CHAPTER 104: SOMEONE’S WATCHING

Aiden stumbled back a step, as if hit by a wave of nausea. "W-What... is this?" he croaked, throat dry. "How...?"

Marjorie tilted her head, lips curling into a bitter smile. "How am I alive?" she echoed, voice cutting through the silence like a blade. "You thought you could kill me and walk away clean. But you forgot one thing, I don’t die easy."

His eyes scanned the room in a frantic haze, as if the walls themselves might offer an explanation, some clue that would prove this wasn’t real.

"Where... where’s Merlina?" he asked, voice barely steady, the fear creeping in.

Marjorie’s smile twisted into something cruel. "She was never the one texting you, you idiot. That was me." She stepped forward. "Merlina doesn’t even know you landed, yet."

The lie rolled off her tongue effortlessly, deliberate, practiced. She needed him calm. Comfortable. Just long enough to lower his guard... and show his true colors.

Aiden shook his head. "No... This isn’t real." He turned, storming toward the door. Yanked the handle.

Locked.

He pulled harder, then slammed his palm against it. "Open!" he shouted to no one.

"You can’t run from this, Aiden," Marjorie said from behind him, her voice low and dripping with venom. "Your time’s up."

He froze.

Slowly, he turned to face her.

"No..." he muttered, his voice rough, unsteady. His chest rose and fell like he was gasping for air he couldn’t find. "No, this—"

He took a step toward her, then another, staggering, like he couldn’t decide if he was about to lash out or collapse.

"You—" he pointed at her, shaking his head. "You can’t be alive. I watched you die. I saw it happen."

His voice cracked on the last word, but he clenched his jaw tight, trying to hold onto whatever pieces of control he still had.

This?

This was impossible.

"No." Her tone hardened. "You made it happen."

Aiden turned slowly, face ashen.

"You were cheating on me with my goddaughter," she continued, stepping forward like a prosecutor delivering her final blow. "You came to Belford. We argued. I told you I wanted a divorce."

"Stop," he muttered, shaking his head. "You’re not real. You’re not—"

"I told you I had proof of your dirty dealings, your money laundering, the offshore accounts, the fake companies. I said I’d expose you. And you panicked. You pushed me from the top of science wing and left me there to die." Her eyes locked with his. "Admit it, you coward!"

"You bitch!" he exploded, voice cracking. "You were having an affair with a student!"

"Lies!" she screamed, voice raw now. "It was a stupid video sent by a silly kid. And you—" she jabbed a finger toward him, "You bought it."

"I saw it..." Aiden’s voice crumbled. "With my own eyes, you kissed him!"

"And that’s enough to kill me?" she spat. "Answer me, you sick son of a bitch!"

Aiden had no answer. He was too shook, he looked like a man on the brink of shattering, staring at a past he’d convinced himself didn’t exist.

"You’re not getting away with it this time," Marjorie spat, eyes blazing. "Me standing here is all the proof the world needs. You pushed me. You tried to kill me. And now you’re going to rot for it."

Aiden’s jaw clenched. A vein pulsed violently at his temple, his face flushing a deep, dangerous red. His fists curled at his sides, like he was seconds away from snapping.

Marjorie stepped closer, her voice rising with every word. "There are cameras in this room, Aiden. Every word you say is being recorded. I’ve got everything I need to bury you. And the world is finally gonna know you for what you truly are. A murderer. A cheat. A fraud."

That last part hadn’t been in the plan. Marjorie was supposed to keep her cool, stick to the script.

But standing there, face-to-face with the man who tried to erase her, something cracked. The venom had been waiting too long. Seeing him, seeing that he was still breathing, still free, made her snap.

She didn’t care anymore. She wanted him ruined. And she wanted him to feel it. "I’m going to watch you go down for all of it. Slowly. Publicly. You’re going to die in prison, and for once, it’ll be something you actually deserve."

Aiden stared at her, trembling with a rage that had finally broken through his mask. His breath came fast and hard. His eyes, now wild and glassy, locked onto hers with something between fury and disbelief.

Without thinking, he lunged forward.

His hands clamped around Marjorie’s throat with terrifying speed, and he drove her backward, slamming her into the wall.

Dust exploded from the cracked plaster as she hit it hard. Marjorie choked, clawing at his arms, her feet kicking off the floor.

"Die, you bitch!" Aiden shouted, face red, veins bulging, his entire body trembling with rage.

And still, Marjorie smiled.

She didn’t fight like someone desperate to survive. She didn’t beg. Her eyes locked on the tiny red light blinking in the corner of the room. The hidden camera.

She had him.

"Dad!!!"

The scream cut through the chaos like a thunderclap.

Aiden froze. His grip loosened. His body went rigid as he turned toward the sound.

Merlina stood at the entrance to the room, eyes wide with horror, tears streaming silently down her cheeks. Her face was pale, her mouth trembling. She looked like a child staring at a monster she no longer recognized.

Aiden let go of Marjorie, who collapsed to the ground coughing, and stepped back like he’d just realized what he was doing.

His eyes locked on his daughter’s, full of shame, disbelief, and something worse, guilt.

"Merlina..." he whispered, broken.

But it was too late. She had seen everything.

Her voice trembled through her sobs. "What are you doing?"

Aiden looked down at his hands like he didn’t recognize them, shaking, red, guilty. He stepped forward. "I... I didn’t..."

"Just surrender, Dad." Her voice cracked. "Please. Just—"

He reached out toward her, desperation in his eyes. "Merlina, you don’t understand."

