I.L.Valeの小説

CHAPTER FORTY-FOURSophie's POVThe office door clicked shut behind me, but it did nothing to muffle the chaos raging inside my head. Every step down the hallway felt heavier than the last, my heart refusing to settle as Adrian's voice chased me through every corridor."I like you... far more than I ever planned to."I clenched my jaw and kept walking. No. I wasn't doing this to myself again. I wasn't going to let one confession erase everything else. Not the distance he'd put between us, not the divorce papers he had sent, not the way he'd left me questioning my own worth until I'd convinced myself I was nothing more than a responsibility he'd grown tired of carrying.

Chapter Forty-ThreeSophie's pov He stood there, chest rising and falling, eyes locked on mine like he was daring me to look away.“If I hadn’t walked into that room,” he asked, voice low but edged with possession, “what was your reply going to be?”I stared at him, stunned into silence for a second. The audacity of the question after everything we’d been through left me speechless. ‘He drags me out like I’m his, and now he wants to interrogate me?’“That doesn’t concern you,” I finally said, my tone sharp. “Nothing about my life concerns you anymore, Adrian.”“Yes, it does.” He stepped closer, frustration and fear mixing in his eyes. “Are you that blind? Or are you really that stupid?”“Don’t you dare insult me!” I snapped, anger flaring hot. “What’s your deal if I say yes to him? He is handsome, soft-spoken, wonderful… in fact, a perfect match for me. Someone who actually shows up without playing twisted games.”Adrian’s jaw clenched hard, jealousy flashing across his face. “Oh re

CHAPTER FORTY-TWOSOPHIE'S POVDaniel's question lingered in the air, wrapping itself around every pair of eyes fixed on us. The hallway had become unnaturally quiet, as though hundreds of students had collectively forgotten how to breathe while they waited for my answer. Daniel remained on one knee with the bouquet cradled carefully in his hands, his nervous smile wavering ever so slightly beneath the weight of my silence, and all I could do was stare back at him, my thoughts tangling over one another until I couldn't separate one from the next. This wasn't how today was supposed to go. None of this was supposed to happen in front of an audience, and certainly not with the entire school watching my every expression as if my answer belonged to them too.A sudden ripple swept through the crowd before I had the chance to speak. Whispers broke out from somewhere behind the students, followed by people instinctively stepping aside until a narrow path appeared through the middle of the h

CHAPTER FORTY-ONEADRIAN'S POVIf anyone asked me what today's lecture had been about, I wouldn't have been able to answer even if my life depended on it. The professor had spent the better part of an hour filling the whiteboard with formulas and explanations while the rest of the class scribbled away diligently, but every word that left his mouth seemed to dissolve before it reached me because my mind had stubbornly latched onto something far more frustrating than chemistry. The entire school knew; they knew Sophie and I had broken up, or at least that was the story making its rounds through every hallway and classroom, and as much as I tried to convince myself it shouldn't matter, the irritation refused to loosen its grip. I had always known this fake relationship would end one day. Hell, I was the one who had agreed to call off the plan after everything that happened with Daniel. So why did it feel like someone else had made that decision for me? Why did it feel like I had been

Chapter fortyAdrian's pov The moment I stepped into school, I knew something had already shifted, not because anyone said anything directly to me at first, but because the air itself felt like it had been rearranged overnight and I was only just catching up to a conversation everyone else had already finished, and that realization settled in slowly as I walked through the gates and noticed how eyes lingered a second too long, how voices dropped a fraction too quickly, and how even the usual chaos of the corridor seemed to bend slightly around me instead of through me as it normally would.Tom appeared beside me almost immediately, falling into step like he always did as co-captain, but even that felt different today because there was no easy rhythm between us, only a careful silence that suggested he was deciding how to say something he already knew I wouldn’t like, and I didn’t need to look at him to know what was coming because people never waited this long to talk about something

Chapter thirty nineSophie's povThe moment Stacey disappeared deeper into the diner with her little entourage eagerly following behind her, the suffocating tension she'd left in her wake slowly dissolved into the familiar rhythm of the afternoon crowd. Conversations resumed as though someone had unpaused the room, chairs scraped softly against the tiled floor, waitresses weaved effortlessly between tables balancing trays of food, and laughter drifted from one corner of the diner to another. Life had already moved on from the little spectacle she'd created, but I knew the students who had witnessed it hadn't. Judging by the number of glowing phone screens I'd caught before she'd even reached the exit, messages were already spreading across school, each version growing a little more dramatic than the last. By tomorrow morning there would probably be stories claiming I'd cried, slapped somebody, started another fight, or declared war on the entire female population. The thought sho

