NOT IN MY NEXT LIFE

CHAPTER FIVE:REBIRTH IN SILENCE

Zaria stood before the mirror in the guest bathroomof the estate her hands pressed against the cool porclein sink. Her reflectionwas barely familiar, darkcircles hollowed her once lively eyes and her cheeks bore teh aple echo of someone who had weathered far too many storms in silence. she no longer recognized the woman who smiled politelybthough betrayal,who endured the loneliness of a marriage that was never truly hers. That woman was gone within her.

The family's estate still eched with the murmurs of last nights's gathering, where the announcement had been made. celestine glowing and poised in a pale blue dress that hugged her bew pregnancy had stood beside Darian, her hand placed delicately over her belly as he offered a proud smile to his family. Zaria had watched from accross the room her prescence a cruel after thought not even acknowledged.

Not one person had thought to tell her.

It wasn't just the humiliation of being the ast to know. It was the cruel symmetry of it. Zaria had once caried Darian's child too., but that had ended in a hospital room filled withe steriesilence ,her womb empty and her hope shattered. A baby lost and with it her ability to concieve again.Darian, he hadn't even shown up. He had been in Paris with Celestine.

She hadn't told anyone. Not even when her world fell apart, but silence had not protected her. It had only given her enemies space to build their empires over the ruins of her pain.

Zaria closed her eyes.

"No more."

That morning , she contracted a private investigator. Not one of the usual discreet, well dressed agents her family's circle trusted. This one was gritted, sharp, and known fo digging into dirty secrets and exposing what no one dared to say aloud.

"i want everything you can find Celestine Halt(Mbau) ,"she said. "Everything."

The woman raised an eyebrow on the video call. "Including medical records, associates and travels?"

"Especially that, and check paternity clinics . Any recent activities."

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Zaria stood and walked to the old study where her father once kept records of everything. he had taken it over in the years since, filing shelves with her own files, backup , security footage and legal documents. She retrieved a small , sleek black flash drive hidden behind a false panel in the bookshelf.

it held her arsenal.

Bank transfer between Darian and Celestine. She will companies tied to her names, proof of stock manipulation that decimated her family's legacy business. A private recordinng of Celestine visiting a man in paris who, unbeknownst to the world, was her real lover, the father of her unborn child.

All of this had come from her investigator.

She found her in a quiet, smoky bar on the outskirts of thecity. a woman named Elka. Sharp eyes,no nonsense , former military intellience and now beneath layers of obscurity, she took on clients that the world never knew about. Zaria had paid in cash, no paper trail and Elka didn't ask questions. She brouht results. and what results she brought.

Celestines real name. Margaret Celia Ntale. Born in a slum on the outskirts of Atlanta. Mother in an asylum. Criminal record hiddeb under an alias. zaria descovered that the money celestine flaunted was not from any legitimate source. She had been funneling funds through multiple fake businesses, all linked back to one powerful investor, Darian.

Elka also unearthed disturbing connections. Darian had done this before , another woman,another family,another banktuptcy

Zaria's family had just been the most high profile casualties. She moved methodically. She emailed the files to her most trusted lawyer, with instructions to release them anonymously at her signal. She also encryted a copy to be sent to an investigative journalist inNew York. The world would know what Darian Thornwell had done, but she wasn't finished.

She poured herself a drink, amber liquid a cut glass tumbler, and let it burn its way down her throat. Her hands were steady now. There was no fear no hesitation.

Tomorrow she would leave, but as a shadow ,cloaked in secret and vengeance.

She booked a flight under an alias.She would disappear just long enough to let the storm rise and then return. She would not be Zaria ValenCia DelaRue. She would be something else. A reckoning.

Just then, a message popped up on her private line.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: "You re right . It is not his child."

She stared at the words, her heart thudding slowly. The man from paris had taken bait. THe DNA results zaria had comiisisioned in secret had arrived.

So Celestine had lied, Boldly and publicly. To trap Darian. To secure the Thorn well name and she had succeeded, until now.

Zaria smied for the first time in weeks. It wasn't a happy smile. It was sharp and cold ,like the edge of a knife.

Let them think she was weak.

Let them beleive she had been broken.

She would watch from afar as they turned on each other. She would watch Darian spiral when the trust was shaken, whe the truth came out, when the mistress proved to be a traitor, and the...

She would return , Not for them But for heself. To reclaimthe trone they tried to buty, To write the striy they tried to erase.

She pressed"Send ."

Somewhere in New York, a journalist's inbox dinged. The war had begun.

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Zaria has one more stop to make before her flight. she retulted to her childhood estate , long abandoned since her family's fall. The gardens were overgrown , the foudation dry but the stillness she found clarity. She sat on the old swing her father had built fr her.

She whispered to the wind,"They took everything from me. Now, i take everything back."

As she stood to leave , her phone buzzed again.

Elka: "One more thong Celstine is palnning a press conference . She is going public next week, name,ring and all. You sure you wnat to wait?"

Zaria's response was instantaneous.

Zaria:"Let her speak. the bigger the lie, the harder the fall."

By the time she boarded her jet her heart would not feel heavy. The weiht of sorrow had been replaced wth strategy. Vengeance wasn't about rage. it was about precision and Zaria DelaRue was fiannlly ready to play the game she never wanted to join. et the pieces fall. She would be waiting when the dust settled and wold rise stronger , sharper and free.