ログインCHAPTER 34: Julian’s PanicJulian’s POVI slammed my laptop shut so hard the screen cracked. “What the hell do you mean it’s gone? The article. The photos. All of it—deleted!”My assistant’s voice trembled over the speaker. “Sir, every link is dead. Sites are showing 404 errors. Even the cached versions got wiped. Whoever did this has serious pull.”I paced the living room, phone gripped tight. “Find out who. Now. I want names.”Lila slipped in wearing nothing but my silk robe, hair tousled like she’d just rolled out of bed. She slid her arms around my waist from behind. “Julian, baby, come back to bed. Let me help you forget all this stress.”I shoved her off, harder than I meant to. “Not now, Lila. Tessa’s article vanished. Someone’s shielding her. Felix? Has to be that bastard.”Lila’s face twisted. “Again with Tessa? She’s done with you. Move on.”“Move on?” I laughed, sharp and ugly. “She’s mine. She was always mine. I watched her for through those feeds. Every tear, every meetin
CHAPTER 33: Rules of the HouseTessa’s POVThe heavy doors of Felix’s estate slammed shut behind us. I kicked off my heels right there, not caring where they landed. My blood was still boiling from those cameras. Fourteen months. The bastard had been watching me for fourteen months.“Markus, double the perimeter tonight,” Felix barked into his phone as we walked. He didn’t even glance at me yet, but his free hand stayed glued to the small of my back, steering me like I might vanish if he let go. “No one in or out without my direct approval. And get the night crew on the roof access points. I want thermal scans every hour.”I rolled my eyes and pulled away, heading straight for the wide staircase. “Felix, we just spent three hours tearing apart my office. I’m tired. Can we skip the war room briefing until morning?”“No.” His voice cracked. He ended the call and caught up in two strides, grabbing my wrist not hard, but firm enough that I stopped. “We do this now. Upstairs. My study.”I y
Felix’s POVI watched Tessa stand there in the foyer, her chin up like she owned the damn fortress already. Good. That fire was exactly why I’d brought her here. No more running around the city like a target.“Felix, I meant what I said,” she told me, voice sharp. “I’m not hiding forever. I have meetings. I have a company to run. Julian doesn’t get to dictate my schedule.”I crossed the room in three strides and stopped right in front of her. “You think I’m locking you in a cage? Wrong. I’m giving you the high ground. But first, we make sure there are no more surprises.”She narrowed her eyes. “What kind of surprises?”“The kind that end up in leaked photos. The kind that make investors call you at midnight screaming. We’re sweeping every place you’ve been. Starting with your office at the Crown.”Tessa laughed once, short and bitter. “My office? Julian hasn’t been inside it in months. I changed the locks myself.”“People like Julian don’t need keys,” I said. I pulled out my phone and
"Julian, I don’t care about your excuses," I snapped, my voice cold enough to freeze the air inside the armored SUV. "Do not call this phone again."I ended the call and shoved the device into my purse before he could utter another pathetic word. My hand trembled not from fear, but from the adrenaline of finally cutting the last frayed thread of my old life.Felix sat beside me, his gaze fixed on the road ahead. He hadn’t said a word while I spoke to Julian. He didn’t reach out to soothe me, either. He simply allowed me the space to be lethal."He’s terrified," Felix said, his voice flat, devoid of sympathy. "He knows the moment he loses control of the narrative, he loses his leverage.""He doesn't have any," I replied, looking out the window at the blurred city lights. "He’s a ghost haunting a house I’ve already burned down."The car didn’t slow down for the city’s residential districts. It surged forward, taking us to the outskirts where the concrete skyline finally gave way to dens
Chapter 30: The Ambush I walked out of Julian’s clinic. I did not look back.My phone buzzed immediately. I answered it."Are you looking at your screen?" Francesca asked. Her voice clipped fast and urgent."I am walking to my car. What is it?""Check your email. Now. I am sending extra security to the lobby."I opened my inbox. I clicked the top link. It redirected me to the city’s largest gossip publication.The headline screamed in bold text."The Widow of Crown Group: How Tessa Watson Bought Her Empire."Below the headline was a photograph. It was an intimate photo of me from my first year of marriage. Julian had taken it while I was changing in our bedroom.The leak was credited to an unknown entity—an anonymous source—but my instincts immediately pointed to one person. I suspected Julian. It felt exactly like his desperation weaponized into a smear campaign. The article claimed I manipulated wealthy men, used my marriage for funding, and blackmailed my way to the top."Tessa?"
Chapter 29: Therapy SessionJulian ran a high-end private therapy practice. It was how he originally manipulated everyone in his life—he weaponized his profession. He played the empathetic listener, the calm professional, gathering secrets and using them to control his victims.So, I decided to play his game.I opened my laptop and booked his premium two-hour slot under a fake name.The next afternoon, I walked into his clinic.Julian was sitting at his mahogany desk, reviewing files. When he looked up and saw me standing in the doorway, his face lit up with a sickeningly hopeful smile."Tessa." He stood up so fast his chair rolled backward. He adjusted his tie, his chest puffing out. "You came. You actually came.""I booked a session, Julian. Sit down.""You want to work on us. I knew it. I knew you'd come to your senses." He rushed around the desk, reaching for my hands. "We can fix this."I stepped back and sat down on the leather patient couch. "I came to talk about my psychologic
CHAPTER THIRTEENI woke up slowly, my eyelids felt heavy at first, then they fluttered open. The room was dim, machines hummed softly nearby. A single flower rested on the small table beside my bed. Its petals were a soft, creamy white with the faintest blush of pink, delicate and perfectly formed
CHAPTER ELEVENA few days later, my condition had worsened drastically. My vision faded more each day. Sometimes I could barely see shapes or make out words. My head hurt more. My nose bled more. My mouth bled more.Yet I forced myself to continue. With a weak hand, I picked up my phone to dial Jul
CHAPTER SEVENRecord: Oh fuck, you are so tight, baby!Then, right after Julian’s voice, were slaps as if he were pounding into something. I looked at my cracked screen, unable to fathom what I was listening to.Later that night, the banana bread forgotten, I lay on the bed, awaiting his arrival.H
CHAPTER SIXI decided to stay at home for the day as I searched online for meals I could prepare for Julian before he got home without so much stress. I needed to tell him about my condition. It'd be so cruel of me to leave this world without letting him know about this. He would blame himself for







