Chapter 64 – Susana’s Descent

The light in Susana's cell flickered as if it, too, struggled to stay alive.

Four walls. A steel bed bolted to the floor. A sink that groaned like it mourned being used. This was her world now. Cold, repetitive, stripped of luxury and adoration. The same woman who once wore diamonds now tied her hair with rubber bands and stared at cracked tiles like they whispered secrets.

But something had changed in her lately—since that message.

Mariana's video still played on repeat in her mind. At first, Susana had scoffed. "Dramatic nonsense," she muttered. But each time she replayed it in her head, something began to twist inside her.

She started talking to herself. Whispering half-conversations. One moment furious, accusing Mariana of everything. The next, fragile and defensive, claiming innocence—"I only took what was already mine…"

A cracked mirror in the corner reflected the truth she refused to accept: she had fallen, and there was no one left to catch her.

"She's alive," she murmured into the dark. "It's her. Mary… she came back for me."

The guards had started watching her more closely. She scribbled drawings on napkins. A heart stabbed with a needle. A child with a crown. A woman with no face.

But the scariest part wasn't her rage—it was the clarity that occasionally broke through. The terrifying lucidity that told her she was the villain in someone else's story… and she hated it.

She wasn't just angry. She was building something.

Plotting.

She believed George had taken everything from her—James, status, peace. In her twisted logic, he was the root. The final enemy. The living legacy of the woman who haunted her.

She didn't plan on staying in that cell forever.

"I'll get out," she whispered. "And I'll finish what I started. Mary won't win. Not through him."

Outside, night fell over Silvercity.

Inside, darkness grew in Susana's heart—and it was far from done.

---