REBORN AS A RUTHLESS HEIRESS

Celeste's POV

Standing at the edge of the bridge, my breath coming in sharp gaps as I turn to face the two people I had trusted the most- Noah Harrington, my devoted fiance, and Sophie Raynes, my childhood best friend.

Except now, their faces are twisted into something unrecognizable.

Looking at Noah's hazel eyes, there is no love, neither is there any warmth for me. Instead, they hold a chilling detachment, as if he was already looking past me, this moment, and even past my existence.

Sophia's usual playful smile is absent, replaced with a satisfying smirk as she plays with the ends of her designer coat. The moonlight created eerie shadows over her face, making her look more like a threat than the friend I had known for years.

My heart pounded heavily in my chest. The realization is a slow, agonizing knife twisting inside me.

"Noah?" My voice wavered, disbelief lacing every syllable. "What ... What is this?"

Noah sighed as if I was nothing more than an inconvenience. "Don't make this harder than it has to be Celeste."

Sophia stepped closer, the clicking sound of her heels echoing on the concrete. "You should have known better, darling. You were never meant to have everything."

My breathing hitches in my throat. The betrayal burns like acid in my veins.

I had loved Noah with all my heart. Given him my trust, my devotion, my future.

What else could he possibly want from me? I don't deserve this kind of betrayal.

Before now, I have always stood by Sophia's side, defended her, and even cherished our friendship a million times.

And yet--- this betrayal is deafening.

"Why?" I ask with a voice barely above a whisper, "After everything we've been through..."

Sophia let out a laugh, light and airy as if I just asked an absurd question. "Because you were always in my way." She said flatly.

I took a step back, my heels scraping against the bridge's stone edge. The river roared beneath me, and the dark abyss stretched infinitely below.

"In the way?" I repeated, my mind spinning. "How is that?"

Sophia's smirk widened. "Noah and I... We've been together for a while now."

The words hit me like a hammer to the chest. My lungs seized, the world around me seems to stop rotating.

No! No, it can't be true.

Noah and Sophia?

I searched Noah's face desperately, holding on to hope that this may be some cruel joke, a misunderstanding. But his expression says otherwise, it remains impassive.

"You never questioned why I never truly look at you, Celeste?" Noah's voice was smooth, almost mocking.

"Why I never really touched you the way a man in love should touch his woman?"

I felt my stomach drop at that instant.

"I never loved you," he continued, his tone brutally calm.

"You were just... Convenient."

Tears burned in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.

"And what about you, Sophia?" I asked, forcing myself to look at the woman I had once called my sister. "You were my best friend, Sophia."

Sophia rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. You were always so perfect, so adored, so untouchable." She sneered.

"Do you know how exhausting it was to live in your shadow? To watch you have everything, handed to you while I was just feeding from your leftovers?"

My hands form into fists. "That's not true. I never--"

"Oh Please! Spare me the act," Sophia cut me off. "The Lancaster name, the wealth, the attention -- it should have been mine."

I shake my head in disbelief. "So this is what it's all about? Greed?"

Noah scoffed. "Oh, Celeste. You're so naive."

He took a step closer, his fingers grazing my chin in a mockery way of affection. I flinch.

"You see," he continued, "the Lancaster fortune isn't really yours. You were adopted, remember?" He tilts his head, eyes gleaming with something dark. "But your Father -- he left a clause in his will. If anything happened to you before your twenty-fifth birthday, the inheritance would go to your family."

My blood turns to ice.

My adoptive parents. The people who had raised me.

Were they in on this, too?

Sophia leans towards me, her breath warm against my ear. "You were never meant to last, Celeste. Just a placeholder."

My stomach twisted. I felt sick and disgusted.

"You're going to kill me." The words were barely a whisper, but the weight of them crushed me.

Sophia grinned, reaching out to brush my hair from my face. "Don't take it personally."

And then---

Sudden pain exploded through my body as Sophia shoved me with brutal force.

Time slowed.

The wind rushes past me, stealing the screams from my lips.

Noah's face remains Indifferent, watching me fall without a flicker of remorse.

My body hit the icy water with a violent crash. The shock of it steals the breath from my lungs, the cold cutting into me like thousands of needles.

I thrash, my limbs flailing, but the current is merciless. It drags me down, swallowing my whole being.

Above, the bridge grew smaller and smaller.

Noah and Sophia stood there, silhouette against the night sky, watching me disappear.

I fight hard. I fight with every strength in me.

But the more I struggled, the deeper I sank.

My lungs burned, and my vision became blurry.

No. No, I can't die like this.

Not at their hands.

But my strength is fading.

Memories flash behind my eyes -- my childhood, the laughter I had shared with Sophia, the stolen kisses with Noah, the dreams I have for my future.

All lies.

All meaningless.

The water presses in from all sides, a crushing weight.

I wanted to scream, to rage, to curse the heavens.

But instead, all I can do is let go.

Darkness claims me. I died!