Chapter 4: A Shocking Realization

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• Shattered Vows   Chapter 116 — Trust Is a Choice

  The morning sun cut through Isla Carter’s curtains like a blade, highlighting the quiet dust particles that floated lazily in the air. The apartment was still—eerily so. The kind of stillness that followed a storm but made you wonder whether another one was already brewing.She sat at the edge of her bed, elbows on her knees, cradling a cup of black coffee that had long gone cold. The events of the past week felt like a surreal movie, one she hadn’t asked to star in. Celeste’s exposure. The boardroom takedown. The media circus. Killian Blackwood’s silent strength beside her.She didn’t know what to do with it all.A knock at her door drew her from the haze.When she opened it, Killian stood there—tall, composed, and uncharacteristically casual in jeans and a fitted navy sweater. He looked more like the man she’d once imagined in daydreams than the polished billionaire he often presented to the world.“I brought you breakfast,” he said, lifting a paper bag and a tray with two coffees.

• Shattered Vows   Chapter 115 — A Fire Rekindled

  The chaos at the community center had left Isla sleepless again. She sat curled up in her living room, nursing a lukewarm cup of tea that she’d long forgotten to drink. Her phone buzzed constantly—concerned volunteers, staff members, reporters all wanting a statement.But Isla Carter wasn’t ready to talk. Not yet.The red spray-painted words still haunted her:“Your voice is louder than it should be. Stay quiet.”She traced them in her mind over and over, hearing them in Celeste’s voice, cold and venomous. But even then, part of her refused to believe Celeste could go so far. Part of her still clung to reason. To logic.Unfortunately, the world she lived in now obeyed neither.A knock at her door broke her from her thoughts. Not a knock, really—more like pounding.Killian Blackwood.Of course.She opened the door and met his wild, furious eyes. He pushed past her before she could even say a word.“Where’s the footage?” he asked, breath ragged.“What footage?”“The center’s security ca

• Shattered Vows   Chapter 114 – When Shadows Strike

  The storm arrived without warning.Isla Carter had barely slept since the envelope. The image of her and Killian in that stolen kiss—something private, tender, and unguarded—being weaponized filled her with a familiar dread. A dread she had thought she’d buried.She sat at her dining table, surrounded by documents, newspaper clippings, and a laptop with multiple tabs open. Headlines were already popping up.“Killian Blackwood’s Secret Wife: Who is Isla Carter?”“Celeste Winslow Speaks Out: Betrayal and Blackmail Behind Broken Engagement?”Her stomach clenched. The story was spinning out of control. And Celeste had pulled every possible string.Killian burst through her door that morning, uninvited but not unwelcome. His usually neat appearance was disheveled, his jaw tight, hair mussed from dragging his hand through it too many times. The stress was eating at him too.“I just got off a call with the board,” he said without preamble. “They’re concerned.”“About the photos?” Isla asked,

• Shattered Vows   Chapter 113 – The First Real Test

  The morning after their quiet kiss and promise of “one day at a time,” Isla Carter woke with a strange weight in her chest. Not the kind that paralyzed—no, it was heavier in meaning than in dread. It was the first time in a long while she had allowed herself to feel something close to hope.But she also knew hope had a sharp edge. And loving Killian Blackwood was never without risk.She stretched her arms and walked barefoot into the small kitchen of her apartment. As she waited for the kettle to boil, her phone buzzed. A message lit the screen.Killian:Good morning. I hope today is kind to you. And if it’s not, call me. I want to be part of the hard days, too.Isla stared at the message for a long moment before typing a response.Isla:Morning. I’ll let you know how it goes. And... thank you.She didn’t say more. She couldn’t—not yet. The trust she’d extended him the day before still trembled like a newly formed bridge. One wrong step, and it might collapse.But Killian had been pat

• Shattered Vows   Chapter 112 – Healing in the Small Things

  The days that followed their walk through the city felt like a cautious unfolding. Like watching spring try to bloom in the last frost of winter. Isla Carter kept to her routine, but there was a shift—a gentle curiosity toward what it might mean to forgive someone who had shattered her once, yet now seemed determined to rebuild her trust one action at a time.She didn’t move back in with Killian Blackwood. That would have been too much, too fast. But they began seeing each other more frequently, in small, quiet spaces that didn’t require grand statements or promises. Coffee shops. Bookstores. Walks at twilight. Each moment carried the weight of unspoken questions—and slowly, the tentative answers began to take root.One late afternoon, Isla sat at her kitchen counter with her laptop open and a cup of chamomile tea steaming beside her. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard as she re-read the proposal she had been working on for weeks—an initiative aimed at funding inner-city literacy pro

• Shattered Vows   Chapter 111 – Unwritten Futures

  The morning after reading Killian's letter, Isla awoke with an unfamiliar feeling fluttering in her chest. It wasn’t joy, not quite. Nor was it relief. It was a strange, tentative hope. The kind that stretches slowly across the edges of a heart that has been too long guarded.Sunlight filtered in through the curtains, catching the dust motes dancing in the air. Isla lay still for a few more minutes, clutching the letter she had placed under her pillow the night before. It had become something of a talisman—a fragile reminder that change, though painful, could bring clarity.She eventually rose and moved through the motions of her morning routine, brushing her teeth, making coffee, checking emails. But everything felt different. Lighter.When her phone buzzed on the counter, she jumped slightly. Killian.**Killian**: "Can I see you today? No pressure. Just... a walk maybe."Isla stared at the message for a long while. Her fingers hovered over the screen before she typed back.**Isla**: "Give