Chapter 4

Alondra Stein POV:

The automatic doors of the hospital slid open, hissing like an angry serpent, releasing me into the cool night air. I leaned against a cold concrete pillar, gasping for breath, my body trembling uncontrollably. Where was I going? What was left? My car, a dark silhouette in the distant parking lot, felt miles away.

My vision blurred. Weeks, Alondra. At most. The doctor's words echoed in my mind, a cruel countdown. Had it been days since then? Hours? My sense of time was dissolving with my strength. Was this it? Was this the end, here in a hospital parking lot, abandoned by everyone I held dear?

A desperate, primal instinct took over. A single name surfaced in the chaos of my mind, a name I hadn't uttered in years, a lifeline I had foolishly cut. Ingrid.

My fingers, numb and clumsy, fumbled for my phone. The screen glowed, a harsh light in the dimness. I scrolled through my contacts, passed Hugo, past my parents, past Isabell, until I found it. Ingrid Wilkinson. My estranged best friend. The one person who had seen through Hugo, through Isabell, through my parents' facade, years ago. The one who had warned me. And the one I had pushed away for their sake.

I pressed the call button, my heart hammering against my ribs. It rang once. Twice. Then, a click.

"Alondra?" Ingrid's voice, sharp and clear, cut through the haze of my pain. "Is that really you?"

I couldn't speak. A sob choked in my throat.

"Alondra, what's wrong? You sound terrible. Speak to me!" Her voice was laced with a frantic urgency that was both terrifying and incredibly comforting.

"Ingrid," I managed, the word a ragged whisper. "I..."

Then, the world spun. My legs buckled. The phone slipped from my grasp, clattering onto the pavement. Darkness enveloped me, a merciful, velvet curtain.

I woke to the rhythmic hum of an aircraft engine and the feeling of soft fabric against my cheek. A familiar scent, crisp and clean, filled my nostrils. Ingrid.

"Alondra," a voice, thick with unshed tears, broke through the fog. "You idiot. You absolute, stubborn idiot."

I blinked, my eyes struggling to focus. Ingrid's face, usually composed and fierce, was a mask of worry, her eyes red-rimmed. She was sitting beside me, in what looked like the cabin of a private jet.

"Ingrid?" I rasped, my throat raw.

"Who else, you fool?" she choked out, then pulled me into a fierce hug. It was a bone-crushing embrace that somehow felt like the only anchor in my shattered world.

I remembered her warnings years ago. "Hugo is weak, Alondra. He's charming, but he takes the path of least resistance. And Isabell? She's a viper. Your parents are blind. They'll eat you alive." I had brushed her off, accused her of jealousy, of not understanding my family. That argument had created the rift, a chasm between us that widened further when she refused to attend my wedding to Hugo. "I can't witness you making such a mistake, Alondra. Not when I know what's coming." Her words had stung then. Now, they were a painful echo of truth.

I had needed to call her. Desperately. There was no one else left.

"Why didn't you tell me, Alondra?" she whispered, her voice cracking. "Why did you let them do this to you?" She pulled back, her hands cupping my face, her thumbs brushing away tears I hadn't realized were falling. "You're so thin. So pale. What have they done?"

"I'm dying, Ingrid," I said, the words finally tumbling out, a confession poured from my soul. "Cancer. Weeks, maybe."

Her eyes widened, bloodshot. A silent scream ripped across her face before she could compose herself. "No. No, you are not. Don' t you dare say that."

"They took everything, Ingrid," I continued, the dam finally breaking. "My company. My fortune. Everything to Isabell." I told her about the vow renewal, about Hugo and Jaret, about my parents' complicity, about the final, humiliating departure from the hospital.

Ingrid listened, her face growing harder with each word, her jaw clenched. When I finished, a terrifying stillness settled over her. Her eyes, usually sharp and analytical, now burned with a cold, righteous fury.

"They did what?" she hissed, her voice low and dangerous. "Hugo is renewing his vows with that leech? And your parents allowed it? They pressured you to sign away everything?" Her hands balled into fists. "They are going to pay for this. Every single tear you've shed, every ounce of pain they've inflicted, they will pay for it a thousand times over."

"It doesn't matter, Ingrid," I murmured, exhaustion washing over me again. "Just let me go. I just want to rest. To be at peace."

Ingrid grabbed my shoulders, her grip surprisingly strong. "No! You don't get to give up now, Alondra. Not after this. You are not dying. I won't let you. We're going to a private oncology center. The best. Cutting-edge. If anyone can give you a second chance, they can." Her voice was fierce, unyielding. "And then, after you're better, we're going to burn their world to the ground."

I felt a strange jolt, a flicker of something I hadn't felt in weeks. Hope? Or just the sheer force of Ingrid's will.

"It's too late," I said, but the conviction was weaker.

"It's never too late to fight, Alondra," she declared, her eyes blazing. "And it's never too late for justice. Now, you sleep. I've got you."

Before I could protest, she scooped me up, cradling me in her arms as if I weighed nothing. My frail body was no match for her strength. She carried me to a plush bed in the cabin, tucking me in gently.

The plane banked, a soft vibration running through me. I closed my eyes, a strange sense of peace settling over me. I was leaving. Truly leaving. No longer a ghost haunting my own life, but a broken woman with a fierce friend, flying towards an unknown future.

My family, I knew, would be celebrating. They would be toasting Isabell's "recovery," their new wealth, their perfect, compliant family unit. They would think I had simply vanished, a minor inconvenience, perhaps even a cowardly escape. They would think they had won.

But I imagined Ingrid, her eyes burning with a promise of retribution. Their peace was a fragile thing, built on lies and betrayal. And soon, very soon, it would shatter. This was not an end. It was the calm before a storm they could never have imagined.