CHAPTER 5
416 Words
The television murmured in the background, filling the apartment with voices Lucia wasn't listening to.
She sat on the edge of the sofa, a sketchbook resting unopened on her lap. Outside, rain tapped softly against the window.
"...breaking news..."
The anchor's voice grew sharper.
"Businessman Raghav Malhotra was found dead yesterday evening at his residence. Police have not yet released an official statement regarding the cause of death..."
The pencil slipped from Lucia's fingers.
For a moment, the room became unbearably quiet.
"No..."
The word escaped before she realized she had spoken.
Her eyes remained fixed on the television screen, where Raghav's photograph appeared beside the flashing headline.
Dead.
The man who had once promised her a future...
The man who had broken her, lied to her, disappeared from her life...
Dead.
A strange knot tightened in her stomach.
She should have cried.
Instead, she felt... lighter.
The realization frightened her.
"What kind of person feels relief when someone dies?" she whispered to herself.
She closed her eyes.
Memories rushed back without permission.
His promises.
His excuses.
The day she discovered he had never intended to leave his wife.
The last conversation.
The words he had said before walking away.
"This has to end, Lucia."
A bitter smile appeared on her lips.
"It ended," she murmured.
"Just not the way either of us imagined."
She reached for her phone.
Her thumb hovered over Anhita's number for several seconds.
Should she call?
Would Anhita even know who she was?
Would she hate her?
Or...
did she already know everything?
Lucia pressed the call button.
The phone rang.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
No answer.
She tried again.
Still nothing.
Her heartbeat grew faster.
She wasn't afraid because Raghav was dead.
She was afraid because of something else.
Something she hadn't told anyone.
Not the police.
Not Raghav.
Not even herself.
Slowly, she looked toward the wooden cabinet in the corner of the room.
Inside it lay an envelope she had promised herself she would never open again.
For nearly a minute, she simply stared at it.
Then the television interrupted her thoughts once more.
"...police sources say investigators are examining the final weeks of Raghav Malhotra's life..."
Lucia switched the television off.
The silence that followed was louder than the news itself.
Very quietly, almost as if she feared someone else might hear, she whispered,
"What did you do, Raghav..."
Then, after a long pause, another question escaped her lips.
"...or what did you make someone else do?"
- Writer
