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⚠️ Content Warning:
Contains themes of depression, personal investigation, and emotional collapse.
Please take care while reading.
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A year passed.
Seasons changed, the world moved forward… but Liv didn't.
The once vibrant co-founder of a rising empire had become a shadow of herself. Her eyes, once sharp with ambition, now stared blankly at walls. Her voice, once commanding, barely rose above a whisper.
Nia's absence gnawed at her like an endless hunger.
She slept in Nia's bed. Wore her perfume. Ate nothing for days.
Her company slowly distanced itself. Friends stopped calling. The world… forgot.
But one person didn't.
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The Spark
One late afternoon, as gray light filtered through the living room curtains, her eldest brother, Rayan, stopped by. Not to comfort—but to confront.
"You think hiding here will bring her back?" he asked coldly.
Liv didn't look at him.
"She's gone, Liv. But if you loved her half as much as you claim… you'd fight for the truth."
He didn't stay for her reaction.
He didn't have to.
Because those words lit something inside her—a flicker of purpose in the ashes of her grief.
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The Search Begins
Six months later, after piecing together records, backtracking contacts, and paying bribes, Liv found the lead she needed.
A whisper of a name. A rural hospital in a countryside town.
The nurse who had disappeared the night Nia died… had resurfaced.
Liv packed her bags and left the city under the radar.
She didn't tell Zavian.
She didn't tell Rayan.
She didn't even say goodbye to the grave.
She was chasing the truth—and this time, nothing would stop her.
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Two Weeks in the Wild
The countryside was nothing like the city—quiet, slow, too full of space.
Liv went door to door. She checked old records. Followed dead ends.
Until her strength gave out.
One evening, dehydrated, exhausted, and half-delirious, she collapsed in a small park behind a nursing home.
Children were playing nearby.
That's when a small girl approached her.
She didn't say a word. Just stood there. Wide-eyed. Holding Liv's hand as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Liv blinked through the haze and caught a blurry image:
> A small face.
Dark, familiar eyes.
A strange warmth.
And something… familiar.
Then everything went black.
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The Awakening
She woke hours later in a modest room inside the nursing home.
No one knew who brought her in. The staff found her at the entrance.
No witnesses. No name. No child.
But as she tried to recall the girl's face, it clung to her mind like a dream she couldn't quite wake from.
That face.
So familiar.
So haunting.
> Who was she?
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The Truth
The nurse was there.
Older, thinner, and visibly haunted by guilt.
At first, she tried to deny everything.
But when Liv slammed Nia's death certificate on the table—with the falsified medication entry circled—she crumbled.
> "I didn't mean to," she whispered, eyes brimming with tears. "I just wanted to survive. Zavian… Kavian… they said if I kept quiet, I'd be protected. I was terrified. But I never thought… I didn't know they'd kill her!"
> "They didn't just kill her,"
Liv said, voice trembling. "They buried the only person who ever loved me."
The nurse opened an old file from her drawer—evidence she'd kept hidden all this time out of guilt.
Dosage logs. Time-stamped threats from Zavian. Kavian's forged approval for the sedative overdose.
It all added up.
Liv finally had the truth.
But the truth alone wasn't enough. She needed proof—undeniable, court-worthy evidence.
> I'll expose them. Even if it means destroying my own family.
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A Lingering Mystery
Before leaving the nursing home, Liv asked the staff about the girl who found her.
They had no idea who she was.
No child had been seen around the time she arrived.
Liv stood by the window that evening, watching the sunset over the village hills.
She closed her eyes.
And for a brief moment… she felt a small hand wrap around hers.
Not physically. Not quite.
But something more.
> Was it her…?
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[End of Chapter 7]
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> Stories can stir deep feelings. If this one did, know your emotions are valid and seen.