Novelas de CeeJey

PENELOPE I walked to the door before Jonathan could stop me as my feet made the decision before my brain finished the sentence.Adrian turned and saw me, and his facial expression was the most complicated I have ever seen The woman beside him turned too.She looked about thirty, with dark hair and the kind of polish that took real effort to maintain. Her hand rested on his arm, and she wore the look indicating that she understood exactly what was happening and had decided to hold her ground anyway."P...Penelope," Adrian stammered."Who is this?" I asked, my voice has a hint of urgency in it."This is Camille." He responded."And Camille is?""We were together," he said. "For eight months. It ended last year.""Eight months. While you were in my life." I added.He opened his mouth."Wait," I said. "Let me get this straight. You and I started working together fourteen months ago. And this relationship ended last year.""March," he said. "Last year March."That was two months after he

PENELOPE "What did you do." I asked Adrian after he had hung up seconds ago. Adrian looked at me from across the roof of the car. "Penelope..." "What did you do," I said again. "I resigned this morning." "Adrian." My voice came out low. "Cheng Capital is worth four billion pounds." "Three point eight." he corrected. "Does it matter?" "I transferred interest to a charitable foundation. I retain a position." "Why," I asked. "Because last night I watched Jonathan place your maps on the walls of the Tate Modern," he said, "and I understood I'd been using Cheng Capital as the thing that made me worth standing next to you. I don't want you to love me for what I own but for who I am" "Adrian. You can't undo a resignation." I mentioned. "I know.""For what," I said. "For me? You did this for me?" "Not for you. For me to find out who I am when the money isn't the first thing in the room." He looked back at the river. "And yes, because I watched Jonathan hire the Tate Modern and u

PENELOPE He left before the evening ended.I didn't see him go. I was talking to someone near the Velour projection, a woman who worked in urban architecture and wanted to know if I'd ever considered doing anything with the cities beyond the notebooks. I was explaining how the notebooks had always been enough when I glanced across the hall and found Adrian's spot empty.His glass still sat on the ledge where he'd left it.He'd simply vanished.At the end of the night, I thanked Jonathan again and he walked me to the car but didn't try to extend the evening. He just stood on the pavement outside the Tate and said goodnight.In the car, I opened my phone and I received nothing from Adrian.***He called the next morning, and I was certain he had made a decision. "I've been thinking," he said. "About what I actually am to you. And what I want to be."I sat up in bed. Nora was still asleep in the next room."Adrian...""Let me finish. Please.""Last night, watching you stand in that hall

PENELOPE THREE WEEKS PASSED.I did not see Adrian, or go to Jonathan's apartment.I went to work and I took Nora to her check-up. I answered emails. I rebuilt two client relationships that had gone cold during the weeks of public chaos.I did not cry again after that night on the floor, because one cry was sufficient I was done with falling apart in my own apartment while my daughter slept.What I did instead was work, and think.And slowly, over three weeks, arrive at what felt like clarity.It was not a decision about either of them, but a decision about myself.That I was going to stop waiting for either man to give me a reason to trust them and start deciding what trust actually required on my own terms.And then Jonathan called. "I'm hosting an event, two weeks from now.""What kind of event," I said.He sighed. "Till then.""Why should I attend," I asked."Because It's for you," he explained " I really want you to be there when I do it.""What thing," I said."Just trust me,"

PENELOPE Adrian called at eight, not from the police station. The call came through while I was still in Jonathan's room, ready to leave. I stepped into the corridor to take it."I'm out," he said."Has Elena corrected it?" I asked."Yes," he confirmed.His voice didn't even sound relieved. it was flat and I was unable to tell what he was feeling."Are you okay?" I asked."I spent ninety minutes in a police interview room," he said, "with a lawyer I pay very well to handle situations I should never be in. Being questioned about whether I tried to kill a man. Because a woman I don't know walked into a hospital and said my name. And the whole time I sat in that room, I kept thinking about the fact that you knew it was Elena," he said. "You knew before I went in. You told me it would be fine. And you were right. It was fine. But Penelope...""I know," I said. "I handled it the same way everyone has handled things around me," I said. "I decided you would be fine, and didn't ask what you

PENELOPE I entered the hospital at a pace between walking and running.Nora waited with Adrian's driver two streets over...the only arrangement I could manage in four minutes that didn't involve driving past the building's front entrance where someone might spot her.The lobby bustled with activity.Afternoon visiting hours brought families clutching flowers, a porter wheeling someone past in a wheelchair. The dense human noise of a hospital, never stopping for anything.I scanned the entrance, and Elena stood near the information desk.She wore that dark coat, the same one as always. Her eyes fixed on her phone, nothing that suggested she expected my arrival.But she had known where to find Jonathan. She had been to this hospital before. She had sent a witness to his room this morning.I crossed toward her. When I reached six feet away, she looked up.She wasn't surprised, instead her face was like that of someone who had been expecting this moment."Penelope," she said. "Walk with

