Chapter 118
2
Jean hired someone to track down Samira’s killer and the guy was caught pretty quickly.8
As soon as he got the call, Jean rushed over to the police station. But the second he saw the murderer, something inside him collapsed. The man was a psychiatric patient
The law couldn’t do much about that. Sure, Jean had his own ways of making people pay, but this guy, he wasn’t even capable of feeling fear or guilt.
No matter what Jean did, it wouldn’t matter. The man would never understand the pain he caused. That thought crushed him.
With his chest heavy, Jean left and went straight to the funeral home.
Samira had been sent there for cremation. Miranda didn’t want him to take her ashes, she said Samira should rest peacefully, far away from all this pain. But Jean refused to let go. He needed her close
So, he went home carrying her um in his arms, holding it like something fragile and precious. When he got back, he gently touched the surface of the urn and whispered, “Samira, we’re home
At dinner, he cooked an entire meal and set the table like he used to, two plates, two spoons. He sat alone, eating in silence with the um placed across from him like she was still there.
That night, he curled up on the floor, clutching the um against his chest.
He didn’t care about what was right or wrong anymore. All he knew was that in his heart, Samira still mattered more than anything else. Whether she had made mistakes didn’t matter. Whether she was good or bad didn’t matter. He just wanted her back. And he would’ve given anything to undo what happened..
That night, he dreamed of her. In the dream, there was no mistaken identity, no tragedies. Samira was the real daughter of the Jourdain Family. They’d grown up together, fallen in love and eventually gotten married 3
It was perfect. And he didn’t want to wake up. But then the phone rang. It was Luna. “Jean, are you mad at me? I called so many times yesterday…”
The sound of her voice used to feel sweet. Now, it just annoyed him. He let out an impatient sigh
Luna paused on the other end. She could feel it. That cold shift in him. Jean had been kind to her all these years, but deep down, she always knew, his temper was never far from the surface.
“I don’t have the energy to deal with you right now. Just don’t bother me.” Jean didn’t wait for a reply. He hung up and blocked Luna without hesitation. Whatever sympathy he had once had for her was gone
All he could think about was how, because of Luna, he had said those awful things to Samira. If he hadn’t been so harsh, maybe none of this would’ve happened. His chest tightened just thinking about it.
Across town, Miranda was drowning in sorrow. But behind the tears, something was building: resolve. The more she thought about what Samira had endured, the more determined she became to find the truth and make things rightë
She drove straight to the Jourdain estate and demanded access to their home surveillance system. In families like theirs, nothing was ever truly gone. Everything was archived, backed up for years, sometimes even decades.
When she told them she was looking into what really happened all those years ago, they hesitated. Told her it wasn’t necessary. That there
wed no secrets.
Miranda didn’t buy it for a second. Eventually, they caved and handed over the footage. It was old, dusty and grainy, but it was all there. And what she saw left her stunned.
It had been a lie. A flimsy one. One that should’ve been exposed easily. But it wasn’t. And because of that, Samira had camed the weight of that lie for ten years. Ten years of silence. Ten years of people looking the other way.
Miranda felt sick. Then she opened the files from the night of the party. What she saw made h
Luna. Jean. Talking quietly. Plotting. Manipulating ||
her blood run cold.
Her hands shook as she saved every clip and sent them all to Jean. Then she hit “Call,” her voice hard and cold when he picked up. “Watch them. Watch all of them. This is the truth you’ve been blind to. What the hell have you been doing all these years?”
