LOGINMelissa's breath hitched at his words. Slowly, she moved toward the bed. Colin shifted to make room, and she lowered herself carefully onto the mattress, keeping a respectful distance between them at first. The silence that followed was thick, charged with everything they hadn't said but should say. “I thought this was supposed to be a cuddle, not just sharing a bed,” Colin said after a while. Melissa nodded, then she shifted closer, hesitating before finally resting her head against his shoulder. He stiffened for a fraction of a second, then relaxed, his arm coming around her with a gentleness that made her heart ache."Am I… hurting you?" she whispered. "Your injuries?""No," Colin replied, his voice steady. "You're not."He then shifted even closer to wrap his hand around her. “Ahhh,” he exhaled. “That feels much like it.”Another stretch of silence passed before Melissa found the courage to speak again."I'm really sorry," she said softly. "About what happened with Richard.
Miranda’s breath caught in her throat.For a heartbeat, she couldn’t speak. The weight of his question, so simple, so devastatingly direct, hung between them, heavier than any grand declaration could have been. She saw the hope in his eyes, raw and unguarded, and something inside her that had been twisted tight with fear and doubt finally, quietly, unknotted.Her dad was right. She needed to stop thinking about the outcome; she just needed to follow her heart. She hesitated, just for a moment. Then a smile broke across her face. Noah’s face lit up with a grin so bright it could rival the morning sun. “Is that a yes?” Miranda’s smile didn’t fade. She nodded affirmatively. Noah immediately tried to leverage himself upright, hissing through his teeth as his ribs protested the movement.“Wait… does that mean we’re official? Right now? Like, boyfriend-girlfriend official? Can I tell Colin? Clara, everyone?”Miranda laughed, the sound light and bubbling up from somewhere deep. She rea
Mr. Jones led Miranda into his study, closing the door behind them to shut out the rest of the house. He gestured for her to sit, then settled into the chair across from her, his expression grave.For a long moment, he simply studied his daughter: the tension in her shoulders, the way she avoided his eyes, the exhaustion carved into her features.“Miranda,” he began gently, “I want you to be honest with me. What are your feelings for Noah?”Miranda stiffened. She’d expected this and dreaded it, and yet the directness still caught her off guard. She looked down at her hands, folded tightly in her lap.“I won’t do it,” she said, her voice defensive. “I won’t be an intruder in Noah’s life. I met his fiancée today… she’s great. A partner his family has chosen for him. I refuse to be the person who comes between that. I won’t be the reason his family falls apart or the reason he ends up in some scandal. I…”“That’s not what I asked,” Mr. Jones interrupted quietly.Miranda faltered.“I did
“It’s nothing, Mom,” Colin said quickly, perhaps a fraction too quickly. He let out a strained groan, leaning heavily on his cane to sell the performance. “Did he do anything to you?” Mrs Jones probed further. “Tell me, I’ll fight for you, okay?” Colin caught Melissa’s eye, giving her a subtle, pleading look to play along.Melissa cleared her throat, stepping forward to loop her arm gently through his. “Not at all, mom. The weight of the situation is just down on me. And..." She pointed to Colin. “He’s also exhausted. The doctors said he needs to lie down immediately. I’ll help him upstairs now.”Mrs. Jones looked between them, her maternal intuition clearly not buying the sudden shift in dynamics, but she didn't press further. “Alright. Just make sure he rests.”The walk up the grand staircase was suffocatingly awkward. Neither of them spoke, the silence between them heavy with the weight of the morning’s brutal confrontation and the sudden, forced proximity. When they finally
Noah stormed through the front doors of the Jones mansion, his body screaming in protest with every step, but sheer determination carried him forward. Melissa, who had lingered at the house to be there for Miranda, looked up in alarm at his sudden entrance.Mr. and Mrs. Jones rose quickly from their seats in the living room, their faces creased with worry at the sight of him, pale, disheveled, clearly running on nothing but adrenaline and heartbreak.“Noah,” Mrs. Jones exclaimed, hurrying toward him. “Good heavens, look at you. You should be in a hospital bed, not…”“Where is she?” Noah cut in, his voice ragged. His eyes swept the room, searching. “Where’s Miranda?”Mr. Jones and his wife exchanged a look, the weight of everything Clara had told them still heavy on their shoulders. “Son,” Mr. Jones began gently, “you’re in no condition to…”“Please.” The desperation in Noah’s voice cut through everything. “I need to see her. I need to explain. Please.”Neither of them had the heart
Both women were stunned into silence. Mr Sterling is not like every business mogul in town. To everyone, he’s someone who adores his wife and only daughter, but to the family everyone thought he loved so dearly, he's just a controlling freak. All the while, he sent his own daughter away coldly just because he didn’t want anyone to use her as his weak point. Daughters, they say, are their father’s most fragile weakness. For Mr Sterling, she is now his strongest tool. Frightened, Isla stood up, ready to leave, but another snap from her father made her return to her seat in her mother’s comfort. “I’ll settle everything over the phone. Once it’s done, you’ll go back there to show them whose daughter you are,” Mr sterling asserted. Without another hesitation, he snatched up his phone and dialed his old friend, Mr. Vale, his voice rising into an aggressive tirade the moment the call connected.In the Vale residence, Mr. Vale stood in his study, the phone pressed to his ear, wincing a
Adrian Cole did not come home that night.By morning, Miranda Jones understood something worse than abandonment had taken place.He had already moved on.The night dissolved into dawn without him, the hours stretching hollow and impersonal inside the penthouse. The city outside remained awake, rest
The air shifted.Noah’s eyes didn’t leave her face.“Wait…” he said again, slower this time, as if confirming something only he could see. “You’re really… Miranda?”Miranda froze.That name… her name… coming from a stranger should have sounded wrong.But somehow… it didn’t.Her brows furrowed sligh
Miranda stepped out of the car slowly, adjusting her sunglasses as she lifted her gaze to the building in front of her.The store was precisely what she expected.Glass walls.Polished floors.Security stationed at every entrance.Luxury... the kind she has never experienced, not even by mistake, a
Miranda stopped trying to measure time.At some point, her body adjusted to the stillness. The silence no longer felt loud; it felt… expected. Like this room, this emptiness was now part of her reality.She sat curled against the wall, her knees drawn slightly to her chest, her head resting back.F







