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The air atop the Royal Hotel Rooftop was razor-sharp, smelling of incoming rain and expensive ozone. A relentless cold breeze whipped through the space, tugging at the heavy velvet curtains of the closed penthouse suite.
Raina burst through the heavy emergency exit door, her lungs burning. She was panting, each breath a ragged sob. Her cream-colored engagement gown—once a symbol of a perfect future—was ruined. The delicate silk was smeared with grey dust and grease from the stairwell, the hem shredded.
She scanned the dark, empty rooftop, her eyes wide with frantic desperation.
CRACK.
A jagged bolt of lightning ripped across the sky, illuminating the world in a haunting violet strobe. In that split second, she appeared.
Gabriella.
She was perched precariously on the edge of the stone railing, silhouetted against the weeping clouds. She wore a floor-length, midnight-black gown that shimmered like oil on water every time she moved. Around her pale throat, a blood-red ruby pendant glowed, looking like a fresh wound against her skin.
Gabriella's face was a mask of marble—completely devoid of emotion.
Their eyes locked. In one fluid, terrifying motion, Gabriella jumped down from the rail. She didn't stumble. She walked toward Raina with the grace of a predator.
Adrenaline turned into pure rage. Raina lunged forward, her hands snapping around Gabriella's throat, choking her.
"Who the hell are you?" Raina hissed, her voice a deadly, vibrating growl.
Gabriella didn't struggle. She simply offered a thin, bone-chilling smile. "His friend. The person you murdered."
Raina's pupils dilated in terror. Her grip loosened, her hands trembling as she backed away. "You..." she whispered, the realization hitting her like a physical blow. "The Little Bunny."
Gabriella's smile widened, though her eyes remained freezing. "Yes. He used to call me that name."
Raina let out a dark, jagged chuckle, her expression shifting from fear to a deadly, arrogant stare. "What do you want?"
Gabriella moved faster than sight, grabbing Raina's hand in a fierce, crushing grip. "What do you think? Do you really think I'd leave you alone? Not after what you did to my best friend."
"I didn't kill him," Raina said, her tone deepening, trying to reclaim her power.
Gabriella dropped Raina's hand as if it were trash and began to circle her, her heels clicking rhythmically on the concrete. "Do you think I'm a fool? I saw the footage, Raina. I saw you strike his wrist. I saw him fall. Do you still want to deny it?"
Raina looked at the floor, a small, pained chuckle escaping her lips. "Yes... I did it."
Gabriella scoffed, the sound sharp as a blade. "I'm here because I want the truth from your mouth. Why? Why did you kill him? He was your lover. He worshipped you."
Raina leaned in, her lips inches from Gabriella's ear, her voice dripping with venomous attitude. "I won't tell you." She pulled back and laughed—a loud, mocking sound that drowned out the wind.
Gabriella's eyes flashed with white-hot anger, but she forced a laugh of her own. "I know how to get the truth out of you."
"Is that so?" Raina stared her down.
"How did you even know about me? Did Kevin say something?" Gabriella asked coldly.
Raina rolled her eyes, annoyed. "Whatever you ask, I'm not talking. I see what you're doing—trying to confuse me, trying to trip me up. It's cunning, but it won't work."
Gabriella's jaw tightened, her patience snapping, though she masked it with a final, bitter smile. She walked to the very edge of the skyscraper and sat down, her legs dangling over the drop into the city lights.
"Fine," Gabriella said quietly. "Then I'll just release the video to the police."
Raina's face darkened, but then she smirked. "No. You won't. I know you, Bunny. You're planning something else."
Gabriella stood up slowly, a dark smirk mirroring Raina's. "Your guess is exactly right."
In one swift motion, Gabriella reached into the folds of her long shimmering dress. She pulled a black-handled hunting knife from a sheath strapped to her knee. The steel glinted wickedly under the rooftop lights.
Raina froze. The blood drained from her face.
Gabriella looked at the sharp edge of the blade and whispered, "Let's give you the punishment your sin deserves."
Gabriella bolted.
She rushed at Raina with terrifying speed. Terrified, Raina scrambled backward, tripped over her own heavy gown, and began to sprint toward the far end of the roof.
The hunt was on. Gabriella chased her into the shadows, the knife raised, as the first drop of rain hit the hot concrete.
While the storm raged on the roof, the atmosphere inside the Royal Hotel Grand Ballroom was shifting from celebration to a slow-burning panic.
The Vanishing Bride
Bianca, Raina's mother, paced the marble floors, her expensive silk gown rustling with every frantic step. She looked at her lead bodyguard, her eyes cold. "Search every corridor. Find her immediately!"
Nancy, Felix's sister, stood nearby with her husband, her brow furrowed in confusion. "Bianca, what is going on? How does a bride-to-be vanish from her own engagement party without a trace?"
Bianca adjusted her pearls, her voice tight. "This engagement will happen as planned. She's likely just overwhelmed."
Across the room, Felix stood leaning against a pillar, looking remarkably bored. He flicked through his phone, a sharp smirk dancing on his lips. He typed out a quick message to Raina: So this is your plan to stop the engagement? Creative.
