Vivienne scoffed loudly. "Guilty? For what?"
Another friend lowered her voice nervously. "For killing them." she whispered. "Everyone knows how badly Dimitri tortures Annika now. Especially those livestream punishments every anniversary."
My fingers tightened slowly around the coffee cup. The world around me started sounding distant.
"Why not just tell Dimitri the truth? That night wasn't completely Annika's parents' fault either."
Vivienne laughed. "Are you insane? If Dimitri finds out the truth, he'll kill me himself."
My heartbeat stopped.
The girls stared at her in shock while Vivienne leaned back lazily in her chair. "Dimitri and I aren't even real siblings by blood," she muttered carelessly. "My parents adopted me when I was little. After they died, I became the only family he had left. If he finds out I caused the crash..." She let out a dry laugh. "I'm dead."
My breathing turned uneven. I couldn't move. I couldn't think. Couldn't even feel my hands anymore. The café suddenly felt too small. Too loud. Too hot.
"Besides," she said smugly, "Annika's parents are already dead anyway. Poor idiots actually believed me when I threatened their daughter."
One of the girls blinked. "Threatened?"
Vivienne rolled her eyes dramatically. "I told them if they didn't confess to the police, I'd make sure Annika disappeared and was chopped to pieces." Then she laughed while taking another sip of coffee. "And they actually sacrificed themselves for her. Pathetic."
My vision blurred instantly. Tears slipped silently down my face. No. No… My parents knew. They knew the truth the entire time.
My shaking fingers slowly reached into my coat pocket. I pressed a record on my phone beneath the table. Just in case.
"You're actually crazy, Vivi. What if Annika ever finds out?"
"Who cares? Nobody believes that bitch anyway." Then she smiled coldly. "I hated her from the beginning. My brother loved her too much," Vivienne continued bitterly. "It was disgusting. So I pretended to be her best friend while secretly ruining things for her the entire time."
My body went completely numb. The elevator accident. The allergic reactions. The locked basement. The minor car crashes. The broken stairs. The "accidents."
Suddenly every memory slammed together inside my head all at once. And every single trail led back to Vivienne.
"So what now? Dimitri's really divorcing Annika?"
"Probably. He'll marry Kelsey eventually." Then she laughed softly while stirring her drink. "Honestly, watching my brother destroy Annika little by little has been entertaining."
My fingernails dug hard into my palms.
"I wouldn't even be surprised if she kills herself soon," Vivienne added casually. "If that happens, then killing my parents' secrets will disappear with her."
The girls laughed together. Meanwhile, tears slid silently down my face. But something inside me no longer felt broken. I felt angry.
For seven years, I begged for forgiveness over a crime my family didn't fully commit. For seven years, Dimitri destroyed me while the real liar and killer stood beside him pretending to cry. For seven years, my parents suffered and died protecting me.
And Vivienne laughed about it over coffee. My breathing slowly steadied. I saved the recording carefully onto my phone. Then I wiped my tears away one by one.
Because for the first time in seven years… I no longer wanted to die. I wanted justice instead.
….
I went home that day with trembling hands and a heart that no longer knew how to forgive.
The recording kept replaying on my phone during the entire drive back. Vivienne's voice. Laughing. Mocking my parents. Mocking me.
For seven years, I thought my family destroyed Dimitri's life completely. For seven years, I begged for forgiveness. For seven years, I let him punish me because I believed maybe I deserved some of it too.
But my parents died protecting me.
And Vivienne sat in a café laughing about it over coffee.
By the time I reached the mansion, something inside me had already broken beyond repair.
I walked into my room slowly and stared at the old family photo beside my bed. My fingers touched the cracked edge softly.
"Mom..." My voice shook violently. "Dad..."
Tears blurred my vision immediately.
"I'm tired."
The room stayed silent.
I slowly sat on the floor while hugging the photo tightly against my chest. "You told me to survive seven years," I whispered brokenly. "I did. I survived everything."
The freezing chamber. The livestream punishments. The humiliation. The loneliness. Dimitri loving another woman right in front of me.
"I really tried..." My voice cracked apart. "I tried so hard."
My shoulders started shaking violently from silent sobs. Then slowly, something colder replaced the grief inside me.
Anger.
Pure anger.
My tears stopped.
I stared at the family photo for a very long time before whispering quietly, "I'll come find you soon."
My fingers tightened around the frame.
"But before I do..."
My expression hardened completely.
"I'll destroy them first."
That night, I opened my laptop and created an anonymous account hidden behind encrypted servers and fake locations even Dimitri's people would struggle tracing quickly.
Then I ordered a plain white porcelain mask through a private marketplace account. Blank. Expressionless. Like death itself.
Afterward, I uploaded the recording from the café.
Vivienne's confession. Every single disgusting word.
Then beneath the video, I typed slowly:
"In three hours, I will give justice to my parents who died wrongly. Wanna watch?"
The post exploded almost instantly.
Within thirty minutes, thousands of people shared it across different platforms. By the second hour, the video already had over one million views.
The comments flooded endlessly.
"This has to be fake."
"No way somebody confesses to murder this casually."
"Wait... Romanov? Like THE Romanov family? Is this an AI?"
"Another rage bait livestream."
"Watch this turn into some cringe prank."
I stared blankly at the comments while the numbers kept climbing higher.
Then suddenly my eyes landed on Vivienne's newest social media story.
A luxury five-star restaurant downtown. Champagne glasses. Designer heels. Her smiling happily beside her friends.
Like my parents never died.
Like my life was never destroyed by them.
Something dark twisted violently inside my chest.
One hour later, I sat alone inside my car across the underground parking entrance of the restaurant. The white porcelain mask covered my face completely now.
The livestream was already running.
Over three million viewers watched silently. Comments moved too fast to read.
My hands rested tightly around the steering wheel while my heartbeat echoed loudly inside my ears.
Then finally— Vivienne walked out of the restaurant alone. Laughing while talking on the phone. Completely unaware.
I adjusted the livestream camera slowly toward myself.
Then I spoke for the first time.
My voice sounded strangely calm.
"In a few minutes, someone is going to die tonight."
