Chapter: Chapter 113: Tempting The Devil~ZAYN~The meeting with my grandmother took longer than I expected. Immediately after, I call Jade, but her cellphone is switched off. It’s never off. So I check the tracking application on my phone, but it doesn’t blink. It sits entirely still like a solitary blue dot glowing against the digital map of Manhattan.What’s she doing in Manhattan? She’s supposed to be at home in Westchester.Five hours of a high-speed hunt through the rain-slicked streets of New York led blindly by a satellite signal brings us here. To the edge of nothing. “Boss,” Dave whispers, his voice cutting through the steady drum of the freezing downpour.I don't look at him. My boots are buried in the mud of a secluded, rotting shipping pier off the West Side Highway. The black water of the Hudson River churns angrily below us, swallowing the city's filth.Two of my private divers break the surface, their heavy breathing echoing under the concrete overpass. One of them climbs up the slippery rocks, his gloved ha
آخر تحديث: 2026-06-15
Chapter: Chapter 112: When You’re Fifteen“I wish I’d murdered you when I had the chance.”“What’s stopping you now?”Barbara scoffs. “Nothing. Truly nothing. I don't even know why I’m choosing to keep you alive. Aside from the money, no… nothing really.”“Then kill me since that’s what you’ve always wanted. Just kill me, Barb. Get the money and kill me.”Barbara’s face doesn't crack. “I’m going to. Very soon.”My heart beats violently against my chest like it wants to be free of me. I don't underestimate Barbara. She’s capable of murder. She’s killed me in my past life and she can do it again. But maybe she’s not doing it now because of what she stands to gain… or lose. “When we were teenagers,” Barbara says softly, her voice barely above a whisper as she looks at the rusted bars. “That's when I found out.”I stare at her, my hands still frozen against the cold iron. “What?”“I was fifteen, Jade. You were fourteen. Do you even remember being that age?” A bitter, mocking smile touches her lips, but her eyes stay dead. “You s
آخر تحديث: 2026-06-13
Chapter: Chapter 111: HellThere’s no one else at the mansion except for me. Dave is with Zayn. Martha went home. And Ava isn't around either. Ten minutes later, I slip past the main foyer, jump into my car, and drive out of the estate gates completely alone. The guards asked where I was heading to, but I told them I was going to the store and wouldn't be long. When I reach the hospital, I purposely bypass the main elevator. Instead, I take the concrete stairs leading down into the belly of the parking garage. The air down here feels suffocating. And the garage is eerily quiet. The lights overhead flicker, casting distorted shadows across the endless rows of parked vehicles. My heart is beating loudly in my chest. My heels click sharply against the floor, the sound echoing off the low ceiling. The late-shift traffic is practically non-existent as no one else is here except for me. I walk past row after row of cars until the painted pillar reads 4B.Right there, parked under a buzzing, dim fluorescent bulb, i
آخر تحديث: 2026-06-12
Chapter: Chapter 110: Not The Victim AnymoreJADEThe night air outside St. Jude’s Hospital cuts through the heavy scent of the recovery ward that clings to me. I let out a heavy sigh of relief as I step into the passenger seat of the black AMG waiting for me at the curb. The door clicks shut, sealing out the noise of the hospital environment, replacing it with the scent of leather and him.Beside me, Zayn sits in the driver's seat, a tablet resting on his thighs, the blue light of the screen reflecting off the sharp angles of his perfect godlike jaw. He doesn't look up immediately, but his hand moves across the leather seat, his long fingers finding mine, wrapping around them affectionately.“Did he cry?” he asks.His voice instantly calms the lingering tension coursing through my veins. I lean my head back against the headrest.“He tried to. But I didn't give him the chance to run his perfectly practiced script.”Zayn lets out a short, dark chuckle, his thumb tracing the back of my knuckles. “And the demand?”“I left the paper
آخر تحديث: 2026-06-11
Chapter: Chapter 109: One Final Plan“Midnight tomorrow is too soon,” I say, pretending to care what happens to Daniel. “Jade is too wicked.”“I'm... I'm going to have to call her,” Daniel says almost immediately, his voice dropping into a tone that makes my stomach turn. “I'll have to beg her, Barb. I'll swallow my pride. I'll get down on my knees if I have to. If I can just get Jade to give me forty-eight hours of grace, the company money will hit my account and I can pay her back cleanly without Zayn ever finding out I lent money from her years ago.”Natasha scoffs, crossing her arms tightly. “You think she'll give you grace after the way she just looked at you? When do you get it into your thick skull that she doesn't care about you? Not even one bit.”“She loved me for years!” Daniel fires back, his voice cracking with delusional hope. “She’s angry, yes, but if she sees me more broken, desperate, crying—she’ll give me the two days I’m asking for. She has to. I’ll make her believe I’m entirely at her mercy.”I watch
آخر تحديث: 2026-06-10
Chapter: Chapter 108: Every Woman for Herself~BARBARA~“You're a monster,” I choke out, my rehearsed tears spilling over. But this time the dampness on my cheeks is born of true and pure terror of what Jade is capable of. She’s changed. The girl we used to manipulate is completely gone. “You're just like Zayn now. You're a Hemsworth.”Jade pulls her cellphone back, sliding it neatly into her designer bag (I wish the bag belonged to me). She looks at me one last time with an expression of disgust, and a mocking smile curls up the corners of her mouth.“No, Barbara,” she says softly, standing up and walking toward the door with an effortless elegance that makes me want to cry over my pathetic life. “I'm just a woman who finally learned how to protect herself from fake friends like you and Daniel. Thirty thousand dollars. Tomorrow night. Or I hand this picture to the district attorney and make the post online.” “You can't do that,” Natasha manages, her voice shaking. Deep down, she knows terribly well that Jade would, in fact, do
آخر تحديث: 2026-06-09
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