Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 81 - Chapitre 90

By the time I walked back into the mall, the noise felt overwhelming.Bright lights. Music. People laughing and moving from store to store.But my mind was still outside in that quiet corner behind the building.Still replaying Kai’s words.Did you enjoy last night?My face warmed again just thinking about it.I shoved my hands into my pockets and forced myself to focus.Lisa’s voice saved me from my thoughts.“ELIAS!”I looked up.She was standing inside a clothing store doorway, waving dramatically like she had spotted a celebrity.“There you are!” she said when I walked over. “Where did you disappear to?”“Just outside,” I replied casually.Bella raised an eyebrow.“Outside?”“Fresh air.”Lisa narrowed her eyes suspiciously.“You look like you argued with someone.”“I did not.”“You did,” she insisted.Bella leaned closer.“Was it Kai?”My heart skipped.“What? No.”Lisa and Bella exchanged a look.That look.The one girls give each other when they think they know something you are

People always thought they understood me.That was the funny part.They saw the loud version.The confident version.The girl who posted pictures, bought expensive things, and talked like the world was a stage.They thought that was the whole story.It was easier that way.No one asked deeper questions.No one noticed the details.Except one person.Isabella.Which was extremely annoying.The car ride back from the mall was loud like usual. Riley was arguing with Elias about music choices, Vane was occasionally laughing at their nonsense, and the sunset outside the window painted everything orange and gold.I sat in the front seat, pretending to scroll through my phone.But my eyes kept drifting to the rearview mirror.To Isabella.She sat beside Riley with her head slightly turned toward the window, watching the passing city lights.Quiet.Calm.Too calm.“Lisa,” Elias said suddenly.“Hm?”“You have been staring at the mirror for five minutes.”I blinked and immediately looked down a

Dinner was chaos.Not the bad kind.The loud, ridiculous kind that somehow always happened when all of us were together.Riley had finally produced something that looked like pasta. Bella insisted it was edible. Elias and Vane were arguing about whether the sauce needed more salt.But I barely heard any of it.Because Isabella was standing across the kitchen island.And every time I looked up—She was already looking at me.Which was extremely irritating.Because Isabella did not stare like normal people.She observed.Quietly.Calmly.Like she was trying to solve a puzzle.And apparently that puzzle was me.“You are doing it again,” she said suddenly.I blinked.“Doing what?”“Staring.”I scoffed.“I am not staring.”“You are.”“You are very confident for someone who is clearly imagining things.”She leaned against the counter, crossing her arms loosely.“I am not imagining anything.”“Maybe you just like attention.”Her eyebrow lifted slightly.“From you?”I smiled sweetly.“Everyon

The house had finally quieted down.Not completely—Riley and Bella were still laughing somewhere upstairs—but the loud chaos from earlier had faded into something softer.Calmer.For the first time that night, I noticed something strange.Kai was gone.He had disappeared earlier without saying much, which honestly was not surprising. Kai had a habit of leaving when the house got too loud or the conversations got too personal.But the moment I realized he was not here anymore, something shifted in the atmosphere.Like the air got lighter.Like someone had removed the one person who constantly watched everything.I walked into the kitchen to grab a drink.The lights were dimmer now, the counters mostly cleaned, the scent of earlier cooking still faint in the air.I poured water into a glass.“You escape a lot.”I did not turn around.“Isabella.”She stepped into the kitchen slowly.“How did you know it was me?”“You have quiet footsteps.”“And you notice?”“I notice everything.”She lea

Sunday mornings in the mansion were strangely quiet.Too quiet.The kind of quiet that made everything from the night before feel distant and unreal.Sunlight streamed through the tall glass windows in the living room, painting warm stripes across the floor. Riley had fallen asleep on the couch sometime after the movie ended, still holding a half-empty bag of chips.Bella had already disappeared upstairs.Lisa sat across from me at the breakfast bar, scrolling through her phone while pretending not to yawn.I stirred my coffee slowly.My mind was still replaying last night.The tension in the kitchen.The weird energy between Isabella and Lisa.The way Riley kept staring at them like she had discovered some secret reality show.And the way Lisa kept glancing toward the hallway, as if she was expecting someone to appear.“Why are you staring at your coffee as if it insulted you?” Lisa asked.I blinked.“I am thinking.”“Dangerous activity.”I scoffed.“You are one to talk.”She shrugge