Chapter 8 When Truth Became a Weapon

Nadia never meant to uncover anything.

It started as curiosity.

She had always been observant the kind of person who noticed small changes in behaviour, shifts in tone, pauses in conversation. Since Bath, Sophie had been acting strange.

Too attentive to Lucas.

Too invested in Maya's relationship.

Too emotional whenever Lucas entered a room.

At first, Nadia thought Sophie was just being protective of her brother's ex girlfriend

But then she noticed the way Sophie watched Lucas.

Not casually.

Not warmly.

Possessively.

One afternoon, while Sophie was in the shower, Nadia's phone died. She reached for Sophie's charger on the bedside table.

Sophie's phone lit up instead.

A notification popped up.

Paris Medical Clinic – Follow-up Appointment Confirmation.

Nadia froze.

Paris?

Sophie had never mentioned travelling to Paris recently.

Her curiosity sharpened.

She didn't intend to snoop.

But something felt wrong.

She unlocked Sophie's phone using the pass code Sophie had casually shared weeks earlier.

What she found made her sit down.

Clinic emails.

Old hospital documents.

Voice notes.

Her hands trembled as she opened one.

Sophie's voice filled the room.

"I lost his baby. He doesn't know. He can never know. If he finds out, he'll hate me."

Nadia's stomach dropped.

She scrolled further.

Messages to a Paris doctor.

Dates.

Procedures.

She pieced it together slowly.

Sophie had been pregnant years ago.

Lucas's baby.

She had terminated it without telling him.

And she had been emotionally attached to him ever since.

Nadia leaned back against the wall.

This wasn't just a secret.

This was an obsession.

And Maya was standing directly in the middle of it.

The Confrontation

That evening, Nadia asked Sophie to meet her privately in the stairwell of their apartment building.

Sophie arrived smiling.

"What's up?"

Nadia held up the phone.

Sophie's face drained of colour.

"You went through my phone?"

"That doesn't matter," Nadia said quietly. "You lied. You were pregnant. Lucas's baby."

Sophie's lips trembled.

"That was years ago."

"You aborted his child," Nadia continued. "And you never told him."

Sophie stepped backwards.

"You don't understand"

"And now Maya is with him," Nadia said. "That's why you hate her."

Tears streamed down Sophie's face.

"Please," Sophie whispered. "Don't tell him."

Nadia shook her head.

"You killed a part of him by hiding that. Maya deserves the truth. Lucas deserves the truth."

Sophie fell to her knees.

"I'll lose him."

"You never had him."

Those words broke something.

Sophie stood up slowly.

Her eyes were empty now.

"You don't get to destroy my life."

"I'm not destroying anything," Nadia said. "Your lies already did."

Sophie lunged.

It wasn't planned.

It wasn't calculated.

Her hands pushed forward.

Nadia stumbled backwards.

There was a scream.

Then silence.

Nadia's body hit the lower stair landing.

Her neck bent at an unnatural angle.

She didn't move again.

Maya arrived minutes later.

She had come to find Nadia.

She heard voices earlier.

She stepped into the stairwell and froze.

Nadia lay motionless.

Blood pooled beneath her head.

Maya dropped to her knees.

"Nadia..."

Her hands shook as she touched her friend's shoulder.

No response.

Behind her, Sophie began screaming.

"Maya, what did you do?!"

Maya turned.

"What?"

Lucas arrived seconds later.

He saw:

Maya kneeling beside Nadia

Sophie crying hysterically

Blood on the stairs

He ran to Sophie.

She collapsed into his arms.

"She pushed her," Sophie sobbed. "They were arguing. Maya lost control."

Maya stood slowly.

"No Lucas I just got here"

Police sirens wailed in the distance.

Witnesses gathered.

CCTV later showed Maya entering the stairwell.

The rest was missing.

Nadia's phone had been wiped.

A draft message remained:

What you did today wasn't okay.

Lucas couldn't look at Maya.

Maya couldn't speak.

She was arrested.

Lucas held Sophie.

After

Maya sat in a cell that night, staring at the wall.

Lucas didn't come.

Sophie slept beside him.

And the truth died with Nadia.