DRAVEN The next day"The pack is waiting, Buttercup." I stood at the entrance to the main hall, my hand resting against her back. Buttercup looked up at me, her green eyes tired "They already saw what happened to the shadow keeper" She took a breath. "But yeah. They need to know I'm not just your mate anymore, and they will definitely hate it."Kai walked up. "The council is restless. Some are grateful. Others are scared out of their minds." He glanced toward the hall doors, lowering his voice to a whisper. "Seraphina's father is spreading poison in the corners. We have to shut that down before it spreads like wildfire."Asher joined us. "The bonds are stable. The shared pain from her trauma is there, but it's making us stronger...for now." He met my eyes, unflinching. "Use that in your words, Draven. Don't hide from it. They'll smell weakness before you finish the sentence."Lila stood guard at the door. "The pack needs to see her as Luna, and not a threat." Her expression softene

BUTTERCUP The darkness lifted completely as the Shadow Keeper settled inside the bonds. I stumbled back toward the mansion. Every step felt heavier than the last, as though I carried the weight of what I had just done in my very bones. Draven caught me first, his strong arms wrapping around me with desperate urgency. "Buttercup," he breathed into my hair, his voice rough. "You scared the hell out of us. Don't ever walk into that alone again. Do you hear me?" Kai approached right behind him, his hand settling on my back with light pressure. Through our connection, I felt the echo of his terror, now fading into relief. I leaned into Draven's embrace, letting them surround me like a living shield. Their presence filled the hollow spaces the fear had left behind. "I feel different," I admitted. "Lighter. But the bonds feel heavier too. Like I gave you all pieces of my old pain, and now you're carrying what I couldn't anymore." Draven placed a kiss to the top of my head, lin

BUTTERCUP "I'm done with this deadlock." I shot, my voice ringing louder than I'd intended in the tense room. The sound seemed to bounce off the walls, making everyone freeze. "You all want to die for me. I won't let that happen. I'm going to the Shadow Keeper. Alone." Draven's hand closed around my arm. "Buttercup no," he said. "That's suicide. We just sealed the bonds." Kai moved to block the door, his broad shoulders filling the frame. "Listen to him," he urged, his eyes pleading. "You felt what it does. It tears bonds apart. You can't face it alone." Asher's eyes met mine, and I saw fear flashing under his usual composure. "The risk is too high," he said. "Your power is new. Let us prepare first." Lila gripped her blade so tightly. "I'm your guardian," she insisted, her jaw was set. "If anyone goes first, it's me." I pulled my arm free from Draven's grasp and looked at each of them in turn. Their faces showed the same mixture of fear and determination, and I felt my res

DRAVEN I felt her pull away through the bond, and the sensation hit like claws raking across my chest, tearing through muscle and bone. "Buttercup, it's not what you think," I said quickly, stepping closer despite the pain radiating through our connection. My voice came out rough, scraped raw with desperation. "No one's giving you up. I was thinking about the journal...the sacrifice part. One of us has to surrender immortality to banish this thing."Every instinct screamed at me to protect her, yet here I stood, discussing which of us would die. Kai rubbed his face, exhaustively. "Yeah. Mara and I wrote extensive notes on it. But it might kill whoever does it, not just strip away immortality. We're talking about full death." His voice cracked on the last word, betraying the fear he tried to hide. Asher remained calm, though I caught the tension in his shoulders. "The research remains incomplete. We lack certainty. But the prophecy points to loss, to sacrifice. Someone must choose

BUTTERCUP "The Shadow Keeper is already here?" I gasped, then my fingers tightened around Lila's arm as the mansion's lights blinked overhead. Shadows stretched unnaturally long across the walls, defying the afternoon sunlight that should have kept them at bay. My pulse hammered in my throat. "Lila, your guardian mark...it's glowing. What do we do?" Lila gripped her blade tighter, the mark on her wrist pulsing with an unnatural light that cast dancing patterns. "We fight it," she said, trying to mask her fear with confidence. "The bond is pulling me toward the city center. It's starting with the other bonded wolves there." Draven paced with predatory speed, as his control wavered. The alpha power radiating from him filled the room with tension. "The pack borders are reporting strange occurrences, about people losing their minds, and attacking loved ones. We need to move now." Kai checked his gun, though I noticed how scared he was. "The corruption is spreading through the pack li

LILA "The Shadow Keeper is hours away?" I burst into the sacred chamber, my wrist burning where the new mark had appeared, the pain sharp and insistent on my skin. "You three just finished sealing the trinity, and now this thing is practically at our gates?" Buttercup turned toward me first, her eyes widening with concern. "Lila, your wrist. That mark...what is it?" I held up my arm, revealing the glowing circle that was marked into my skin, its light pulsing in rhythm with my heartbeat. "It's the Guardian bond. It activated the moment you guys completed the trinity. I'm connected to you now Buttercup. And through you, to them." The words felt strange on my tongue, as if speaking them aloud made the reality more foreign. Draven stepped closer, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. "Guardian? Like some kind of protector standing on the sidelines? We don't need bystanders right now. We need everyone to be fully committed to this fight." "Easy Draven. Lila has been fighting alongside u