Chapter: Chapter 0131Alessandro stood at his bedroom patio the next morning, hands fused into his pocket as the cold morning breeze wafted through him like a mocking reminder of the storm and ache waging a war in his chest. He was all dressed up in something casual and ready to drive out of the villa that had turned into hell for him in the past twelve hours. He hadn't even checked up on Louisa. Stepping into the bedroom two doors away would mean peeling off scabs from a fresh injury.His phone rang in his pocket and when he reached for it, Eric’s number was displayed. “What's the report?” His voice was ragged like wheels grinding on stones.“Get here now, Don. We are fucked.” The door slammed shut behind Alessandro as he forced his legs down to the room Louisa had spent the night in. He knocked once. Twice. Thrice. Only silence and the echoes of the heavy thump of his knuckle on the door responded. “Louisa,” He called, her name tasting like something bittersweet in his mouth.With his patience runn
Last Updated: 2025-12-01
Chapter: Chapter 0130The dinner was silent.And Louisa hated every bit of the suffocating tension between them. Only the cutlery clinked against the plates and the intense look he had pinned on her as she brought the fork to her mouth in a robotic motion. He was yet to realize her betrayal but she’d just found something shocking that had her rethinking every single thing that had gone down in the past months. He knew her even before she ever met him. He stalked her or probably had men taking photos of every single thing she did. Once in the kitchen a couple of minutes later, with hands stiff under the cold running faucet and lost in the storm that was her mind, only Alessandro’s warm hold on her waist pulled her back. “We shouldn't hide things from each other” His thumb rubbed her midriff subtly. “We did anyway,” she scoffed. He spun her around and cupped her face in his palm. “I–” he faltered to search for the right words. “I only happened to witness that bastard raise his voice at you in public a
Last Updated: 2025-12-01
Chapter: Chapter 0129Bang!The retort’s steel door shut with a cold slam, fire crackling from behind the hot furnace as Alessandro stood a few distances away with both hands tight in his pocket. The air was thick with an acrid smell oozing from the retort. “The car’s been towed to the scrap yard, everything appears to be quite normal except those cops down there.” Eric stood next to him, mirroring his rigid stance. “You know what they need” “I’ll have their twenty percent wired and they should be on their way.” Alessandro began moving and Eric followed, their footsteps thudding in sync down the empty crematorium space while the retort rumbled faintly behind. He pushed the door open and got out into the scrapyard covered with heaps of metals and broken car parts littered across the grounds. Two police men in uniforms stood at the corner chugging down beer and chatting lowly between themselves. “What's the report?” Alessandro asked as soon as he approached them. The first man tipped his beer glas
Last Updated: 2025-11-30
Chapter: Chapter 0128“Remember the deal, Louisa. If you love Alessandro, you won't warn him” Gleb flashed her a smile, his hand sliding up to her thigh but she was quick to swat it off, hands tight on her bag. He smirked, reached for his contact card, and slid it into her hands. She bolted out of the car immediately, slammed it shut, and watched it zoom away. Her lashes fluttered and tears rolled down her cheek. Dabbing her eyes off she turned to stare at the building right in front of her. She was at the city hospital. The backlit LED lettering displayed the hospital's name in silver hues—clean and modern. Through the transparent glass door, she could see the nurses move about, and a few other people her mind could barely even comprehend moved by in a blur. “Lilian Delaney, please” she said to one of the nurses as soon as she stepped into the nurse's station. She had no idea how she could wear a pretentious look to Alessandro once she was back at the Villa. Not after giving in to those men’
Last Updated: 2025-11-30
Chapter: Chapter 0127One after the other, Louisa’s eyes followed the men who filed out after locking the briefcases stashed with cash. She was now alone in the room with just the unfamiliar man backing her on the table and dragging smokes from a thick cigarette stick. “I'm inviting you to sit, Louisa,” the man said, gesturing towards one of the vacant chairs. Her legs remained unmoving. Heart thumping. “You know my name and it's only right I know yours” He didn't respond right away—only the soft burn of his cigarette did. With resignation, she stealthily turned on her phone to alert Alessandro, but before she could send her text, the doorknob turned and someone stepped in. Before she could glance over her shoulders, her arm was seized again by a callous palm and her body hauled forward. “It's you…from the banquet?” She whispered amidst struggling to break free from his grasp. It was the same man whom Alessandro had shot when he wouldn't stop making crazy insinuations about her, and here he w
Last Updated: 2025-11-30
Chapter: Chapter 0126Louisa stood in the park—A hospital’s park. It was mid-afternoon now. Patients strolled about. Birds chirped and the wind blew. This was where Eve had asked them to meet without any further information. Now she waited, her red dress from earlier still on as she made little to no effort to change. “Did I keep you out here for long?” She heard and snapped her head up. Her heart skipped. Eve looked different. She was paler and skinnier than she’d ever known. Louisa watched her approach with a nasal cannula attached to her nostrils, an IV pole rolling in her left hand, and a bonnet on. “Eve?” “Louisa.” she cracked a smile. Once she was near, Louisa drew her into a hug. She felt so fragile and bony and without another word to each other, they both walked to a bench and sat. “You look so beautiful, Louisa. I'm glad to see you again.” Eve said with a tight-lipped smile. Louisa’s shoulders sagged as she forced a smile. Whatever she looked like physically was only a farce co
Last Updated: 2025-11-30
