Chapter 124

Chapter 124
Chapter 124

Yvonne’s POV

Three weeks.

That was how long I had been trying.

Three weeks of begging people to listen. Three weeks of explaining the same story over and over again. Three weeks of watching their faces change from polite interest to doubt, then to annoyance, then to quiet dismissal.

Three weeks of being looked at like I had already lost my mind.

I stopped counting the number of doors that closed in my face.

I stopped remembering the names of the people who rejected me.

They all blurred together.

All I could remember was the look.

That look.

The one that said they didn’t believe me.

The one that said I was wasting their time.

The one that said I was nothing.

I stopped sleeping properly after the second week.

At first it was just restless nights. Then it became something worse. I would lie in bed with my eyes open, staring at the ceiling, replaying everything in my head. The wedding. The confession. Isabella standing there like she had already won.

By the third week, I stopped trying to sleep at all.

Food didn’t matter anymore either. I ate when I remembered. Sometimes once a day. Sometimes not at all. It didn’t make a difference. Nothing did.

The only thing that mattered was her.

Stopping her.

Destroying her.

The mirror in the bathroom showed me someone I didn’t recognize.

My eyes looked hollow, like something inside me had been scooped out and left empty. My skin had gone pale, stretched too tight over my face. My lips were dry and cracked. My hair hung around my shoulders in dull strands that hadn’t been washed in days.

I stared at my reflection for a long time.

“You look insane,” I whispered.

The word didn’t even scare me.

Maybe they were right.

Maybe I had gone too far.

Maybe this wasn’t justice anymore.

Maybe it was obsession.

Maybe it was madness.

But even knowing that didn’t stop anything.

Because the moment I thought of stopping, her face came back.

Calm. Untouched. Winning.

And something inside me burned all over again.

The voices started a few days later.

At first, it was just thoughts that didn’t feel like mine.

Sharp. Clear. Cold.

She took everything from you.

I froze the first time it happened.

“You’re just tired,” I told myself. “That’s all.”

But it didn’t stop.

She destroyed you. She’s happy now. She’s moving on. She’s getting everything. And you have nothing.

I pressed my hands against my ears, but it didn’t help.

The voice wasn’t outside.

It was inside.

“You’re not real,” I said out loud.

It didn’t matter.

Kill her.

I shook my head hard. “No.”

It came back stronger.

Kill her and it ends. Kill her and you win.

My chest tightened. My heart started beating faster.

“No,” I said again, louder this time. “I’m not doing that.”

But the thought didn’t leave.

It stayed.

Sat there.

Waiting.

Growing.

I walked to the window and pushed it open. Cold air rushed in, hitting my face. The city stretched out below, full of light, full of life.

Somewhere out there, she was living.

Breathing.

Smiling.

Planning her future.

While I stood here falling apart.

The unfairness of it made my stomach twist.

Why did she get everything?

Why did she get to walk away clean?

Why did she get to win?

My hands gripped the edge of the window.

“She doesn’t deserve it,” I whispered.

Kill her.

This time, I didn’t push the thought away.

I just stood there, breathing hard, letting it sit in my mind.

It made sense in a way nothing else had.

No media.

No court.

No proof.

No voice.

Every path had been blocked.

Every door had been closed.

There was nothing left.

Except this.

If she was gone, everything ended.

No more lies.

No more power.

No more control.

No more her.

The idea didn’t feel shocking anymore.

It felt… quiet.

Like the only option left.

I stepped back from the window slowly.

“I can’t do it myself,” I said.

That part was true.

I didn’t have the courage. Or the skill. Or the chance to get near her. She was always protected. Always surrounded.

But there were people who did this.

People who didn’t ask questions.

People who didn’t care.

I went back to the couch and opened my laptop.

My hands were steady now.

Too steady.

That scared me more than anything.

I searched carefully. Slowly. Following threads that led to other threads, hidden behind layers of lies and coded language.

It didn’t take long.

There were always people like this.

The first one refused immediately.

“Too high profile.”

The second one didn’t even reply.

The third one said no without explanation.

By the fourth, I almost gave up.

Then the fifth answered.

“Isabella Valen?” the message read. “That’s not a small job.”

“I know,” I typed back.

“Price is fifty thousand.”

My stomach dropped.

“I don’t have that.”

“Then you don’t have a deal.”

“I have fifteen.”

There was a long pause.

Long enough for doubt to creep back in.

Long enough for me to almost close the laptop.

Then the reply came.

“Fifteen gets you someone untested. No guarantees. Could fail. Could get caught. Could talk. You take the risk.”

I stared at the message.

This was it.

This was the line.

If I crossed it, there was no going back.

I thought about everything I had lost.

Everything she had taken.

Everything that was gone.

“Deal,” I typed.

The instructions came immediately.

Crypto address. Details needed. No contact after.

Clean. Cold. Final.

I transferred the money.

Every dollar I had left.

When it was done, I just stared at the screen.

Fifteen thousand.

Gone.

Just like that.

My hands started shaking then.

Not before.

Not during.

After.

I forced myself to keep moving.

I found her pictures online. Chose the clearest one. The one where she looked the happiest.

That hurt.

I found the address. The schedule. Every detail I could gather.

I sent everything.

Then I closed the laptop.

And just sat there.

For a long time, I didn’t move.

Didn’t think.

Didn’t breathe properly.

Then it hit me.

What I had just done.

“I hired someone to kill her,” I whispered.

The words sounded wrong out loud.

Heavy.

Real.

I stood up suddenly, pacing the room.

“What did you do?” I said, my voice shaking now. “What did you just do?”

This wasn’t revenge anymore.

This was something else.

Something darker.

Something permanent.

I stopped in the middle of the room and pressed my hands to my head.

“I didn’t have a choice,” I muttered.

But even as I said it, I knew it wasn’t true.

There was always a choice.

I just didn’t like the other options.

The room felt colder.

Quieter.

Like everything around me had changed.

I thought about Lucia.

About what we did to her.

About how I stood there and helped destroy her life.

And now this.

Now I was worse.

Far worse.

I sank back onto the couch, my body suddenly heavy.

There was no going back now.

The money was gone.

The information was sent.

The decision was made.

All that was left was waiting.

Days passed.

Nothing.

No message.

No confirmation.

No sign.

Just silence.

The waiting was worse than anything.

Every sound made me jump.

Every unknown number made my heart race.

Every second stretched too long.

Would it happen?

Would it fail?

Would they get caught?

Would they come for me next?

I didn’t know.

And that not knowing started to eat at me.

At night, the voices came back.

This time, I didn’t fight them.

“She’s going to die,” I whispered into the darkness.

The words didn’t feel real.

But they were.

I closed my eyes.

I didn’t feel relief.

I didn’t feel victory.

Just something heavy.

Something dark.

Something that wouldn’t leave.

I had crossed the line.

And now I had to live with it.

Or die with it.

Waiting for something I couldn’t control anymore.

Waiting for the moment everything changed.

For her.

Or for me.

Or for both of us.

I didn’t know which one I was more afraid of.