Lust System: Conquering the World Beauties

Alina picked up the call with a frown already forming on her face. The moment she pressed the phone to her ear, Danill’s voice exploded through the speaker. He was talking so fast that the words crashed into each other, excitement and disbelief blending together until they became almost impossible to understand.

”Whoa, whoa, calm down!” Alina pulled the phone slightly away from her ear. ”Danill, slow down. I can’t hear a word you’re saying!”

Tatiana sat curled up on the couch beside her, one leg tucked beneath her body while the romance movie continued to play on the television. The glow from the screen danced across her pale face as the actors exchanged words.

Normally, Tatiana could have used her enhanced hearing to listen in on every word Danill was saying.

She didn’t.

She respected boundaries, especially Alina’s. Instead, she kept her eyes on the television, though she couldn’t deny that curiosity had begun to creep into her chest.

Alina looked more confused with each passing second.

”What?” she asked into the phone.

Silence.

”What are you saying?”

Another pause.

”No, no. Slow down.”

Her eyebrows knitted tighter.

”Liam asked... what?”

Tatiana finally turned to look at her friend.

Alina pressed her fingers against her temple.

”The news?” she repeated.

Then Danill started talking rapidly again.

Alina gave up.

”I honestly have no idea what you’re saying!” she said helplessly. ”Call me back when you’ve remembered how to breathe.”

She cut the call and stared blankly at the phone in her hand.

The apartment suddenly felt unusually quiet.

Tatiana shifted slightly.

”What was that about?”

Alina blinked.

”I don’t know,” she admitted honestly. ”Danill sounded like he drank ten cups of coffee.”

Tatiana tilted her head.

”What did he say?”

Alina thought for a moment.

”I heard ’Liam asked’...” she said slowly. ”Then something about ’the news.’”

The two girls exchanged confused looks.

”What news?” Alina asked.

Tatiana’s eyes narrowed.

Without another word, she leaned forward and grabbed the remote control from Alina’s lap.

”What are you doing?” Alina asked.

Tatiana didn’t answer.

She switched channels.

The romance movie disappeared.

Commercials flashed across the screen.

Another channel.

Then another.

And then...

The remote slipped from Tatiana’s fingers.

Crack.

It hit the wooden floor and shattered.

”Hey!”

Alina shot upright.

”I bought that for a fortune!”

But Tatiana didn’t even react.

She wasn’t blinking.

She wasn’t breathing.

Her entire body had gone rigid.

”Tatty?”

Slowly, Alina turned back toward the television.

The color drained from her face.

The news broadcast had abandoned its scheduled programming.

Instead, every screen displayed the same footage.

Breaking News.

Governor Vladimir’s Shocking Confession.

The video quality wasn’t perfect.

It looked as though it had been recorded hastily.

The camera shook occasionally.

But the people in the video were unmistakable.

Governor Vladimir sat in a massage chair.

His face was pale.

Sweat soaked through his clothing.

His eyes were bloodshot.

He looked terrified.

Beside him stood Ivan.

The same Ivan who had taken the blame all those years ago.

The governor’s voice trembled as he spoke.

”My name... is Vladimir...”

He broke down halfway through the sentence.

Tears streamed down his face.

”I murdered an innocent man in his own home twelve years ago.”

Tatiana stopped hearing the sounds around her.

The television became the center of her universe.

Everything else faded.

She stared.

Her hands trembled.

On the screen, Vladimir confessed to everything.

He confessed to entering her house.

He confessed to killing her father.

He confessed to framing Ivan.

He confessed to using money and influence to bury the truth.

He confessed to manipulating the investigation.

He confessed to destroying evidence.

He confessed to buying silence.

Then came the words that shattered what little composure Tatiana had left.

”I also attempted to force myself on his daughter...”

His voice cracked.

”But she escaped.”

Tatiana’s breathing stopped.

The living room around her disappeared.

Suddenly she wasn’t twenty-four anymore.

She was twelve.

She could smell the blood.

She could hear her father’s voice.

She remembered hiding.

Remembered trembling.

Remembered hearing footsteps.

Remembered not understanding why nobody believed her afterward.

She remembered police officers giving her sympathetic looks before dismissing her.

She remembered reporters questioning her.

People whispering.

Liar.

Attention seeker.

Poor girl is traumatized.

She remembered learning that Ivan had confessed.

Case closed.

Justice denied.

Her father buried.

Her childhood stolen.

And all these years...

No one had listened.

No one had cared enough to ask.

No one had fought for her.

Until now.

Tatiana blinked.

The television screen blurred.

At first, she thought something was wrong with her vision.

Then warmth rolled down her cheeks.

A tear landed on the back of her hand.

Then another.

Then another.

Her shoulders began shaking.

”Tatty?”

Her lips parted.

No sound came out.

The tears became uncontrollable.

This was it.

The thing she had waited for her entire life.

Justice.

Not revenge.

Justice.

She had dreamed about this moment countless times.

Sometimes Vladimir apologized.

Sometimes he went to prison.

Sometimes the world finally admitted she had been telling the truth.

But eventually, she had stopped dreaming.

Because dreams hurt.

Hope hurt.

Believing hurt.

So she locked those feelings away and convinced herself that moving on was enough.

But seeing it happen...

Seeing the man responsible confess with her own eyes...

Hearing him admit that her father had been innocent...

Tatiana broke.

A sob escaped her throat.

Then another.

Her entire body folded forward.

She nearly slipped.

Alina caught her before she hit the floor.

”Oh, Tatty...”

Alina wrapped both arms around her immediately.

Tatiana buried her face against her shoulder.

Years of pain came pouring out.

All the anger she never expressed.

All the grief she swallowed.

All the nights she cried alone.

All the moments she questioned her own memories because everyone else insisted she was wrong.

It all came crashing down at once.

Alina held her tighter.

Her own eyes burned.

She had been there.

She had seen the aftermath.

She had watched Tatiana struggle to trust people.

Watched her avoid men.

Watched her force smiles while carrying wounds that never truly healed.

Nobody deserved what happened to her.

Nobody.

”It’s okay,” Alina whispered through her own tears.

”It’s okay.”

Tatiana cried harder.

On the television, reporters shouted over one another.

Analysts speculated.

The nation reacted.

But none of it mattered.

Not compared to the fact that somewhere out there, someone had listened.

Someone had cared.

Someone had decided that what happened to a frightened twelve-year-old girl twelve years ago still mattered.

Alina suddenly remembered Danill’s call.

”Liam asked...”

”The news...”

Understanding dawned on her instantly.

Her eyes widened.

”Oh my God...”

Tatiana lifted her tear-stained face.

Alina looked down at her.

”It was Liam.”

Tatiana froze.

”He asked about your past,” Alina whispered. ”And when he found out what happened...”

She glanced back at the television.

”...he did something.”

Tatiana’s lips trembled.

The image of Liam flashed through her mind.

His smile.

The anger in his eyes when injustice appeared.

The way he treated people he barely knew as though their pain mattered.

He hadn’t told her.

He hadn’t asked for gratitude.

He hadn’t even hinted that he was doing anything.

He had simply learned the truth.

Then acted.

Tatiana’s tears flowed even harder.

She clung to Alina like a lifeline.

Alina hugged her back just as tightly.

Outside, the city continued moving as though nothing had changed.

Cars drove by.

People laughed.

Life went on.

But inside that small apartment, a little girl who had spent twelve years waiting for someone to believe her finally received the justice she thought she would never have.

And as Tatiana cried into her best friend’s shoulder, one thought echoed louder than anything else in her heart.

Liam believed me.