Chapter: SIX: Survive or die trying.Ophelia. For a moment everyone stood back, watching as the realism of this game crashed down on us.The timer had begun ticking and looking over my shoulder at it— I saw it read nine minutes and thirty seconds. No one was moving yet and the time didn't care to pause along with us. The was a grave silence, one that mocked and dared us to make a move. The outstretched plank outside creaked softly and cold air whirled into the room.“Move boy,” a bald man stepped forward and tugged at the first guy in front whose whole body visibly shook with fright. The force of the push lunged him forward and once his feet touched the plank, it made a loud creaking sound.We all recoiled. The pressure in the air doubled over as I flattened a palm against my chest to soothe the erratic thump of my heart. The guy whimpered as he kept calm on the wood to steady himself and after a wait that seemed to drag on forever, he finally made a move. “He is moving. We should join.” One of those high school k
Last Updated: 2025-11-30
Chapter: FIVE: Pray to the gods…only they can save you.Ophelia.“Hey, keep it down. Most of us are trying to have a good sleep here”My teeth gnashed and I immediately wrapped both my hands around my arms to soothe myself from the sudden cold that clogged my chest.Who in their right mind would sleep peacefully when there were hordes of grotesque creatures roaming down the building? What in God’s name had I walked into! My stomach dipped with a bitter bile and I clutched my throat to keep me from puking right there on the floor. Everything happening here was already a complete mess, and I couldn't afford to create another.The heavens knew how bad I hated horror shows, how insanely paranoid I got at the slightest discomfort and it still chose to use my one weakness against me.Suddenly a horn blared thickly, the kind you’d hear during one of those fire emergencies. The lights stopped flickering and golden hues filled the room, rattling everyone. Even the ones who’d supposedly been having a peaceful nap, jerked up with eyebrows twitchin
Last Updated: 2025-11-06
Chapter: FOUR: Second chance…in hell.Ophelia.I don't know how long I lay bleeding out in the now dark atmosphere for, but it was pitiful how no one had noticed my body yet.No ambulance like I expected. No press taking photos or police officers marking X as the spot of a murder scene. No frightened screams.Just hollow silence and crickets. The next time my eyes fluttered open, I looked up. There was a bleak light shining above me, and like an alien spacecraft, it sucked my soul—an out-of-body experience. I’d resigned to my ill fate at this point and with eyes shut, I just let myself get carried away by the wind, or maybe an unseen force but the pull was like a magnet on something metallic. With my soul halfway through the air and a bit closer to the light, there was a subtle shift in the atmosphere.Some dark energy suddenly swirled around me. A gasp left my lips sharply when it engulfed me as though trying to possess me. My lashes fluttered open and the sight before me had my bones frozen to the core. What was thi
Last Updated: 2025-11-06
Chapter: THREE: Left for dead.Ophelia.I was dangling from the balcony of a four-story hotel building. “Please…” I whimpered, looking over my shoulders to the bare ground where there wasn't even a car waiting for me to land on if I ever let go of this railing and for a moment I imagined my skull cracking open and my blood spilling like oil slick across the tarred ground.The media would pick this up real quick. My pictures would be branded all over New York’s billboards with the tag ‘gone too soon’ Fear gradually crawled under my skin like needles, pricking every nerve in me until my vision blacked out for a second.My legs flailed mid-air, the bones in my arm stretching as I clung tightly onto cold rails, my manicured nails were at the verge of breaking from the fierce vigor of digging them into the iron.“Please Brandon…help!” I cried out, hot tears burning down my cheek. For a moment the realization and panic flashed raw and wide in his eyes and I thought maybe, just maybe he’d finally realize what madness t
Last Updated: 2025-11-06
Chapter: TWO: Static on channel sixOphelia.The room drummed with something eerie, the atmosphere narrowing on me when the patio door slid open.From afar, thunder rumbled and lightning struck across the walls in a flash causing me to stumble back on my feet. The flimsy curtains in the room flailed from the sudden wind and then a droplet of rain hit the ceiling once, twice, third and cued the heavy downpour of rain in a loud ferocious cry as soon as the heavens opened. Behind me the same news kept playing out like a loop, the voice growing more static and carrying through the heavy downpour outside.Then he showed up at the door…Brandon, my fiancé. Dark suits, handsome and tall on the patio.My shoulder slumped in subtle relief, my hand tremors subsiding instantly. Oh, I thought I'd been caught up in some horror movie where the monster was about to walk out moments after that dreadful silence and the tension spiked. “Ophelia” he called, shuffling close to me with practiced calm. “Brandon!” I cried out, voice squeak
Last Updated: 2025-11-06
Chapter: ONE: The fall from grace.OpheliaCoffee shop, wet evening. “It’s 6 pm in Los Angeles and there have been reported cases of bodies found in dark alleys across several parts of the city…”The reporter on the TV hanging on the wall adjacent to me blares out the news report for the day. Something I couldn't even be bothered about when I had my own life crisis currently rolling out like a nightmare before my very eyes. I leaned back into the table, fingers fiddling with the documents, about ten of them stapled together at the left edge. The more I flipped through each script the more my whole world blurred from the tears pooling in my eyes. Alopecia. The word hung thick, heavy, and branded like a cursed logo on every single document, each letter coming alive to mock me with the devil's horn. This one word had my company trending in the worst ways for three days in a row. I’d spent four years building ‘Veline Cosmetics’ into a multi-billion-dollar cosmetic and hair line company, famous and globally rising to
Last Updated: 2025-11-06
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