KESTER
Her eyes darted from the screen to Jorja, to Dad, to me. Searching for a reaction or for someone to tell her this was all just a bad dream.
No one said a word.
Not even Jorja – Queen of Constant Commentary. She stood frozen, one manicured hand on her chest, the other under her chin as she watched the show.
“Here.” She said, regaining some boldness. “You can check my phone. I never sent such a text to anyone.” She handed the phone over to Lance, who navigated through her text messaging app. After a few seconds, he flashed the
screen in her direction, and I swear, her eyes almost fell out of their sockets.
The text
text messages were there on her phone. The dates showed that she had sent the text just two days ago.
“No. No.” She shook her head, “There is… There is a mix–up here. I can’t recall doing any of these… No.” She was trembling, taking slow steps backward. “Someone must’ve drugged me or set me up or something. This isn’t- this isn’t fair.”
Fair?
I almost laughed.
She looked pathetic.
But the thing that sealed it? She turned to our father, her eyes wide and arms outstretched like a child begging for protection.
“Dad, tell them. Tell them I wouldn’t do this. I don’t even go out that much. You know me.”
He didn’t move.
He didn’t even blink.
He just stared at her like she was some stranger who’d wandered into his home and started wrecking furniture.
Perfect.
I stepped forward.
“You’re right about one thing, Karina.”
She looked at me like I’d just thrown her
life vest.
“This is unfair. To the people who trusted you. To the name you dragged through the dirt. And to the people who had to clean up your mess every damn time you lost control” I said in a flat, casual, and calm tone.
It hit her
I watched it click behind her eyes.
“It’s you,” Karina hissed, jabbing a finger at me, “It’s you! You’re behind all this!”
I didn’t blink
She pointed harder, the vein in her neck pulsing “You think I don’t know? You think I didn’t see this coming the moment I warhed you? You’re doing this to me because I said I’d expose you. You and Kasmine!”
+25 BONUS
Chapter
Jorja’s head snapped to me so fast that her bun almost came undone. Dad just stared. Even Lance shifted slightly, just enough to tell me he wasn’t expecting that.
I stood still, a slow sinirk curling up the corner of my mouth.
“That’s cute,” I said, calm as hell. “Now, what exactly are you talking about?”
Karina’s eyes were wild and glassy. “Don’t play dumb, Kester! You and Kasmine–your little secret affair. I have proof! I have pictures. Videos! You really think I didn’t keep receipts in case something like this happened?” Everyone’s attention was on her now.
“Fine,” she snapped, pulling out her phone with jerky hands. “Fine. You want proof? You want the truth? Watch.” We all watched. The silence wasn’t just tense–it was choking. You could hear her heartbeat through her nails as she scrolled furiously.
She opened her gallery. Her fingers flicked down. Again. Again.
Nothing.
Scroll. Scroll. Panic.
Her breathing got heavier and more erratic.
“They were here. I swear–they were here.”
She swiped again. Opened her messages. Her emails. Nothing.
She laughed once–this dry, humorless wheeze–then looked up. “Hold on. Just hold on. I backed everything up. I’ll get my laptop.”
She darted out of the room before anyone could respond, disappearing down the hallway. Her bedroom door slammed shut.
Dad didn’t speak. Neither did Jorja. We all stood there like statues, listening
A few long seconds passed.
Then she came back.
Sweat slicked her forehead. Her hair clung to her temples. The laptop in her hands looked like it weighed a thousand tons.
She placed it down on the coffee table, opened it with shaky fingers, and started searching. Her lips moved as she whispered to herself. “It’s here. I know it’s here. Please… come on, come on…
She searched. And searched.
Then stopped.
“No.. no,” she whispered.
Nothing.
She turned the laptop toward Jorja and Dad, her fingers trembling against the touchpad. “It was here. I swear. I had the folder. I labeled it… everything. They were real. They were-”
“Karina,” Dad’s voice filtered through her hysteria.
She froze.
Chapter 14
+25 BONUS
“If what you’re saying is true, then the best way to prove your innocence,” he paused, “is to take the test.”
I saw the split second it took her to process that. The conflict flashed in her eyes like a siren: fight or surrender.
Then, she straightened.
“Fine,” she said quickly. “Good. Do it. I’m clean.”
Lance didn’t need to be told twice. He gave a subtle signal to one of the men behind him, who stepped forward with a sealed test kit.
Karina followed them to the side hallway, where they could draw the sample in private.
It only took fifteen minutes before Karina came back into the room, standing beside Lance, who now held a printed sheet.
He handed the paper over to Dad, who opened it without hesitation. His face crumpled.
Karina didn’t wait. “Well? What does it say?”
“Your blood sample shows an extremely elevated presence of methamphetamine, along with traces of fentanyl and MDMA. The concentration levels suggest use within the past forty–eight hours. Possibly within the last twenty -four.”
Dead silence.
Then Karina started shaking her head slowly. “No. No. That’s impossible. I didn’t-” Her knees buckled slightly, and she caught herself against the arm of the couch. “That’s not possible. I didn’t take anything”
“You did,” I said simply.
“No,” she whimpered, blinking like she was trying to unsee the room. “No, someone drugged me. You don’t understand. Someone must’ve…”
But no one was bui
buying it.
Not after the photos.
Not after the texts.
Not after the fact that her big bomb–her ‘proof–had disappeared like it never existed.
She finally looked at me again. And in that moment, I saw something unravel inside her. It wasn’t rage. Not even shame.
It was a cold realization.
She realized that not only had I planned this, but I’d already erased the battlefield before she even knew there was
She realized she’d brought a knife to a gunfight–and the blade was made of paper.
And me?
I just looked back at her with that same calmn smile she had given me eleven years ago, the kind that said: You did this to yourself. I just made sure everyone saw it.
Quiet, broken sobs broke out of her, the kind you try heard.
y to muttle because even you
your shame is too ashamed to be
Chapter 14r
+25 BONUS
“Take her,” Dad said, putting a seal on her fate.
And finally, her karma came, not by nature, but by a force known as Kester Hamilton. And I’ve put everything in place to make sure she doesn’t leave rehab in a hurry.