She stepped back instantly, as though his touch might burn. "I heard everything," she said, voice rising. "All of it."

"No sweetheart, it’s not what you think..."

"You pushed her!" Merlina cried, pointing at Marjorie’s shaking form on the floor. "You killed her. You left her for dead. You looked us in the eye and lied. You told us it was an accident," her voice broke, raw now, "You pushed Mom!"

Aiden fell silent, like he might shatter right there. He dropped to his knees, in front of his daughter, as if begging for forgiveness he knew he didn’t deserve.

Just then sirens buzzed, growing louder, the sharp, piercing cry of police vehicles sliced through the tension like a blade. Blue and red lights flashed through the window, painting the room in judgment.

And in what felt like seconds, boots thundered up the steps. The front door crashed open.

"Aiden Sanchez!" a voice barked from behind them. "You are under arrest for the attempted murder of Marjorie Sanchez! Hands where we can see them!"

The cuffs clicked around Aiden’s wrists as he was dragged to his feet. He didn’t resist, but his gaze stayed on Merlina the entire time, searching her face for something, mercy, maybe. But she wasn’t his daughter in that moment.

She was the witness.

And he was the criminal.

"Come on," one officer barked, yanking Aiden toward the door. Another gently guided Marjorie up from the floor, murmuring about ambulances and statements.

Merlina stayed frozen, her breathing shallow, her fingers clenched so tight her nails cut into her palms.

Craig appeared at her side in seconds. She didn’t know where he came from, only that when his arms wrapped around her, she let it all out.

She buried her face in his chest as the sobs came fast and heaving, her body trembling with the weight of what she had just seen, what she had just heard.

Her father.

Her mother.

Everything she thought she knew about her family, had come roaring back, uglier and louder than ever.

Craig held her tighter, one hand cradling the back of her head, the other shielding her like he could physically protect her from the trauma now bleeding out of her all at once.

"I’ve got you," he murmured into her hair, his voice breaking.

She cried like a child. Not for her father. Not even for her mother. She cried for herself. For the girl who had spent so much time trying to make sense of a lie.

Chaos spun quickly after that.

While Aiden was being shoved into the back of a police cruiser and Marjorie guided gently into an ambulance, the rest of the world began to catch up.

Keith was the first to be hauled in for questioning. His name had come up during the interrogation, and though his role was unclear, he was too close to the center of everything to be left alone.

Phoebe had been with him in his apartment when it happened. She’d seen him taken, looking stunned but weirdly silent.

Her voice had cracked when she called Megan, panic rising in her throat. Megan, got the details out of her in minutes and immediately passed them on to Louis.

It didn’t take long before all three of them were in the car, speeding toward the police station, too many questions and not enough answers between them.

By then, the story had already started to spread.

The Professor who had allegedly fallen and died mysteriously on campus, was not only breathing, but walking, talking, and pressing charges.

It hit Belford like a bomb.

Text threads ignited. Group chats flared. Whispers became headlines, passed in group meetings and dorm rooms with the kind of giddy, terrified urgency only a campus scandal could bring.

Marjorie Sanchez is alive.

The science wing incident wasn’t an accident.

Her husband pushed her.

Outside the station parking lot, Merlina leaned into Craig’s chest like she was barely standing. Her body shook with every breath, grief and shock rolling off her in waves.

Craig held her close, one arm firm around her waist, the other gently wiping the tears from her cheeks.

They were completely unaware of the chaos unraveling across campus, how the news had already broken through lecture halls and group chats like a live wire. Names were being dropped. Theories spun. Everyone had an opinion, and no one had the full truth.

But here, in the quiet hush of the parking lot, none of that reached them. Here, it was just the two of them, grief-stricken, raw, and clinging to the only thing that still felt solid.

"You’re okay," Craig whispered. "It’s over. You’re okay."

Merlina’s eyes were red, voice hoarse. "I thought I’d feel relief," she whispered, "but it just hurts."

He kissed her forehead. Then her temple. Then her cheek, soft and slow, like he was trying to kiss every part of her pain away.

Merlina looked up at him, tenderly, like she was seeing him clearly for the first time. Her voice trembled. "I wouldn’t have been able to do this without you."

Craig didn’t say anything right away. He didn’t need to. His hand cupped the side of her face, thumb brushing beneath her eye where another tear had fallen.

And just like instinct, their lips met, not desperate, not planned, but inevitable. A kiss born of pain and something deeper. Because there’d been too much grief, too much coldness, and they both needed to feel something different, something that didn’t hurt.

Eventually, they drew back just enough, foreheads still resting together, breaths mingling in the cold air. Craig’s hand remained firm on her waist, the other brushing another tear from her cheek before pressing tender kisses there.

And that was when Merlina felt it. A presence. A prickle across her skin. The unmistakable weight of being watched.

She turned.

Still in Craig’s arms, still tangled in that stolen moment—and then she saw them.

Phoebe. Megan. Louis.

Frozen a few paces away, staring straight at them.

Disbelief. Disgust. Hurt.

All of it, all at once, carved into their faces like something raw and breaking open. Megan’s lips parted. Louis looked gutted. Phoebe looked like a mirror that had just cracked down the middle.

They had seen everything.

And it wasn’t over, they were still seeing it.

Merlina’s heart dropped. Her entire body jolted. She tore herself from Craig’s embrace like his touch had scorched her. "Oh my God,"