Chapter 163
Elena’s POV:
༥ཊཱི 41%–
My mind, left to its own devices, spiraled back to the news Fiona had been sharing with me. Since I had kept myself away from the news and the constant, buzzing updates on my phone for the past few weeks, I had been in the dark
about certain happenings in Velhaven.
The serial killing spree, which had abruptly paused for a month after Dmitri’s first trial, had begun again with a
terrifying fervor. In just this one month, four more women had been found dead.
A cold dread seeped into my bones. Why the hell was it taking so long for the police to find the culprit? This was
Velhaven, for God’s sake, the capital of Alderidge. The reason it had the word “haven” in its name was because it
was supposed to be a safe haven, where crime rates were the lowest in the world. A killer like this should have
been caught within the first couple of days. But now it seemed like they were hunting a ghost.
Why? sighed, tossing and turning in the bed. What if the police were being paid off? What if the killer was
someone too powerful to be touched? The thought was a sickening, familiar one. It was the same systemic rot that
had allowed men like Andrey and Dmitri to walk around as if they were above the law.
Was this killer another one of them? Another man who believed the world was his for the taking, and that the lives
of others were merely stepping stones? The thought of that made my blood run cold.
After an hour or so, with no chance of sleep, I pushed myself off the bed. Deciding to head to the NICU. It had only
been three hours since my last visit, but a deep–seated, irrational panic had begun to set in. I needed to see him, to
hear his soft little breaths, to assure myself that he was still there, still safe.
I pulled open the hospital room door slowly. A nurse I had gotten to know with a gentle smile and tired eyes, was
at the nurse’s station. She looked up, smiled, and waved. I nodded back with a smile.
It only took a couple of minutes to arrive in the NICU ward. I found a couple of women standing close to the glass
walls of the incubators. Their heads were bowed together in hushed conversation, their forms swathed in the
baggy hospital gowns that were similar to mine. As I walked inside, a feeting of unease prickled at the back of my neck. I frowned as I made my way over. What were they doing? My heart sped up as I realized they were gathered
around the crib where Haider was supposed to be. I quickened my pace, my body forgetting the ache of my stitches in my growing panic.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, my voice rising in volume as I approached. The male nurse, Keith, looked up with a frown. He quickly moved to clear the way for me among the three women, his expression concerned.
“Is this your baby?” a woman in the hospital gown asked, her voice hushed with awe. I nodded, my eyes locked on the tiny, fragile form of my son. He was sleeping, his eyes closed, his small chest rising and falling with each
shallow breath.
“Is something wrong?” I looked at Keith, my voice getting desperate. He shook his head and looked around. Right. I couldn’t be too loud. This was the NICU. But my heart was too agitated with worry to heed the warning.
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12.31 Thu 27 Aug
Chapter 163
“Haider is completely fine, don’t worry,” Keith said, his voice a low whisper. “However, I discovered this when I came here to check up on the babies.” He handed me a white envelope. My heart beat sped up even more as I read the single, ominous word scrawled on the front.
Elena.
It was addressed to me. I swallowed hard, the muscles in my throat tightening. I tore the paper open. The mothers
beside me began to whisper in hushed, curious tones, but I ignored them. As soon as I opened it and began
reading, the words seemed to burn a path of fire into my mind. My heart plummeted with dread.
‘Dear Elena,‘
‘You truly seem to think that you’re safe just because of your husband and father. So I’m writing this letter to give you a wake–up call. Imagine what else I can do if I can so easily reach your baby. Haider, you named him? Did you
know the name ‘Haider‘ also has a different meaning? It means lion. What a pompous name for a child this weak. I
suggest you change it to something more suitable. Lucky, maybe. Considering how lucky you were. It’s wild you know? How you’re supposedly handed everything so easily without any effort on your part. Just because of your blood and that face of yours… handed everything on a silver platter. You’re going to regret being so full of yourself. Dmitri’s death won’t be forgotten. Enjoy the little bit of time you have before it all crumbles….
My hands trembled as I finished the letter. I stood there, rooted to the spot, the words replaying in my mind. I could feel the cold, hateful gaze of the writer in every word.
The stillness was broken by a sudden gasp beside me. I looked up to see one of the mothers, her eyes wide with
shock, looking at the paper. She had read it. The intrusion sent a jolt of fury through me. I clenched my fists, crushing the paper into a tight ball, the edges biting into my palm. I shot my head up to look at Keith.
“How the hell did this get in here? Who came here?” My voice was low, but it vibrated with a barely contained rage. He looked startled, his calm facade shattering. I felt fear, yes, and I wanted to break down and cry. But the strongest emotion I felt was a pure, unadulterated anger. I had already endangered my baby’s life once. If I couldn’t even keep him safe in a supposedly secure hospital, then was I even allowed to call myself a mother?
“I will check the CCTV cameras immediately,” Keith said, his voice now urgent as he turned and hurried away.
I stood there, not moving an inch from beside my son’s incubator. Haider was still sleeping so soundly, completely
unaware. I bit my lips. With shaky hands, I pulled out the phone Sergei had given me. My fingers fumbled as I
navigated to Nikolai’s contact. I dialed his number. He picked up on the second ring, and before he could say
anything, I spoke, my voice hoarse.
“This place isn’t safe.”
He was silent for only a second before he asked. “What happened?”
I took in a shuddering breath, my chest aching. I pulled my phone away, my fingers still shaking, and snapped a photo of the crumpled letter. I sent it to him on WhatsApp before bringing the phone back to my ear. “This was in Haider’s crib, Nikolai.”
