Lahat ng Kabanata ng LOVE BENEATH RIVALRY : Kabanata 121 - Kabanata 130

The room felt smaller the longer Robert spoke, as if the walls themselves were inching closer, listening, bearing witness, refusing to give anyone space to breathe. The sterile scent of disinfectant mixed with something heavier—regret, guilt, words that had waited too long to be spoken.Robert’s shoulders sagged as though the weight of decades had finally found permission to settle.“I hadn’t even informed her of her mother’s death the entire time,” he confessed quietly, his voice roughened by age and remorse. He didn’t look at Elisa when he said it, as if he couldn’t bear to face the consequences of that truth. “I thought she would’ve already heard of it from the Greyhound's themselves. I truly believed someone else would tell her.”He let out a breath that trembled more than he wanted it to.“But they didn’t,” he continued, bitterness threading through his tone. “And I wasn’t going to add the guilt of her mother’s death to her troubles.”Elisa’s fingers curled slightly against the b

After Leonard left the hospital, he sped home, leaving his procession in the dust.The cars behind him struggled to keep up, tires screeching against asphalt as his vehicle cut through the road like a man being hunted by his own thoughts. The city lights blurred past his windshield, distorted by the unshed tears burning his eyes and the fury clawing at his chest. His hands were tight around the steering wheel, knuckles pale, veins bulging out as if the car itself were the only thing tethering him to the present. Every red light felt like an insult. Every second stretched too long. His mind replayed voices—words, accusations, truths he had never wanted spoken aloud—until his head felt like it would split open.The moment he arrived back at his estate, the head maid waited to welcome him by the door, offering a greeting.“Welcome back, sir—”He walked past her without even acknowledging her presence.Not a glance. Not a pause. Not even the courtesy of recognizing that another human bein

The two hours Leonard had given were not wasted.They were obeyed with precision so cold it bordered on cruelty.By the time the deadline expired, Luca’s belongings were already packed—every tiny garment folded, every toy placed away with clinical detachment, as though the act of packing itself were a severance ritual. There were no lingering touches, no pauses for sentiment, no whispered goodbyes spoken on Leonard’s behalf.The nanny descended the stairs slowly, each step heavy with confusion and grief.She held Luca securely in her arms, the infant nestled against her chest, his small fingers curled into the fabric of her uniform as if clinging to the only stability he had ever known. His eyes were wide and searching, darting around the familiar halls as though sensing that something irreversible was happening.Her expression was sad—still confused.She didn’t understand Leonard’s sudden change towards the child.Nothing about this made sense.Leonard stood near the entrance hall, p

“He looks exactly like you.”The sentence hangs in the room.For a fleeting second, it feels harmless. Almost warm. Words that once would have brought Leonard pride, satisfaction, even smug joy.But now —Leonard’s face darkens instantly.The change is immediate, violent in its suddenness. His jaw tightens, the muscles along his neck going rigid, his eyes sharpening into something cold and warning. The warmth that had existed moments ago evaporates, replaced by something heavy and dangerous.“What did you say?” he asks.His voice low, but there was no mistaking the threat laced beneath it.Elisa falters.She notices it then — the shift in his mood so abrupt it left her disoriented. She finally met his gaze, confusion knitting her brows as she searched his face, trying to understand why he looked angry. Why something so simple had provoked this reaction.“I… I said Luca looks just like you,” she repeated carefully, her voice uncertain now. “Did I say something wrong? Why do you look so

After Leonard left the hospital, the silence he abandoned behind was not peaceful—it was suffocating.Elisa remained seated on the ground where he had left her for only a second before the pain struck her chest with brutal force. It came suddenly, violently, as though her heart had clenched in panic alongside her mind. Her fingers curled into the thin fabric of the hospital gown as her breathing fractured into sharp, shallow gasps. The realization that Leonard had truly left—had turned his back on her and Luca so completely, so decisively—crashed into her all at once, and her body simply could not endure it.Her chest burned. Her lungs refused to cooperate.“No… no, please…” she whispered hoarsely to the empty room, her voice trembling and thin, as though even sound required strength she no longer had. “You can’t… you can’t just leave…”Her vision swam, the sterile white of the room blurring at the edges as panic overtook reason. Desperately, she reached out toward the emergency assis