Chapter Twenty-fourKillian's POVBy the time I carried Sophie back upstairs, the panic attack had drained whatever strength she had left. One minute she had been standing in the middle of the foyer struggling to breathe while terror consumed every inch of her face, and the next she had collapsed straight into my arms before her body could hit the floor. Now she lay motionless beneath the blankets while the room settled into an uneasy silence, and despite everything that had happened, Gabriella hadn't left her side for a single second.An hour later, movement finally stirred beneath the sheets. Sophie's brows pulled together first, then her fingers twitched, then slowly, her eyes opened.For several seconds she stared at the ceiling as though trying to gather scattered pieces of reality, but the moment recognition began returning to her face, confusion quickly followed behind it."What happened?"Her voice came out rough and uncertain as she pushed herself upright slowly, but the sec

Chapter Twenty-ThreeGabriella's POV"That thing bit me… how am I still alive?"The words came out barely above a whisper, yet they slammed into the room hard enough to make my stomach twist painfully. Sophie's fingers remained pressed against the bandage around her neck while confusion and fear flickered wildly across her face, and for one terrifying moment I realized there was no version of this conversation that ended well because the truth waiting for her was far too impossible to accept and far too dangerous to ignore."Sophie..."Her eyes snapped to mine immediately. "No." The single word came out sharp enough to cut through the room."Sophie, just listen to me.""No, Gabriella…where the hell am I? And how did I get here?" She shook her head harder this time while backing away against the pillows. "Don't give me that look because I know that look, and that is the exact same look people use before telling someone they have cancer or a terminal disease or that their entire life

Chapter twenty two Gabriella's POV"You should be more afraid of the people you already trust."The stranger's voice followed me through the hallway long after I had walked past him, and that irritated me more than it should have. Maybe it was because of the certainty in his tone, or maybe it was because tonight had already shattered every version of reality I thought I understood.I slowed for a moment, my fingers tightening against my arms as his words echoed through my exhausted mind. Part of me wanted to turn around and demand an explanation, but I didn't have the strength for cryptic warnings from mysterious men who appeared naked in the middle of storms.I had already reached my limit.After a while of trying to put my thoughts together, I made my way back toward Sophie's room. The hallway felt strangely quiet now, almost as though the house itself had finally grown tired after everything that had happened.When I pushed the door open, I immediately stopped…Killian was still

Chapter twenty one Gabriella’s POVThe moment I stepped out of Killian’s room, I finally allowed myself to breathe, but the air still felt too heavy inside my lungs. My chest felt heavy, and the pain coming from my head wasn't helping either.Yet, somehow his words kept replaying louder than everything else. ‘You were a mistake.’ I should hate him for saying it.God knew I wanted to.But what made it worse was the look in his eyes while he said it because beneath all that anger and cruelty, there had been something else there too…something broken.I wrapped my arms tightly around myself while walking back toward Sophie’s room, trying to push away the suffocating ache building inside my chest.But then I heard a scream coming from Sophie's room, that made my heart nearly stop.“Sophie?”Another scream ripped through the hallway, louder this time, followed immediately by crashing sounds inside the room.Fear shot violently through me, and my legs reacted before my head could. By the ti

Chapter twentyKillian’s POV“It was my father.”The words settled heavily between us, and for the first time since Gabriella walked into my room, she looked genuinely shaken.I watched confusion flicker across her face while rain battered violently against the windows behind her, the storm outside somehow matching the chaos clawing through my head.“What?” she whispered.A humorless laugh left me as I dragged one hand through my damp hair, exhaustion and rage mixing into something dangerously unstable inside my chest.“Yes, Gabriella,” I said bitterly. “My father turned yours.”She stared at me silently, and somehow, that silence pissed me off even more, because she still looked at her father like he was a good man… like he wasn’t the reason my family got destroyed.“Do you know what your bastard of a father did to repay him for saving his miserable life?” I asked coldly before stepping closer. “He killed his son and married his wife.”“Stop!”Her voice cracked immediately, but I ign

Chapter nineteenKillian’s POV“I bit her.”The second the words left my mouth, the room went dead silent, not the normal kind of silence either.This one felt heavy, sharp, and penetrating.The healer stared at me for a long second while the lady laid unconscious on the bed behind her, blood staining the sheets beneath her body. Her skin had already started losing color, and every shallow breath she took scraped violently against my nerves.My jaw tightened.Killian it's an Alpha's bite,” the healer mut

