Chapter: CHAPTER 8- TAKEN AWAYNobody spoke for a while after Damien said it.The silence in that bedroom felt heavier than anything Margaret or my father could have filled. There was nothing left to argue once a man like Damien Chen had already decided something in front of everyone. "Excuse me?" Margaret found her voice first, the way she always did, after being silenced in a conversation. "This is her home, Mr. Chen, whatever you saw tonight does not mean you can remove her just like that from this family, where she has lived her whole life." "She has not lived in this house," Damien said, without raising his voice, "She has worked in it. There is a difference, and I think you know exactly what it is, because you have spent seven years making very sure she never forgot it." My father stepped forward then, one hand raised like he could physically hold the conversation in place, and his voice came out lower than Margaret's, more careful, the voice he used when he thought reasonableness alone could talk his way
Last Updated: 2026-07-23
Chapter: CHAPTER 7- WHAT NOBODY SAWCELESTE'S POVI did not answer him right away, because answering him meant saying my sister's name out loud in the middle of the wreckage she had made of me."Celeste." He said it again, lower this time while his thumb moved on my cheekbone in a bid to get my attention. "I already told you I saw it. So I am not asking you to tell me something I don't know. All I ask is that you reconfirm it, so I would be sure""Vivienne," I said,my words sounded faint and distinct."It was Vivienne."From the movement I saw behind his eyes, he was not surprised; rather , he was relieved that I could trust him enough to say the name myself instead of making him carry it alone."Sir, the car is ready." One of the men was back, breathless, the flashlight beam jumping across the grass as he came to a stop a few feet away like he was afraid to come any closer without permission."Good," Damien said, and then, without looking away from my face even once, "I am going to lift you now. It will hurt. I am sorr
Last Updated: 2026-07-22
Chapter: CHAPTER 6-THE FALLCELESTE'S POVMy hands hit the railing, and then there was nothing under my feet.I was falling but my mind could not even catch up with what was happening. One second I was standing there. The next, the whole world turned upside down while the garden lights below me spun in circles.Without thinking I reached out and caught hold of something, the edge of an old piece of wood from the garden frame.The rough edge tore my palm, while my body reacted to it. For one second, I was just hanging there in the air with my legs dangling freely.Hold... Please hold.The wood held..then it broke, leaving me to fall to the hedges. The branches broke below me, one after another while leaves and dirt filled my mouth. The bushes were not soft but it was better than landing on the hard ground, which was probably the reason I was still alive.For sometime I lay down there, thinking I was dead, until my body began to hurt while my back rested against the branches. I didn't feel anything was broken or
Last Updated: 2026-07-20
Chapter: CHAPTER 5- THE BILLIONAIRE CHOOSE MECELESTE'S POV"I'm so sorry," I said, moving to the sideboard to set the wine down because I was getting tired of holding it. "The merchant didn't have the 2018 immediately, they had to go to the back, it took longer than I expected and I should have called ahead to check the stock before going and I—""Sit down," my father said, cutting me off.I sat down in the empty chair, the one that had clearly been set for me, which meant I had been expected at this table tonight and nobody had thought to tell me that until the wine errand. I kept my eyes away from the man across the table and fixed them on my father."This is Damien Chen," he said. "He's here to discuss a business arrangement. A merger. And a marriage proposal."I nodded like that made sense.And then, slowly, i began to put the pieces together.The wine. The way Vivienne had been vibrating with excitement all morning. The announcement at dinner last week about an arranged marriage to one of the wealthiest men in the state. H
Last Updated: 2026-07-13
Chapter: CHAPTER 4- THE STRANGER RETURNSCELESTE'S POV"No," I said, pushing the key back across Nadia's kitchen table. "I can't accept this. It's too much."Nadia did not push it back toward me. She just left it sitting there between us, small and ordinary looking, a plain metal key on a blue keyring, and looked at me with the expression she used when she had already made up her mind about something."It's a guest room," she said. "It's been empty for eight months. My parents use it twice a year when they visit and the rest of the time it just sits there collecting dust and reminding me that I need to buy better curtains.""Nadia—""I'm not doing you a favour," she said. "I'm solving a problem. The room needs someone in it and you need somewhere to be that isn't that house. Those two things fit together very neatly.""It's not that simple.""Why not?"I opened my mouth and closed it again. The key sat on the table between us catching the morning light and I looked at it and thought about my bags in the rain and the wet card
Last Updated: 2026-07-13
Chapter: CHAPTER 3- THE WEDDING THAT WASN'T MINECELESTE'S POV"I don't need your help, I can do it myself," I said.The man looked at me for a moment, rain running off the edge of his umbrella in a thin steady stream."Are you sure?" he asked."Yes."He looked at the bags, at the soaked box in my hands, at the rain coming down between us, and then he nodded once and walked away without saying anything else.I watched him go for exactly one second and then turned back to my bags.It took three trips in the rain to get everything inside the gate and stacked under the narrow overhang beside the side entrance where at least the worst of the water could not reach it anymore. The cardboard box was already falling apart. I held the bottom of it together with both hands the entire way and set it down as carefully as I could and then stood there looking at the wet corners coming apart and breathed through my nose until the tightness in my chest eased down.I checked it, the things inside were okay.That was what mattered.I went inside and
Last Updated: 2026-07-13
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