Valeria in confusion, " but how are we going to fool them that I am dead?"
Adrian smiles in mischievous....
The penthouse hummed with quiet authority, the city lights stretching below like rivers of fire. Adrian's fingers moved with lethal precision over the secure line. "Intercept the gang leader's phone," he instructed, voice calm, deliberate. "Forge the voice. Tell Chesla… she's gone. Thrown into the river. No witnesses, no trace."
Valeria watched, pulse steady, a controlled excitement curling inside her chest. Every plan, every step, had been calculated to perfection. She would vanish, leaving only the shadow of herself, and that shadow would haunt Chesla. Fear would creep into the girl's mind, gnawing at her until every certainty was poisoned.
"They'll believe it," Adrian said, eyes flicking to hers. "Arrogance is their weakness. Let Chesla think she has triumphed. Let her celebrate. Let her mind fracture quietly before she even sees the truth."
Valeria drew a deep breath. "I will appear suddenly," she said, her voice calm, deadly with intent. "Alive… or a ghost. They will not know. I will appear, vanish, leave whispers, shadows… traces they cannot interpret. Chesla will doubt herself, her senses, everything it will make her go crazy even suffer from mental health what do you think?By the time she realizes the truth, the fear, the chaos, the humiliation… it will be irreversible".
Adrian's dark gaze softened for a fraction, approving. "The perfect storm. You will remain untouchable while they crumble under uncertainty."
Across the city, anticipation simmered in the air.
In her penthouse, Chesla had been waiting since the previous night, pacing like a queen awaiting a crown. The phone's sharp ring sliced through the silence, and she snatched it up.
The forged voice on the line came low, cruel.
"She's dead. Thrown into the river. No witnesses."
For a heartbeat, the world went still. Then, slowly, Chesla's lips curled into a smile that glittered sharper than glass.
"Good," she whispered, exhaling as if releasing weeks of frustration. "Finally."
She didn't waste another second. "Chantel. Marissa. Come here — now."
Within minutes, the two arrived. Marissa's eyes shone with curiosity; Chantel's steps were quiet, graceful, measured — as always.
Chesla turned toward them, her expression triumphant, eyes gleaming like cut diamonds. "It's over," she said simply. "Valeria is gone. Drowned. Forgotten."
Marissa gasped. "Truly? Dead?"
Chesla gave a soft, delighted laugh. "Oh, yes. Poor little thing. She should've known her place from the start." She lifted a glass from the table, swirling the amber liquid lazily. "Now maybe Adrian will finally stop wasting his time on someone so… beneath him."
Marissa chuckled, covering her mouth. "You're terrible," she teased.
"Honest," Chesla corrected with a smirk. "Adrian deserves someone who understands power. Not a trembling little scholar with soft hands and softer feelings."
Her words dripped with cruelty, each syllable deliberate. "Valeria was a pretty distraction, nothing more. He'll see that soon enough."
Marissa laughed with her — loud, careless, shallow.
Chantel's lips, however, only lifted in a faint, poised smile. Her voice was light when she spoke. "You always get what you want, Chesla."
"Of course," Chesla replied smoothly, her eyes flashing with satisfaction. "It's only a matter of time before Adrian sees it too."
Chantel lowered her gaze politely, concealing the faint tremor beneath her calm. Inside, something twisted — a quiet, restrained ache that she buried beneath layers of poise. She didn't show it. She never did.
Her tone was soft when she finally replied. "Then congratulations," she said simply.
Chesla laughed, radiant and merciless. "Don't congratulate me yet. The game has just begun."
Chantel smiled, the corners of her lips delicate and unreadable.
Yes, she thought, it has.