Nobela ni Franca Joe

Serena POVOut of the blue moon my heart ached and I could feel the terrifying shock in my heart. My heart was beating so hard and I had to hold my chest “he will be fine and you will be fine” I whispered to myself.Hope lost? Yes. Giving up? No“My.. My dad.. Da..dad..dy” my words broke and it was like a mirror reflection of him in front of him.I crawled from the bed down to the floor. My mind went gaga and I wished I had pulled and tore the cops apart the day they came for him. Chills ran through my spine, sitting on the floor and looking at the wall as if my dad was going to come out through it so that I can share out of his pain or maybe someone would tell me that I was dreaming about the scenario of the cops coming to my house till this moment.Riches, power and control feels good for the little period I have been engaged in it but I would choose my old, wooden, flat, not so big bed to sleep and have my father giggle on top of my head as he says ‘goodnight my princess’ with hi

Three months. It had been three whole months since they had taken my father away in handcuffs.Three months since I stood in the middle of the street, crying like the world had ended. Because in a way, it had.My life had unraveled pretty fast after that night. Legal consultations, working three jobs, court hearings…The business my father had spent his entire life building— completely gone now. The business had already gone under a year ago due to losses, but my father had just received an opportunity for a huge grant. It was supposed to change everything.Instead, everything changed.His name was dragged through the mud, on every headline like he was some lowlife criminal. What little friends he had left disappeared. The shame was like a heavy coat I couldn’t take off.I remembered sitting by his side in court, watching helplessly as they tossed around allegations of embezzlement and fraud like they knew the truth. Like they knew him.But they didn’t.My father was framed.And the

“You did what?!”I winced as Maya dropped a tray of glasses with a loud crash behind the bar. Water and ice spilled everywhere. “I said I got married,” I repeated, lowering my voice. “To a stranger! Selena, do you hear yourself right now?”I sighed, rubbing my temples. The bar was already too loud with drunken laughter and bad music.“I know it sounds crazy.”“That’s because it is crazy!” she hissed. “Who even is this guy?”I hesitated. “I don’t know.”“And you don’t even know what he looks like.”“Not really. He wore a hoodie the whole time.”Maya blinked. “So you're telling me that you agreed to marry a dark, mysterious, hoodie-wearing stranger?”I stared at my hands. “I didn’t have a choice.”Her expression softened. “Sel—”“My dad’s all I have, Maya. I have to get him out. Even if that means marrying a man I know nothing about.”“But what if he’s a creep? What if he has, like, a dungeon and weird murder hobbies? He could be a serial killer.” I managed a weak laugh. “I'm pretty

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. It wasn't the burner Dante had given me. My personal one. Somehow it was still active but it barely had any signal in this place. I reached for it. had any signal in this place. I reached for it.It was a call from prison. Inmate name, Richard BlakeI accepted the call, voice trembling as I spoke. “Dad?”“Selena…” His voice was hoarse. Just hearing it broke something inside me.“I miss you.” I whispered.“I miss you too, baby girl. Didn’t think I’d be able to get a call out this morning,” he said. “Are you… okay?”“I’m hanging in there.”There was a pause. I could hear the distant buzz of the prison behind him. My dad sounded smaller somehow. Like those prison walls were pressing in on his soul.“Selena, listen. I don’t know how much time I have left—”“No.” My voice cracked. “Don’t say that.”“I just… I need you to be okay. You've been so strong, trying hard to hold it all together,” His breath hitched. “And I hate tha

“Stay away from Aiden.”Dante’s voice was like a blade cutting through the sound of chatter and music as we exited the ballroom. I blinked up at him. He towered over me, his tone calm but cold.“What?” I said. My head was still all over the place as I processed the fact that Aiden was his brother.Dante leaned in closer to me. “He doesn’t care about you. Whatever he told you, it’s bait.”I crossed my arms, heart pounding. “So this is jealousy now?”He laughed coldly. “Don’t flatter yourself. This marriage isn’t real. You mean nothing to me.”My chest tightened.That hurt more than I wanted to admit. Before I could respond, he turned and walked towards the car. And just like that, I was left standing alone.Again.At least, this time, there was hope.The drive back was silent. Dante was fixed on his phone, and I sat as far away from him as possible. He was the last person I wanted to be around now.I didn’t know which part stung more, that he was clearly hiding something important from

It was almost midnight and my feet were killing me.It was a friday and Blue Lounge bar was packed, as usual. It was the same old crowd, city guys in suits, too drunk to stand but somehow still cocky enough to make my skin crawl.“Selena!” my manager yelled from behind the bar. “Table nine’s drunk and rich. Go charm ‘em.”I rolled my eyes as I picked up the tray of drinks and summoned my best fake smile. “Yeah, because that always ends well.” I muttered to myself. Most of the men in the bar were sleaze bags that thought they were entitled to getting in my pants.As I walked over, I could already hear them. The loud, annoying laughter, the clink of glasses and a comment about my ass I pretended not to hear. I dropped their drinks on the table.“Three bourbons, one gin and a martini. Anything else?”One of them with a red tie and greasy hair grinned at me, licking his lips like I was dessert. “You, sweetheart.”I froze first, stopping myself from giving him a dirty look. Then I turned a