Chapter: Chapter 005: The City I Left. The Faces I Can’t. Selene's POVSix years laterThe sun cuts through the glass of Berlin’s tallest skyscraper, falling in sharp lines across the boardroom table. Twenty of Europe’s sharpest minds sit in polished suits, their eyes turned toward me.Selene Quinn.Not Rowe. Not Ashbourne. Just me.Finally!I stood at the head of the conference table, confidently surveying the room, presenting a vision for Aether Consortium’s AI expansion.“The implementation timeline is set for eighteen months,” I explained, projecting the authority I had developed over the past six years. “With conservative estimates, we’ll have at least a three-year advantage over our closest competitors.”The room went silent for the three heartbeats after I had finished explaining, then the questioning began.They were sharp and rapid, intended to slice through pretence and expose vulnerabilities. But I have armoured myself with ambition and the necessity to succeed over the last six years."What’s the projected ROI on the neural netwo
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-07-29
Chapter: Chapter 004: The SecretSelena's POV The door clicks shut behind me, as I stand outside the clinic with the results in my hand, my mind racing, signs of the end of everything I thought I understood about my life. I strolled down the sidewalk, a cheap grey building tucked between a liquor store and a check-cashing establishment, holding a folded truth that doesn’t care about my plans. "You're pregnant." Three syllables. Three weeks have passed. And just like that, everything broke again. The cars' honking chaos on the street grew fainter as Cassia's voice invaded my mind, sharp and intentional: “You think this is your house? You’re just a passing phase. A pity project. A mistake Lucien’s too embarrassed to fix.” Then my stepmother’s voice hits louder than ever, “Why don’t you just vanish? Or better yet—just die. No one would even notice a shadow.” Then the most cutting remark of all...Cassia again, her tone dripping with malice: “Lucien only cares for me. I’ll turn him against you. He hates yo
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-07-28
Chapter: Chapter 003: The Wife I Didn't Choose.Lucien’s POV Six months. That was how long I had been awake in this mansion with her. I spent the first week trying to figure out if I was hallucinating. The second week, I was waiting for someone to tell me the truth. And the rest? Watching her. Every move. Every habit. Every lie stitched into her calm, tidy smile. She called herself my wife. She brought me meals like we were married. Walked around this house like she owned it. Like she belonged here. And the worst part? She was good at it. She… was quiet, careful. There was no perfume in her trail, no fake giggles. No overstepping. She did not touch me unless it was necessary. Did not speak unless I asked. She acted like she was waiting for something. Or hiding something. And I don’t trust people who hide behind silence. Her name is Selene. I figured that out the day I asked who the hell she was, and she said it like she expected me to know. My wife, she said. The woman I was supposed to marry was Cassia Rowe. I remembe
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-07-28
Chapter: Chapter 002: The Man Who Forgot MeSelene's POV It's been a month since my name changed to Mrs. Ashbourne. Thirty days of being a wife in name only to a man I had never spoken to before we were forced together by paper and by cruelty. I sat in the kitchen with my lukewarm coffee, the quiet pressing into my skin like a second layer. Thirty days of solitude, interrupted only by the sounds of machines sustaining his life and my voice filling the void. I've constantly cleaned his immobile body, brushed his teeth, and cared for a man during his endless slumber. I whispered stories to him as he lay still, like a corpse, anything to make the oppressive atmosphere feel less like a grave. Even his family cut him off, abandoning him like discarded furniture the moment the doctor spoke of possibilities of extensive brain damage and unlikely recovery. There was no nurse, no international specialist flying in, just me. Uncle Benedict was clear during his last visit; his word still made my stomach turn. “You don't have to ke
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-07-26
Chapter: Chapter 001: Mrs. Ashbourne Selene's Pov My heart is filled with excitement as I burst into the cab waiting right in front of me. I graduated today with honour, the top in my class at Willbrook City College, and I couldn't stop smiling. Four years of eighteen-hour study sessions, surviving on constant noodles and determination, watching my course mates go back to their families who always check on them while I sat alone in my dorm room, but I had done it. The ceremony had been small; most graduating families filled the auditorium cheering up their own while I sat at the back seat clapping for my own name when they called it. But it doesn’t matter anymore; I had something that was mine, something worth the pain. The sunlight filtered through the cab windows, making everything seem achievable and optimistic. At twenty-three, for the first time I feel liberated. “You work here or something?” the cab driver said, interrupting my thoughts. His gaze shifted toward the massive iron gate ahead, ornate and cold,
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-07-25
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