روايات بقلم Ivy Monroe

For a moment, nobody spoke. The silence that settled over the apartment felt heavy, almost tangible, pressing against the walls and filling every corner of the room. Outside, rain tapped softly against the windows, but even that distant sound seemed muted beneath the weight of Elias’s revelation. Lucien stood motionless, the phone still pressed to his ear. Beaumont. The name echoed through his mind with unsettling force. Across from him, Aira felt her stomach tighten. She knew that surname. Everyone did. The Beaumont family wasn’t merely wealthy. They were one of those names people spoke carefully, a family whose influence stretched through business, politics, and old social circles that most ordinary people would never even glimpse. Their history with the Laurent family went back decades, intertwined in ways outsiders could only speculate about. And suddenly, a possibility neither of them had considered began to take shape. Victor Laurent had never been the center o

Lucien didn’t miss the change in her expression. It happened quickly. So quickly that most people would have overlooked it entirely. But Lucien had spent years studying people. Negotiating with them. Reading the things they tried to hide behind carefully controlled expressions. And what he saw on Aira’s face wasn’t confusion. It was recognition. The realization settled heavily between them. Neither spoke for several seconds. Outside, the city continued as though nothing had changed. Cars moved below. Distant sirens echoed somewhere far away. Life carried on. Inside the apartment, however, everything felt suspended. Aira looked away first. Her pulse had become painfully loud in her ears. Victor Laurent. The name had followed her twice in less than twenty-four hours. First through an anonymous message. Now through Lucien. That wasn’t coincidence. It couldn’t be. Lucien took a slow step forward. “You know that name.” It wasn’t a question. Aira

Aira barely slept. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the photograph again. Zayn walking out of school. The angle. The distance. The certainty that someone had been watching him long enough to know exactly when he would leave. By dawn, she had given up on sleep entirely. The apartment was still quiet as she stood in the kitchen, staring absentmindedly into a cup of coffee that had long since gone cold. Outside, the city was slowly waking up, but inside the apartment everything felt strangely suspended, as though time itself had slowed. Her phone rested beside her. Silent. For the first time in years, she found herself wishing it would ring. Wishing Lucien would call. The thought alone was enough to make her laugh bitterly. Three years ago, she had spent countless nights convincing herself that distance was necessary. That staying away from him was the safest decision for everyone involved. Now she wasn’t so sure anymore. The vibration of her phone

Lucien remained in his office long after midnight. The city beyond the glass walls had gone quiet hours ago, the rain reducing the streets below to blurred reflections and silver streaks of light. Most of the building was dark now, empty in the cold, polished way expensive places often became after midnight. But Lucien hadn’t moved. The reports still lay open across his desk exactly where Elias had left them. Aira Bennett. Observed leaving residence. Observed entering clinic. Observed alone. The words felt wrong every time he read them. Too detached. Too clinical. As though someone had reduced her life to movement logs and timestamps instead of seeing what she really had been at the time. Pregnant. Alone. Afraid. Lucien leaned back slowly in his chair, one hand pressed against his mouth while exhaustion settled heavily beneath his skin. For years, he had convinced himself he understood what happened between them. Aira left. That had always been the

Aira almost called Lucien three times that morning. The first time was while Zayn searched the apartment for his missing shoe, his small voice echoing through the hallway while she stood near the kitchen counter gripping her phone too tightly. “Mum, I think it disappeared.” Aira blinked, dragging herself back from the thoughts consuming her. “Shoes don’t disappear.” “They do when I’m late.” Despite everything pressing against her chest, the corner of her mouth twitched faintly. She walked toward the couch, crouched slightly, and pulled the missing shoe from underneath it. Zayn gasped dramatically. “See? It was hiding.” “Clearly.” He grinned before rushing off again, completely unaware that her hands were trembling. The second time she almost called Lucien was after dropping Zayn at school. She had just pulled away from the curb when she noticed the black car again. Across the street. Parked too still. Too deliberate. Aira’s stomach tightened instantly.

Aira had learned something very early after Zayn was born. Silence could feel safer than truth. Especially when truth had consequences. The apartment was quiet that morning, soft sunlight filtering through the curtains and falling in thin lines across the kitchen floor. Zayn sat at the counter eating breakfast, completely absorbed in his dinosaur book, his voice breaking the stillness every few seconds with innocent excitement. “Mum, this one can run very fast.” Aira glanced over, forcing a small smile. “Faster than you?” Zayn thought about it seriously. “Maybe.” That almost made her laugh. Almost. Her phone buzzed on the counter. Unknown Number. The smile faded instantly. Aira didn’t move for a second. Just stared at it, like if she didn’t acknowledge it, it would stop existing. Then she picked it up. No text preview. Just an image. She opened it. And everything in her chest went still. Zayn. Yesterday. Walking out of school. Captured from