Chapter: Old FriendsMIREYA MOREAUAfter she left, I sat very still while his breath warmed the collar I’d buttoned so carefully, right over the mark I was hiding. My pulse was hammering in that exact spot, and I was fairly sure he’d feel it if he woke up. I allowed myself one look at the lines around his eyes and the way his jaw had finally relaxed, then turned firmly to the window and pretended I couldn’t hear my own heart.He woke somewhere over the Atlantic, and I knew it because his breath caught and he went rigid.“I’m sorry,” he said, sitting up so fast I thought he’d crack his neck. “I didn’t mean to—how long—”“Two hours.”“You should have woken me.”“You looked tired.” I shrugged and by now his ears had gone red.“Your shoulder must be numb,” he said, to the seat in front of him.“It’s fine.” I rolled it once and winced and he watched me while flexing his jaw, with a concentrated calm that made me feel nervous.“Mireya. About last night.” He began and my heart climbed into my throat and set up
Last Updated: 2026-11-05
Chapter: Awkward morningMIREYA MOREAU I woke to warmth, and for one blissful second I couldn’t remember why that mattered. Then I felt the arm around my waist and the chest against my back, and the whole night came crashing in: his mouth, his hands, the zipper, the phone.I went rigid, I had fallen asleep on the very edge of the mattress with a foot of cold sheet between us, and now there was no space between us , only Nikolai Moreau’s body fitted against mine as if we’d planned it.His breath moved the hair at my neck, slow and even, and I realized he was still asleep. I began easing out from under his arm one careful inch at a time, and he tightened his hold and pulled me back.“Don’t,” he mumbled into my hair and my heart stopped almost immediately. “Nikolai?” I called out but he didn’t answer, rather his breathing remained steady.I gently slid free and stood on the cold marble with my hand pressed to my chest, trying to keep my heart from beating its way out before walking toward the bathroom.I locke
Last Updated: 2026-11-05
Chapter: Unfinished BusinessMIREYA SARAI MOREAUI pulled him closer, and Nikolai stopped being careful.He kissed me like he’d been holding his breath for months. My fingers left his tie and found the back of his neck, and the low sound he made against my mouth went straight through me.“Say it again,” he muttered.“Say what?”“That you don’t want me to stop.”“You’ve asked me three times.” I tugged at his collar. “Are you going deaf, or just stalling?”“Checking.” His lips brushed the corner of my mouth. “Last week you told the entire board I was an arrogant dictator.”“You were an arrogant dictator.”“And tonight?”“Tonight you’re an arrogant dictator I want to kiss.”He laughed, a rough, startled sound, and I felt it against my ribs. My hands went for his shirt buttons. He caught my wrist.“Slow down.”“No.”“Mireya.” His mouth moved to the spot below my ear, and my knees stopped cooperating. “I’m trying to be a gentleman.”“You’re terrible at it.”“I’m aware.”His fingers found the tab of my zipper and still
Last Updated: 2026-11-04
Chapter: Last chanceMIREYA MOREAUThe hotel’s lights slid across the windshield, and Nikolai said, without taking his eyes off me, “Drive around the grounds.”The driver’s gaze flicked to the mirror. “Sir?”“Again. Slowly.”His hand found a small button in the console. A panel of smoked glass rose between the front seat and ours with a soft, expensive hum, and the world narrowed to leather, shadow, and the sound of my own breathing.I clutched Ricci’s signed papers to my chest like a shield.“What are you doing?”“I’m not finished talking to you.”His voice was low and rough, with an edge I had never heard. He turned in the seat to face me, one arm stretched along the back, the other hand resting on his knee, and in the dim glow of the passing lamps, his eyes looked almost black.“You told me you wanted to leave,” he said. “In there. You said no, you didn’t want to stay.”“I did want to leave.”“Then why did you sit there another ten minutes? Why did you keep looking?”Heat flooded my face. “I was gettin
Last Updated: 2026-11-03
Chapter: The Wrong Kind of PartyMIREYA MOREAUI dressed for a business meeting.Emerald silk, high neck, long sleeves, a pencil skirt that stopped just below the knee. Armor, I’d thought, as I fastened my earrings in the hotel mirror. Something sleek and untouchable for a room full of men who looked through me.Nikolai wore black. His eyes traveled over me once as I stepped into the hall, slow and unreadable, and he said only, “That will do.”The second villa sat deeper in the hills, quieter than the first. No gates, no armed men posted along the drive, only a pair of lanterns and a door that opened before we could knock. Everything about it said discretion. Everything about it said serious.Luca met us in the entrance hall in a dark jacket, a smile ready on his face.“Mr. Moreau. Mrs. Moreau.” His gaze lingered on my hand a moment too long, and Nikolai’s fingers settled at my waist. “My uncle is waiting.”He led us along a dim corridor lined with oil paintings, the air thick with incense and something warmer undern
Last Updated: 2026-11-02
Chapter: Invisible WomanMIREYA SARAI MOREAUThe room didn’t simply turn to look at us. It went silent, and then it measured us.I felt it in my spine as Nikolai’s hand guided me over the threshold. The ballroom was a cathedral of excess: gilded ceilings painted with writhing gods, Chandelier’s dripping fire onto the marble floors. Beneath the music, I could hear the low murmur of a dozen languages, none of them spoken above a whisper.The men around us wore the same mark in different places, like members of a family tree growing in the dark: faded blue tattoos peeking from beneath white cuffs, a tiny cross inked between a thumb and forefinger, knuckles scarred and thick-ringed. They wore tuxedos that cost more than my first car and wore them like armor.The women stood a half-step behind them. They glittered, silent as jewels.“Smile,” Nikolai murmured, his lips barely moving. “And stay close.”“I see it,” I whispered back. “The ink. The rings.”“Good. Don’t stare.”A long line had formed at the foot of th
Last Updated: 2026-10-31
Chapter: Chapter 4- Happy married life?YASMINThe first thing I heard was a steady rhythmic beeping. I tried to pry my eyes open but the white walls and the bright light filtered through my eye lids causing my eyes to burn. I coughed out, trying to clear my throat and then slowly opening my eyes, trying to adjust to the brightness. When my eyes finally opened I looked around only to be welcomed by white walls, beeping machines and an IV drip taped to my arm. Where was I?I thought trying to sit up as pain shot up my ribs causing me to fall back on the pillow with a gasp.Then it all came rushing back. The rain, Mark, the woman, the accident. Oh my God.I groaned and closed my eyes just as the door burst open.“Finally.”My mother’s voice cut through the room like a blade, and I opened my eyes to see her standing in the doorway, arms crossed, her face tight with barely contained fury.“You’ve been unconscious for three days. Three days, Yasmin. Do you have any idea what you’ve put everyone through?”I tried to speak, but
Last Updated: 2026-07-17
Chapter: Chapter 3- Accidentally SingleYASMINThe words came out of my mouth hollow and empty, and I barely recognized my own voice."Fine, I'll do it."My mother nodded before pulling out her phone and walking toward the window, her back already turned to me."Damien, she's agreed. Start making arrangements for tomorrow morning." Mom informed him on the other side.Tomorrow, not next week and apparently not something I had a say in either.My cheek still burned from where she'd slapped me, and now she was already planning my wedding, phone pressed to her ear like I'd stopped existing in the room the second I said yes."I'm so sorry, Yasmin." Rosalie's voice came out soft and trembling, her eyes glistening. "I never wanted this for you."I stared at her but nothing escaped my lips."Why won't you look at me?" Her chin trembled, that same fragile smile in place, and something about how broken she looked turned my stomach, because somehow she was the one who managed to look like she was sacrificing something here."It's just
Last Updated: 2026-07-17
Chapter: Chapter 2- Marry the man you hateYASMIN ONE YEAR LATER The doctor removed his glasses and placed them on the table, and the small click echoed through the room like a gunshot. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "We've tried every available option. We still couldn't find a compatible donor." "No!" Rosalie shot up from her chair, hands slamming against the table. "No, that's not possible! You said there was still hope! You said—" "Mrs. Delacroix—" "Don't tell me to calm down!" She was shaking, voice cracking. "My son is dying! Do you understand that? Noah is dying!" "Rosalie—" I reached for her arm and she jerked away like I'd burned her. "Don't touch me!" She snapped her eyes wild with dtears streaming down her face. "You don't know what it's like! You don't have to watch your own child slip away!" I pulled my hand back. The words stung, but I didn't say anything. "Enough!" My mother's voice cut through the room like a whip. "Sit down, Rosalie. Now." Rosalie's lip trembled. She looked like a child who'd just b
Last Updated: 2026-07-15
Chapter: Chapter 1- It all started hereYASMIN "It's a lie, Yasmin. Everything is a lie." Julian's voice cracked through the phone, shaky and broken. He was crying. I'd never once heard him cry before, not in all the years I'd known him. "Julian, what happened? Talk to me—" "Everything we built, everything I believed. It's all a lie." My heart slammed against my ribs and my hands were shaking so badly, I could barely hold my phone still against my ear. "You're scaring me. What happened?" The words came out shaky, thin, not sounding like my own voice at all. "They did this. They—" His voice broke and he was gasping now, like he couldn't get enough air into his lungs. "I can't believe I didn't see it. All these years, and they—" "Who? Julian, who are you talking about?" "I should have told you. I should have told you everything." He was sobbing, the words tumbling out in these broken little gasps. "I've been such a fool all this time, and I didn't—" "Julian, please—" "I thought I knew them but it was all—" A crash
Last Updated: 2026-07-14
Chapter: CHAPTER 178- EPILOGUEEPILOGUE- SEREIAOne year later, the cliffs of Santorini dropped straight into a sea so blue it looked unreal, and Valerian had bought out the entire stretch for the day — a private clifftop estate normally reserved for heads of state, white canopies lining a path carved into the rock, rose petals scattered the length of it.“You ready, child?” Gracie asked, gripping my hand like she was the one getting married.“I’ve been ready for a year.”She laughed, already crying. “Then go get him.”The quartet shifted into something slower, strings rising over the sound of waves below, and I walked.Valerian stood waiting at the end of the path, dark suit, no tie, his hair slightly windblown. He looked at me like the sea and the hundred guests behind us had simply ceased to exist.“You’re beautiful,” he said when I reached him.“You say that every time.”“Because it’s true every time.”The officiant’s words blurred past until I heard the part that mattered. “Do you, Valerian, take Sereia to be
Last Updated: 2026-06-28
Chapter: Chapter 178VALERIANThree weeks had passed since the shooting.Three weeks of white walls and beeping machines and the particular smell of antiseptic that I’d started to taste in the back of my throat even when I wasn’t in the building anymore. Three weeks of sitting in the same plastic chair, holding the same hand, memorizing every line of the same still face. Three weeks of waiting for her eyes to open.I hadn’t left the hospital once.Gracie brought me food I mostly didn’t eat. Sarah brought clean clothes I changed into without really registering it. Liyana came every afternoon straight from school, climbing up beside the bed to take her mother’s hand in both of hers, voice gone soft and careful in a way no five-year-old should have to learn. “Mommy, wake up. I miss you.”But Sereia didn’t wake up.Today, Gracie finally put her foot down.“Valerian.” She planted herself in the doorway like she meant to physically block it. “You need to go home. A few hours. Shower. Sleep in an actual bed. E
Last Updated: 2026-06-28
Chapter: Chapter 177VALERIANThe gunshot cracked through the cabin like something splitting in half, and I felt it before I understood it — my whole body going rigid even with my fist still buried in Lucas’s jaw.I looked up. Sereia was already falling. Selena stood over her, the gun still smoking in her hand, and for half a second the room just stopped — Marcus already surging toward Selena, Annabelle screaming somewhere on the floor with blood soaking through her sleeve — but none of it registered. There was only Sereia, dropping to her knees in slow motion that felt like it would never end.Blood was already spreading dark across her dress. Her eyes were open, but something in them had gone distant, unfocused, like she was looking at me from somewhere far away.“Sereia!”I shoved Lucas off me without thinking. He hit the floor and didn’t move again. I didn’t care. I was already across the room, dropping down beside her, my hands finding her shoulders.“Sereia. Look at me! Loom at me.”Her eyes found
Last Updated: 2026-06-28
Chapter: Chapter 176SEREIAThe cabin sat dead quiet in the dark — too quiet, the kind of quiet that made every small sound feel like a threat.I stood just behind Valerian, my pulse hammering so hard I could hear it in my own ears, drowning out the wind moving through the trees. Lucas stood on the porch like he owned the night. He had Liyana’s rabbit dangling loose from one hand — her purple rabbit, the one she dragged everywhere, the one she couldn’t sleep without.“Where is she?” Valerian’s voice came out flat. Ice over something boiling underneath.Lucas only smiled. “Safe. For now.”Every cell in my body wanted to lunge at him, claw the smile right off his face. My legs wouldn’t move, fear had me rooted in place like roots had grown through my feet.“She’s inside,” Lucas went on, almost conversational. “Sleeping, finally she cried a good for a good while and she kept calling for you two.” His eyes slid to me. “Almost broke my heart, Sereia. Almost.”“Give her back.”“Not yet.” He flicked the rabbit
Last Updated: 2026-06-28
Chapter: Chapter 175SEREIAThe house felt like it was holding its breath.I sat on the couch with my hands pressed between my knees, eyes locked on the front door, and every creak of the old wood made me jolt upright. Every shifting shadow across the wall made some stupid, desperate part of me think there, she’s there — and every time it wasn’t, the hollow place under my ribs widened a little more.Marcus had been gone twenty minutes. Twenty minutes of nothing. Twenty minutes where the only sound in the room was Valerian’s shoes against the floorboards.Gracie had retreated to the kitchen, where I could hear her filling a kettle no one was going to drink from. Sarah stood near the window, phone pressed to her ear, murmuring something low and urgent to someone I couldn’t identify. And Valerian just kept walking — six feet one way, turn, six feet back — like if he stopped moving his body might do something worse.“Valerian,” I said.He didn’t slow down.“Valerian.”That one landed. He spun toward me, eye
Last Updated: 2026-06-27
Chapter: Chapter 174SEREIAThe garden was still glowing when I understood my daughter was gone.Fairy lights swayed overhead like nothing had changed. The band kept playing something soft and unbothered. Somewhere behind me, glasses clinked, someone laughed too loud at a joke I’d never hear, and the whole party just kept moving, oblivious, while the ground had opened up under me.“Liyana!” The sound that came out of me didn’t feel like my own voice. “Liyana, baby, where are you?”Nothing answered. Just the band. Just the laughter. Just a silence shaped exactly like the place her voice should have filled.“Sereia.” Valerian’s hand closed around my arm. “Where did she go?”“I don’t know. She was right there.” My throat had started closing on the words. “Playing with the other kids. She was right there, Valerian.”Sarah appeared at my shoulder, all the color gone from her face. “I turned around for one second. One second, Sereia, I was taking a picture and then—”“It’s not your fault.” I pulled free of both
Last Updated: 2026-06-27