It started with a package.
No return address. Just Samantha's full name on the envelope, typewritten, neat.
Inside? A photo.
Her and Ryan. Holding hands. Walking Angelique home from school.
And scrawled across the photo in red marker:
"You're not fooling anyone. This perfect image will shatter too."
Samantha froze.
Her hands shook as she turned the picture over, searching for clues. None. But she knew.
Trina.
The timing was too perfect. The handwriting too pointed. And the angle of the photo?
Someone had been following them.
That night, she didn't sleep.
Ryan saw the shadows under her eyes the next day. She tried to play it cool—until he opened his inbox and saw his own anonymous message:
"Hope you're proud. Replacing a real father won't make you one."
Attached? A photo of Ryan tying Angelique's shoelaces. Sweet. Innocent. But taken from behind a car windshield.
It made his stomach drop.
"You think it's her?" he asked quietly.
Samantha nodded, hands folded tightly on her lap. "She's losing control. This is her trying to remind us she's still in the picture."
"She isn't," Ryan growled. "Not in any way that matters."
"She's pregnant, Ry," Sam said. "Which means she's got enough drama in her life to fuel whatever this is. And I'm afraid she'll drag Henry into it again. Or Angelique."
Ryan's jaw flexed. "She comes near your daughter, I won't just talk to her this time."
Samantha looked up. "I don't want revenge."
"I'm not promising revenge," he said. "I'm promising protection."
Elsewhere...
Trina poured herself a glass of wine, staring at her laptop. A new fake email draft sat open.
Subject line:
"Do you know who your VP really is?"
She scrolled through the photo collection she had saved—blurry shots, screen captures, exaggerated timelines.
A curated campaign of destruction.
Because Samantha had taken too much.
And Trina?34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwGcinujetk
She wasn't going to be forgotten quietly.
34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡitwQOMewwx
