Nobela ni Olivia Kent

Chapter 5 : The geodeThe moment I stepped out of Julian's office building and into the warm sunlight of Veridia, I pulled out my phone and dialed my lawyer with trembling fingers. I needed to act before Julian found a way to block me from the money that was rightfully mine. Mr. Harrison answered on the second ring, and I did not waste time with pleasantries. Every second counted."Mr. Harrison, this is Elara Vance." My voice came out steady, urgent. I could hear the surprise in his tone; he was not used to me taking initiative with my finances. "I need you to liquidate the joint accounts Julian and I share, and transfer my portion into a private account only I can access. I want this done immediately, before Julian finds a way to freeze the funds."He was quiet for a moment, clearly processing. He knew how much I had always trusted Julian with our money, how I had let Julian handle everything because I was too afraid of his temper."Mrs. Sterling, I mean, Elara," he said carefully. "

Chapter 4: Devil fruit.Julian stared at me for a long moment. I could see the war raging behind his eyes, the battle between his pride and his fear, the struggle between his desire to maintain control and his terror of losing everything he had worked so hard to build. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again, and I watched his shoulders slump slightly as he finally realized he had lost this battle, that I had finally found a way to beat him at his own game."Fine," he said, his voice cold, bitter, filled with barely contained rage. "I will sign your precious divorce papers, Elara. But I want you to know this is not over, and I will not forget what you have done to me today."He picked up a pen and signed the papers with quick, angry strokes, shoving them across the desk toward me without meeting my eyes. I felt a surge of triumph flood through my veins as I picked them up and examined his signature carefully to make sure it was valid.I then took a pen and signed my own nam

Chapter 3: Divorce Julian stared at me for a long moment. I could see the wheels turning behind his cold, calculating eyes, trying to figure out what game I was playing and why I had suddenly decided to give him exactly what he'd been asking for all these years. He leaned back in his expensive leather chair, steepling his fingers together in that arrogant way he always did whenever he thought he had the upper hand. A slow, mocking smile spread across his handsome face that made my blood boil with barely contained rage."Elara, Elara, Elara," he said, his voice dripping with condescension like honey laced with poison. He shook his head slowly, as if I were a child who had said something amusing and foolish. "What has gotten into you this morning? Did you hit your head while I wasn't looking? Because the woman standing in front of me right now is not the same woman who has been begging me to love her for the past seven years. I must admit, I am both confused and slightly entertained by

Chapter 2: Rebirth.I woke with a gasp that tore through my throat, my body jerking upright as if I had been shocked back to life. My hands flew to my chest, my face, my arms, and I was stunned to find myself whole and unbroken. No burns. No cuts. No crushing weight of concrete pressing the air from my lungs. My heart pounded so hard I could hear the blood rushing in my ears, and I looked around the room with wide, desperate eyes, trying to understand where I was and why I was not dead.The bedroom was achingly familiar. It was mine and Julian's, the room where I had spent countless nights crying myself to sleep while he claimed to be working late.Sunlight spilled through the windows in warm gold beams. Birds sang outside. I could hear the distant hum of traffic and voices, all the ordinary sounds of a city that had not yet been consumed by fire."This cannot be real." My voice came out hoarse and shaking. I threw off the covers and stumbled out of bed, nearly falling as my legs buck

Chapter one: The Death The sky above Veridia burned orange, terror and screaming filled the streets like a symphony of agony I had never heard before. No one knew yet what was happening, whether this was a natural disaster or the start of something else entirely, something that defied explanation, but an unexpected apocalypse had just begun, and none of us understood it. I ran with my lungs on fire, pushing through crowds of panicked strangers, because I needed to find Julian before something happened to him. Buildings collapsed around me, chunks of concrete and glass raining down like a deadly storm. People shouted for loved ones already lost to the chaos swallowing our city.A woman grabbed my arm, her eyes wild with panic. "You cannot go that way, the whole block is coming down! You will die."I shook her off with more strength than I knew I had and kept running forward, because nothing mattered except reaching Julian. The heat was unbearable, the smoke thick enough to choke on,

CHAPTER FIVE : First DayThe bodyguards escorted me through the winding hallways of the Volkov estate. My feet ached from a tour that had gone on for hours, each corridor blending into the next until I lost track of where I was. Everywhere I looked, paintings of stern-faced ancestors stared down at me like they were judging me.The instructions had been endless. When Ethan took his medication, I was to administer it at precisely the right time. His meals had to follow strict dietary guidelines set by the family physician. Whatever he needed, I was to anticipate it, even though he could not ask. The weight of it pressed down on me.The bodyguards stopped at a heavy oak door and pushed it open. I stepped inside. The room was dim and quiet, and there, on a bed with crisp white sheets, was a man.He was handsome, sharp-featured, dark hair falling across his forehead. He looked like he was sleeping. If I had not known better, I would have thought he might wake up any moment and ask what I

CHAPTER FOUR : the heir's caretaker The next candidate stepped forward, and I felt my breath catch in my throat because she was absolutely stunning, with wide hips that seemed made for bearing children. Her name was Anya. She carried herself with the confidence of someone who had never known what it felt like to be unwanted, and she smiled at Mrs. Volkov like she had already won, like this selection was just a formality and she was the obvious choice. She spoke about her family's wealth and her own accomplishments, and I watched the other candidates nod and whisper among themselves, acknowledging her as a serious contender.I stood there, waiting for my turn, and wondered if I had been forgotten. The candidates kept coming forward, one after another, each more impressive than the last, and I started to feel a flicker of hope that maybe they had overlooked me, that maybe I could slip away unnoticed. I shuffled my feet and glanced toward the exit, calculating the distance, wondering if

CHAPTER THREE : I stood in the middle of the grand hall, surrounded by women who looked like they belonged in magazines, and I felt like a ghost that had wandered into a world where I did not belong. The Volkov estate was even more intimidating than I had imagined, with towering ceilings and marble floors that reflected the light from crystal chandeliers, every surface gleaming with the kind of wealth I had only ever seen in movies. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to make myself smaller, but there was nowhere to hide in this place, nowhere to escape the eyes watching me from every corner.I was here not because I wanted to be, but because I had to be. If I did not go through with this selection, I would have nothing. No home, no family, no future. My father had made that perfectly clear when he signed me over to the Volkov family like I was property. I could run away and never look back, I thought, the idea flickering through my mind like a desperate prayer. I could disappear

CHAPTER TWO : Mira turned her head slowly to face me, her eyes meeting mine with a satisfaction that made my blood run cold, and Leo pulled out of her body in a slow, deliberate motion that made her moan with obvious pleasure. The sound echoed in my ears like a gunshot. I felt like I had been stabbed in the chest, the pain so sharp and so real that I staggered backward and gripped the doorframe to keep myself from falling. My entire body was shaking, my legs threatening to give out, and I could not breathe, could not think, could not do anything but stare at the two people who had just destroyed my world.Leo did not look at me. He pulled his pants up with a casualness that was more insulting than anything he could have said, then reached out to stroke Mira's hair like she was something precious. His fingers trailed down her back with a tenderness he had not shown me in months, and she leaned into his touch like a cat basking in the sun. There was no remorse on his face. No guilt. No

CHAPTER ONE : I was sitting on Leo's lap, my body pressed against his chest, and I could feel the tension radiating off him like heat from a fire that had already gone out. The black lace of my new nightgown scratched against my skin. It was supposed to feel sensual, but right then it just felt desperate. I had spent hours picking this out, imagining the look on his face when he saw me in it, hoping tonight would be different. But the moment I settled onto his lap, he stiffened underneath me, and I knew all my careful planning had been for nothing.He had been avoiding me for days, and I couldn't pretend I hadn't noticed. I noticed everything: how he flinched when I reached for his hand, how he turned away when I leaned in to kiss his cheek, how he found any excuse to be in another room. When he did touch me, it felt like he was touching a stranger. The man who used to hold me through the night, who used to whisper promises into my ear like I was the only woman in the world, that man