Chapter 4

When I woke up, the rhythmic beeping of hospital monitors filled the air.

I moved my heavy eyelids toward the wall clock.

Six hours left.

Sitting beside my bed, her eyes swollen and bloodshot, was my childhood best friend, Jane.

Five years ago, Jane had begged me on her knees not to marry Ethan. She told me he was a spineless, calculating parasite who would ruin me. I had refused to listen. We had a catastrophic falling out, and she didn't even attend my wedding.

I knew I had no right to drag her into my mess.

Yet in this vast, cruel world, she was the only person I had left.

"What the hell happened to you?!" Jane choked back a sob, gripping the bed rails. "Weren't you supposedly living your fairytale life with Ethan? The happy little family of three?! Why the fuck are your organs shutting down?! Why did the doctor say you're dying?!"

An oxygen mask covered my face. I looked at her, offering a weak, trembling smile.

When we were little girls, we made a pact: if one of us ever reached the end of the line, the other would handle everything that followed.

I couldn't speak anymore. With the last ounce of strength in my trembling arm, I pointed toward my leather tote bag on the chair.

Jane reached inside and pulled out several sealed legal files.

She skimmed through the documents. Tears cascaded down her cheeks as she nodded firmly and tucked them into her briefcase.

Our unspoken bond hadn't faded after all these years. One glance, and she understood every single plan I had laid out.

Three hours left.

I signed the DNR form, refusing any invasive resuscitation.

After another round of comatose darkness, I opened my eyes again.

Jane held her phone in front of my face. It was a message from Serena:

【Cora, I won! Everything you owned belongs to me now.】

【Did you really think you could compete with me? Blame your own pathetic uselessness. Your parents love me more, after all.】

【Just leave the Foster family quietly. Don't worry, I'll take wonderful care of your parents, your husband, and your precious little daughter for you~】

Reading it, Jane broke down, cursing violently through her tears.

I let out a silent, self-mocking sigh beneath the mask.

In this life, I regretted nothing—except begging my father to sponsor Serena ten years ago.

I had found Serena in a dilapidated suburban orphanage during a winter charity drive.

Snow was falling heavily that day. All the other children were huddled around the radiator indoors, but Serena was digging through a dumpster behind the kitchen, gnawing on discarded chicken bones.

My heart broke for her. I cried and begged my father to sponsor her schooling.

We became inseparable best friends. A year later, she transferred into my private prep school.

She was charming, delicate, and brilliant. She instantly won over every teacher and classmate. Whenever people praised her, I beamed with genuine pride.

Until everything started rotting from the inside out.

One by one, my friends began icing me out, making Serena their queen bee.

The boys who once wrote me love letters turned cold, publicly declaring their devotion to Serena.

Even my parents began inviting Serena over every weekend, eventually giving her my guest room, and later, half of my own bedroom.

I was too naive, too emotionally numb back then.

I never realized that Serena's greatest talent was stealing everything that belonged to me while wearing the mask of an innocent victim.

By the time I woke up from the illusion:

My bedroom was hers.

My parents were hers.

My life was hers.

I had once confronted Serena in private, demanding to know why she hated me so much. Her chilling answer still echoed in my nightmares:

"Cora, did you honestly think I'd be grateful for your charity? I loathed the way you looked down on me with pity! I swore I would rip away every single thing you loved. I just want to see the look of absolute despair on your face when you have nothing left."

...

I once believed I could kick her out. I believed the truth would wake Ethan and my parents from their trance.

How arrogant I was.

I underestimated Serena's psychopathic cunning, and I vastly overestimated the microscopic amount of love my family had for me.

I lost. Completely and utterly.

Nine minutes left.

My mind drifted into an endless fog. My vision blurred into gray static.

On the screen Jane held up, one last text notification popped up from Eleanor:

【Cora, hire painters to repaint your townhouse master suite pink this week. Serena loves blush pink.】

【Also, she's getting discharged in two weeks. Move your clothes and personal junk out into storage. Serena needs the closet space!】

Until my very last breath, my mother's mind was consumed solely by Serena.

I truly meant nothing to them.

Whatever... let it go.

Jane was screaming my name, weeping hysterically against my chest, but the sound was already miles away.

After fighting for so long, I was finally, truly exhausted.

I could finally sleep.

On November 24th, Cora Foster passed away in a quiet coastal hospital, at the age of twenty-nine.