Chapter thirteen Serena’s POVThe morning no longer felt like morning in the Draven house, it felt like a carefully staged battlefield where every smile was sharpened into a weapon and every silence was just another threat waiting to be spoken aloud, and I sat there watching Octavia’s command ripple through the room like she owned not just the house but the air we were breathing when she finally spoke my name again.“Serena,” Octavia said calmly, setting her napkin down as though she was about to assign executions instead of breakfast instructions, “you were meant to go with Paulo today, yes?”“Yes,” I answered, already feeling the plan I had carefully built in my head start to crack at the edges, because today was supposed to be leverage, strategy, movement, not… this circus.“Grace will take your place,” she continued without looking at me, as though my schedule was something that could be casually erased, and I felt my jaw tighten because nothing about that woman ever felt like a

Chapter twelveSerena’s povAcross the table, Octavia took another bite, then another, and judging by the fact that she wasn't making a face or reaching for holy water, I assumed that counted as a compliment. It was probably the closest thing the woman offered to praise without a signed contract and written notice, and I would take it.The woman dabbed her lips with a napkin before settling back into her chair, and the look she gave me next felt strangely calculating, almost as though she was moving pieces around a chessboard only she could see."At least one young woman in this house understands where a woman's value begins."Ah.

Chapter elevenSerena's POVI was setting a table for a circus family, and honestly, I deserved a medal for it. There was a pig, a junior pig, an upcoming stripper, a drug addict pretending to be a nun, an anti-prodigal son with anger issues the size of a continent, and then there was the mysterious queen mother herself; Octavia Draven. If patience was truly a virtue, then by now I should have qualified for sainthood. Unfortunately, I preferred champagne to halos, and revenge to forgiveness.Lord knows how I managed to finish the dish after the melodrama that took place in the kitchen earlier. Between Lucien standing entirely too close, my heart forgetting its job description, and that blonde menace appearing in his shirt looking like she had spent the night exactly where I feared she had, the entire morning felt like a badly written soap opera. The worst part wasn't even seeing her. The worst part was the fact that I cared enough to be annoyed.Which was ridiculous.Why do you care,

Chapter tenLucien's pov She was a fucking mess, and somehow that only made her more dangerous. Standing there with flour dusting her cheeks and irritation practically dripping from every word that left her mouth, Serena looked nothing like the polished woman my father paraded around in public, yet I couldn't stop looking at herWe were standing far too close for my own good, close enough to see the tiny crease between her brows whenever she got annoyed, close enough to notice the way her lips parted whenever she was about to argue, and close enough to kiss her if either one of us made a stupid decision."Babe!"Fuck.The voice cut through the tension like a knife. Serena reacted before I did, her head snapping toward the doorway while surprise flashed across her face before she quickly buried it. I followed her gaze and immediately felt a headache forming. Chantel, of course it had to be Chantel. The woman stormed into the kitchen like she owned the place, her heels clicking furiou

Chapter nineSerena's POVThe nightmare found me again, which honestly wasn't surprising because it always did. It didn't matter how soft the mattress was, how expensive the sheets felt against my skin, or how large Cassian's mansion happened to be, sleep always dragged me back to the same place; flashing lights, greedy eyes, fake smiles and men with enough money to buy the world but not enough decency to deserve any part of it. The memories chased me through the darkness until I finally jerked awake, my chest rising sharply as I struggled to catch my breath while sweat clung to my skin.For a moment, I simply sat there, then looked beside me, and as always, Cassian was still asleep.The pig slept like a newborn baby while everyone around him suffered.I stared at him for a few seconds longer before rolling my eyes and climbing out of bed. If I stayed in that room any longer, I might actually commit a crime before breakfast.The cold water from the bathroom sink helped clear my though

Chapter eightSerena's pov I had barely gotten out of the bathroom when Cassian walked into the room. The scent of his cologne arrived before he did, making my stomach tighten immediately. I ignored him and headed straight for the closet, pretending he wasn't there, pretending the image of him with another woman wasn't still playing repeatedly inside my head. Unfortunately, Cassian had never been a man who understood boundaries. The moment I reached for my nightdress, I felt him behind me, his hands settling on my waist as his lips brushed the side of my neck."I'm not in the mood for this, Cassian," I said firmly, pulling away before he could continue. My voice was calm, but every nerve in my body felt stretched thin, and the last thing I wanted was his hands on me after what I had seen.His expression darkened slightly as he watched me move away. "Why? We're engaged, Serena. How long are you going to keep starving me?"A laugh escaped me before I could stop it. If only he knew.