People dressed in black.
They were rehearsing her funeral.
Marcus moved confidently among guests. Vanessa laughed like she already owned the house.
“She would’ve liked something simple,” Vanessa joked. “Cheap. Like her life.”
They laughed.
Alina stepped through the gate.
Someone screamed.
Marcus turned, color draining from his face. “How are you alive?”
“You were supposed to be dead,” Vanessa whispered.
Marcus’s mother dropped her cup.
Alina looked at the black clothes, the flowers, the food prepared for her absence.
“I heard all of you,” she said calmly.
Silence fell.
“You thought I was gone. But I was listening.”
Marcus clenched his jaw. “You woke up. So what?”
She tilted her head. “Now it begins.”
She made one call.
“Proceed.”
Minutes later, Marcus’s phone rang.
His expression changed as he listened.
“What do you mean terminated?” he shouted. “That’s impossible!”
More calls followed. Emails. Notifications.
Access revoked. Contracts canceled. Position terminated.
“I’ve been fired,” he whispered.
Vanessa stared at him. “Fired? How?”
Marcus looked at Alina. “What did you do?”
She stood straighter.
“You underestimated me.”
“You were just a housewife!”
“That was the role I played,” she said evenly. “For love.”