let Yvonne poison me. I let my own weakness destroy something real. I destroyed you. I know I did. I know.”

Her voice dropped into a whisper.

“I hate myself for it.”

I stared at her.

“Good,” I said quietly.

She flinched.

“You should.”

Silence again.

Long. Heavy.

Painful.

“I cannot forgive you,” I said.

The words came out calm.

Too calm.

Her face fell. Not in shock. Not in anger.

Just quiet acceptance.

“I know,” she said.

“You were my sister,” I continued. “Not just my friend. My sister. And you chose to hurt me. That kind of betrayal does not go away. It does not fade. It does not heal easily. Some things break and never go back to what they were.”

“I understand.”

“I don’t hate you,” I added.

Her eyes lifted slightly.

“I just… can’t have you in my life anymore.”

That hurt more to say than I expected.

“You belong to a part of my life that died.”

Her lips trembled.

“I deserve that.”

Another silence.

Then she slowly pushed herself to her feet.

Unsteady. Weak.

“I am leaving tomorrow,” she said.

“Where?”

“London. My grandmother lives there. I will stay with her. Start over. Try to be better.”

I nodded once.

“Good.”

She hesitated.

“I didn’t just come to say sorry.”

My eyes narrowed slightly.

“What else?”

Her expression changed.

Fear crept in.

“Yvonne.”

My body went still.

“She is not letting this go,” Anna said. “She is angry. More than angry. She is… obsessed. She keeps talking about revenge. About making you pay. About destroying you.”

Of course she was.

Yvonne never knew how to stop.

“She has nothing left,” I said.

“That is what makes her dangerous,” Anna replied. “She has nothing to lose. People like that don’t think. They just act.”

A cold feeling settled in my chest.

“I tried to stop her,” Anna continued. “I told her to let it go. I told her we deserved what happened. She didn’t listen. She thinks you stole from her. She thinks you ruined her life.”

“She ruined her own life.”

“I know. But she doesn’t see it that way.”

I looked away.

Thinking.

Calculating.

“She will come for you,” Anna said softly. “I just wanted you to know.”

I nodded.

“Thank you.”

She gave a small, broken smile.

“It’s the least I can do.”

She moved toward the door, then stopped.

“I really am sorry, Lucia.”

I didn’t respond.

Not because I had nothing to say.

But because anything I said would either be a lie or another wound.

She opened the door.

“Goodbye.”

“Goodbye, Anna.”

She left.

The door closed behind her with a quiet click.

And just like that, she was gone.

I stood there for a long time.

Not moving.

Not breathing properly.

Just standing in the middle of the foyer like I had forgotten how to exist.

My chest hurt.

Not sharp pain.

Not anger.

Just something deep and heavy.

Something that stayed.

Anna was gone.

David was gone.

Yvonne was still out there.

And me?

I was still here.

Still trying to figure out who I was now.

Lucia.

Isabella.

Something in between.

I turned slowly and walked back upstairs.

Each step felt heavier than before.

My room greeted me with the same silence.

I sat on the bed.

Then I lay down.

Staring at the ceiling again.

But this time, I felt everything.

The betrayal.

The loss.

The anger.

The emptiness.

The truth.

Revenge did not fix anything.

It just ended things.

And now I was left with what came after.

A life I had no idea how to live.

And a new threat waiting in the shadows.

Yvonne.

Still fighting.

Still angry.

Still coming.

I closed my eyes.

Not to sleep.

Just to breathe.

Just to hold myself together.

Because even after everything…

I was still not whole.

And I did not know if I ever would be.