His bodyguard leaned in, whispering urgently into his ear. Felix's expression shifted—the boredom evaporated into a calculating chill. "It's not a coincidence," Felix muttered. "Check the CCTV. Now."
As his man hurried away, Felix's eyes narrowed while thinking." She was drunk, Where did she go ? How could she ?".
Chaos in the Control Room
Downstairs, in the Backstage Control Room, the air was thick with the hum of servers and the smell of ozone. Jake was frantically pulling cables, unplugging sockets to kill the LED video feed that had started playing unauthorized footage.
He slammed the laptop shut. "Who did this?" he hissed into the empty room.
Movement caught his eye. A shadow slipped past the doorway. Jake lunged toward it, but the figure was gone before he could reach the hall. He was interrupted by Erica bursting in, looking pale.
"Jake!" she gasped. "I searched the entire suite. The tablet is gone. Someone took that."
Jake's reaction was violent. He ran his fingers through his shimmering golden hair before slamming both palms onto the metal desk with a deafening CRACK. Erica flinched, shrinking back against the wall.
"Search everywhere!" Jake roared, his face contorted. "She's still in this building. I'll pull the backup CCTV myself."
"But Jake—"
"I SAID GO!"
Erica nodded frantically and scrambled out of the room. Once alone, Jake's breathing leveled out. A dark, twisted smirk replaced his rage. He looked at the blank monitors, whispering to the shadows:
"You're a better player than I thought, Gabriella. I truly underestimated you."
Back on the Rooftop
The hunt intensified under the heavy, charcoal-grey clouds. Gabriella prowled the rooftop, her eyes scanning every shadow, but Raina was gone. Suddenly, Gabriella's phone buzzed.
"Don't worry, I'll handle the rest," Gabriella said, her voice like ice.
A male voice crackled on the other end, sounding panicked. "I don't think I can get back to the backstage control area. He's there."
Gabriella's eyes narrowed into slits. "Jake, right?"
"Mm," the man confirmed.
Gabriella chuckled, a dark, melodic sound. "What's happening down there?"
"Everybody is searching for Raina. I think Jake is going to check the CCTV footage."
Gabriella paused, her gaze drifting to the blinking red light of the rooftop camera. A slow, dangerous smirk spread across her face. "Don't worry. They won't find anything." She had already taken care of that. She hung up, her focus returning to the silence of the roof.
"Raina!" Gabriella called out, her voice echoing. "Why are you afraid? I thought you liked chasing games... like the one you played with Kevin."
On the far side of the rooftop, hidden behind a mountain of rusted junk and overflow garbage, Raina huddled in the dark, her breath hitching.
Gabriella's eyes snapped toward the junk area. As she walked, something glinted at her feet. She bent down, her fingers brushing against a half-moon pendant bracelet. It was broken—snapped in half. She gripped it tight, her knuckles turning white.
"I found you," she whispered.
Gabriella grabbed an empty glass bottle from a nearby crate and hurled it with lethal precision toward the junk pile. SHATTER. The glass exploded into a thousand shards near Raina's feet.
"If you don't come out," Gabriella warned, "the next one hits you."
Trembling, Raina stood up from the filth, her ruined engagement dress stained with grime. The moment she was visible, she tried to bolt for the other side of the roof, but Gabriella moved with supernatural speed. In a blur of black silk, Gabriella intercepted her, her hand clamping around Raina's wrist like a vice.
"Gabriella, think about the consequences!" Raina gasped.
Gabriella just smiled. "I'm not afraid of consequences."
She raised the knife, the sharp tip hovering just millimeters above Raina's pulse point. Raina's eyes widened, flooded with pure terror. "No! No, Gabriella, stop!"
The blade paused. Gabriella's voice was a low, vibrating hum of rage. "Then say it. Why did you kill him?"
Raina's face crumpled. The bravado vanished, replaced by a deep, aching pain. The flashback hit her like a wave.
"He joined our school in the first year," Raina began, her voice shaking. "He was brilliant. Handsome. Everyone wanted him... me too. He was so gentle, so kind. That's why I fell for him. It started as a crush, but on Sports Day, I got injured. He was the one who helped me. That's how we became friends."
Raina looked at Gabriella, her eyes glistening. "A few months later, I was going to confess, but he beat me to it. He proposed first. I couldn't believe it. He used to tell me I reminded him of someone... his 'Little Bunny.' You."
A single, hot tear escaped Gabriella's eye and rolled down her cheek.
"He told me he loved bold girls, just like you," Raina continued, her voice gaining a bitter edge. "He admired you so much, Gabriella. He wanted a girlfriend who was exactly like his best friend—bold, energetic, and fearless. We were only together for two years, but it felt like ten. We shared everything. He couldn't bear to be away from me... and I loved him with my whole heart."
Suddenly, Raina's eyes turned stone-cold. The grief vanished, replaced by a burning, red-hot fury. "But all of that died the moment he backstabbed his own girlfriend."
Gabriella flinched, her grip on the knife loosening slightly. "What?"
Raina's eyes were glowing with a terrifying light. "You think you knew him? You think he was a saint?"
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To be Continued.......
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