The funeral was nearly over when the wind shifted.
A sleek black limo rolled to a stop on the edge of the cemetery, and from it stepped a woman who looked like she belonged to another world.
Raina Westbrook.
Heartless. Hollow. A ghost wrapped in skin.
She said nothing as she walked—no greetings, no glances, not even when the whispers began around her.
"Is that her?"
"She really came?"
"After everything?"
The world could burn, and Raina wouldn't flinch.
Her heels crushed the earth beneath her as she approached the grave. She didn't look at Lucien, didn't spare a glance at the twins, who stared at her like she was death itself. She didn't even blink when Lyra called out, voice sharp and venom-laced.
"Don't you dare step closer."
But Raina kept walking.
She stopped at the edge of the grave.
Eyes down. Face unreadable.
The stone read:
Selene Hartley-Ashbourne
Beloved wife, mother, and friend
1999 – 2034
Raina tilted her head, cold wind brushing through her black hair.
"So this is where you ended up," she murmured, voice dry like ash. "Lying in the dirt... while I'm still walking."
She knelt slowly, pressing two fingers to the cold grave. "It should've been me, right? That's what they all think. That I deserved to be the one buried."
Silence.
"You let them erase me, Selene. You let Chloe turn you against me… and now you're just gone."
Her voice cracked—but not from pain. From anger too old to bleed anymore.
"I begged you to see the truth. I would've died for you. I did die for you. And still…" Her lips curved bitterly. "You're the one lying in peace."
Behind her, Lyra's fists were clenched, and Rowan's eyes burned with hatred. Chloe stood stiffly, fake tears staining her cheeks.
But Raina didn't face them. Didn't care.
"I hope you're resting easy," she whispered. "Because I won't rest until I destroy the one who took you."
Lucien took a step forward then stopped. Something in her voice rooted him in place. The woman he remembered—the gentle, loyal soul—was gone. This was someone else.
Something colder. Sharper.
He had loved Selene.
But maybe... he never truly knew Raina.
Raina stood at the grave, silent.
Then her lips parted, voice low… but every word clear as glass.
"I don't know who did it…" she began, fingers brushing the grave like a final goodbye. "But I'll find them."
She looked up—eyes cold, hollow, unblinking. Her voice grew sharper with each word, slicing through the air like knives.
"When I do… I'll make them wish they died instead of her. I won't kill them quickly. No."
She turned, finally meeting their stares.
"I'll tear their world apart—limb by limb, secret by secret, until there's nothing left. Not even bones."
The silence was suffocating. Even the priest stopped chanting.
Chloe swallowed hard. Lyra's expression twisted, unsure whether to speak or run. Rowan stared, pale, shaken.
And Lucien… he didn't move at all.
Raina's voice dropped to a whisper—so soft, it crawled under skin.
"This isn't grief. This is vengeance dressed in black."
And with that, she walked to her limo without another word.
The door shut.
The engine roared.
And the woman they buried ten years ago drove off into the dark—very much alive, and very much ready to bury someone else.