Masuk“ I thought you knew, it is all over the news.” With her breath shaking, she quickly dropped the phone from her ear and checked her recent notifications. Sweat trickled down her temple as her eyes caught a headline on her phone. BREAKING NEWS: Billionaire CEO Grayson Beaumont is involved in a serious highway collision. “ No—No.” Her fingers trembled as she tapped the notification. The news report loaded almost instantly. “ Tessa?” Mrs. Cole called, but she leaned over to check when a shaky video began playing. Clearly captured by another driver. A sleek black luxury car spun violently across the rain-slick road after a speeding truck rammed into its side. The car flipped. Once. Twice. Three times. Metal screeching, glass exploding, crashing violently into the highway barrier with a deafening impact before smoke billowed from the wreckage. Blood drained from Tessa's face. Her breathing stopped. Mrs. Cole covered her mouth with both hands as she gasped in horror. The ph
That fear, that same crushing fear she'd felt years ago. It wasn't the accident. It wasn't the screams, nor was it the blood. It was this feeling. This same panic and fear that had pushed everything away—now froze her body. Her head went fuzzy as it all came crashing back. The iron. His screams. The blood. The dog. Grayson Every forgotten memory came crashing back at once. She remembered. Everything.. Her knees gave way, and her body hit the ground with a muffled thud. The world around her faded into a distant blur. She couldn't hear the sighs of relief and giggles coming from the people around cause the vehicle had hit the brakes on time and didn't hit the kid. All Tessa could hear were the echoes trapped inside her head. “ Tess.” She remembered his voice clearly, how he always called her name and tears dropped down her cheeks. The boy who was always standing by the window. The one she always meet under this tree, with bruises on his arms, yet smili
Tessa wasn't nervous, at least not until she arrived at the estate. Some parts of the area still felt familiar, but some looked new like some areas had been reconstructed. She got out of the car, stared around with her chest racing. ‘ What if this is a waste of time. What if I don't remember anything, or what if…’ Her breath stuttered, as if she were afraid, afraid of what she'd find. Afraid the truth might hurt more than she thinks. Just then, she heard loud giggles, the laughter of kids coming from the playing ground. “ Kids still come here?” She murmured, a tiny smile nudging at her lips. She walked towards the area and it was just like she remembered. She saw multiple children running here and there, laughing and playing and giving no care about the world. It looks beautiful. But then..her face dropped slowly. She only remembered a little part of her moments here; the majority of her moments in this playing ground were gone. “ Excuse me, who are you?” An
| POLICE STATION | A tall muscular officer rushed towards his department, panting slightly with his face twisted in impatience. “ Sir,” he called for his boss the moment he entered. “ What's it?” “ You're right.” He confirmed, standing by his desk, nodding. “ The Beaumont family is indeed hiding something.” “ Did you find something?” The officer straightened in his chair. “ No, but Nick has been arrested this morning, trying to flee the country.” “ Nick?” “ Yes, Mr. Blake's driver.” “ What?!” “ He was caught along with the criminals we were chasing trying to illegally flee the country.” The officer scoffed, “Interesting. Does anyone know about this?” “ No yet, sir.” “ Okay, make sure the Beaumont does not find out, until we have more concrete evidence that they have something to do with Mr. Hudson's death. For now, Grayson is strongly protecting the family, we can't make any rash moves.” “ Understood sir!” “ Take Nick to the interrogation room, he's our first suspec
Tessa’s heart slammed to her stomach, her head snapped back to Ciara. ‘ She brought divorce papers? Since when? Since when has she been planning to kick me out? Her face furrowed in confusion. Grayson stared at the document for a long moment. Then… a quiet snicker escaped him. The corner of his lips curved, not out of anger or disbelief, but in amusement. Slowly, he lifted his eyes to Ciara. "It's quite fascinating..." he murmured, almost thoughtfully. "...that you actually think you get to decide this." Ciara's expression darkened. "I am your mother.” "And?" The single word hit harder than a slap. Tessa looked from Grayson to his mother, the tension felt too thick it was almost suffocating. "You'll sign those papers today." Ciara pointed at the document. "That woman has done enough damage to this family." Grayson lowered his gaze to the divorce papers once more. A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips. Then he looked back at Ciara, and without breaking eye cont
Tessa and Grayson stepped outside the police station after Tyler got arrested. The moment they were out, the evening air hit Tessa’s face. It should have felt freeing, but instead, it felt heavy. Every step towards the parking lot felt unreal, as though she'd left a piece of herself inside that police station. The same Tyler she'd trusted for years… The same Tyler she'd defended countless times… The same Tyler she'd loved for twelve years… Was infact this horrible. Spying on her. Lying against his brother. Manipulating everyone and telling lies over and over again with the most innocent face ever. Chills washed over her skin at the thought, her stomach churned that she stopped walking. Grayson noticed immediately and stopped mid-step, he turned to her. "Tess?" She stared blankly at the ground. "I keep replaying everything." Her voice was barely above a whisper. "I called you a monster because of him." She laughed bitterly, though tears were alrea
“ Wait, before you ask your question, I need you to help me with some things.” Laura interrupted, turning around to attend to some other things. “ Sure, mum.” Tessa nodded, carrying the vase for her. “ We need to get everything into place, I have important people coming.” “ Who?” “ My i
| THE FOLLOWING DAY: BLAKE'S MANSION | Her mind was occupied, her heart was racing and tightening at the same time. Things have spiralled out of control within a night that she let herself feel alive again. Ciara sighed heavily again. The cup of coffee in her hand was slowly turning cold witho
( 16 YEARS AGO: FLASHBACK )At the far end of the playground, hidden beneath the wide canopy of a large tree, Grayson sat with his head bent over his mathematics textbook, carefully tucked away where no one would easily notice him.His pen kept dancing diligently over
‘ What's he saying? Why would he be affected by what he did? She eyed him in her mind. ‘ Get yourself together!’ she then yelled at herself inwardly, upset at how nervous she suddenly is, stumbling on her own words even after she has practiced what to say a million times. But with his gaze on h







