Chapter: Who's life are you trying to ruinTatianaI felt suffocated. My lungs refused to pull in enough oxygen as I stumbled through the crowd, weaving past strangers whose faces blurred out completely. Hasan’s laugh echoed behind me, mocking and haunting through the five fragile years I had spent trying to bury him in the darkest corners of my memory.I couldn’t be here breathing the same air as him.I couldn’t risk those eyes that once looked at me with obsession, but in the sweetest way possible were now sharpened with hatred.So I bolted through the crowd, every step sinking me down like I was running through a quicksand, as my pulse hammered in my ears. Five years. Five whole bloody years since the damn video. Since my mother’s screams. Since Hasan had been dragged out of our lives and my life ruined forever. Five years since I had betrayed him with the most cowardly act of my existence; pointing the finger at him, letting him take the blame for something we had been a willing participant for. I had thought he was gon
Last Updated: 2025-09-08
Chapter: The gigTATIANAThe night had barely started and it was already falling apart.I stepped into the club, music pounding through my chest, club lights slicing through the smoke as I forced my body into motion. It was supposed to be easy, just my everyday routine to smile, dance and collect my tips. But tonight, some client decided to make it personal.A man heavily induced with alcohol but with an entitlement heavier than it all had cornered me during my slow set. “Hey, doll, come over here. I want to talk.”I shook my head, forced the faintest smile. “I’m working. Sorry.” I replied. His gesticulation disgusted me and even after months of working here, I still couldn’t stomach such people.The man sneered, reaching for my arm. “Don’t give me that, you know you want this.”Him touching me was my thirteenth reason. I pulled my arm back, slapping his hand away. “Back off,” I hissed. “No means no, you sick fuck!” I barked as I picked up his glass, threw the contents on his face and slammed the glas
Last Updated: 2025-09-05
Chapter: Fast forwardTatianaFIVE YEARS LATER.The nightmare always started the same way: me on my knees in our old living room, my mom holding up her phone to my face with the video that ruined everything, her face red with a mix of tears and rage. “Do you understand what you have done, Tatiana? You’ve ruined us, Tatiana!” she screamed. “You’ve dragged this family into filth.” she added, her voice laced with pain and betrayal.I tried to speak, but my throat felt like it had been sewn. My hands shook so badly and my lips trembled horrendously I thought they would fall off.“Mom, I’m -”Mom’s hand raised in the air and I flinched, bracing for the slap, but then an arm hovered over my face. “Don’t touch her.” Hasan said in a cold tone, his eyes red with rage. The fire in his voice matched the fire in mom’s eyes. Hasan’s jaw locked, every vein in his neck visible as he stood in front of me like a barrier. My mother’s face crumbled, grief twisting her into something even more terrifying than rage.“I lost
Last Updated: 2025-09-04
Chapter: It's overTatianaI didn’t move. I just lay there, breathing in the faint scent of Hasan’s shirt, the warmth of his arms around me like a shield I never knew I needed. My body was heavy from crying, but inside my chest, my heart wouldn’t stop beating as if it was trying to remind me of the mess that is my life.I could have stayed like that forever, cocooned in the safety of his hold, but the more I listened to his heartbeat against my ear, the more something stirred inside me. The same thing that caused all these headaches.Lust.I wanted to stop thinking. About the damn videos. About the blackmailer. About my withering friendship with Emily. About the videos. I didn’t want to feel like Tatiana Olivera. I just wanted to feel like I belong to him.I tilted my face upward. Hasan’s jawline loomed above me. My hand lifted on its own, brushing against his chest. Hasan froze, but only for a second, then his gaze dropped down to mine and then I kissed him.It was hesitant at first, unlike the other f
Last Updated: 2025-09-03
Chapter: You always didTatianaEmily’s face was crimson, her hands trembling at her sides. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, every breath a dagger tearing through the fragile air between us.“You don’t know me at all,” she whispered first, her voice quivering. Then it cracked into something sharper. “You never knew me, did you?”I opened my mouth, but the apology got tangled with my shame. The words came out fractured and brittle. “Emily, I didn’t mean…”“Yes, you did!” she screamed, her voice slicing through the walls like glass shattering. “You meant every damn word. You’ve been sitting there, staring at me like I’m a criminal, doubting me, blaming me after everything I’ve done for you!”Her hysteria was so loud I didn’t realize my door had opened until I saw movement. Hasan appeared in the hallway, his expression unreadable. And then, behind him, Mom emerged from her bedroom, her robe wrapped tightly around her as if she had already been woken by the storm erupting in mine.“Girls?” Mom’s voice had a whip
Last Updated: 2025-09-02
Chapter: AccusationsTatianaI’m not sure how long I stared at the grainy footage in my hand, but I know it’s a long, long time. In fact, so long that when I blinked out of my state of shock, the time above my phone indicated that minutes had passed, within which Emily had descended a few steps and right when she was about to put her hand on my shoulder, I quickly tucked away my phone.Emily looked at me warily, hiding her concern behind a mild chuckle. “You okay, T? You looked like you’ve seen a ghost.” Tilting just enough such that her face was inches away from mine.“Yeah, just another message from the stalker.” I say. Emily sticks out her hand.“Let me s-““No!” I answer quickly, quickly before Emily could even finish talking, thereby raising suspicions. Emily tilted her head quizzically. “I mean.. it’s nothing. Just another silly message. Let’s go upstairs.”Thankfully, Emily didn’t press any further. We walked to my room and barely seconds after sitting down, Emily began listing out names of people
Last Updated: 2025-09-01
Chapter: GoneLazaro’s POVMy fight with Aric continued into the bushes that surrounded the dilapidated house, as we rolled all the way over down, clawing at each other’s neck.It was a sloppy area, so rolling was inevitable. I had to stick my foot between a cluster of bushes to stop myself, slamming a fist hard into the side of his face as I did.“Fucking bastard!” I cursed, driving a knee into his skull. “You have a death wish, don’t you?”“You’re the one with a death-wish, Laz. I promise you, you’d regret ruining my plans today.”“Go to hell, Aric.” I shoved him off me just then, further down the shrubs. But then, to my surprise, he never stopped going down. As he realized that too, his pupils dilated in fear, and he reached a hand out to me. “Laz, no—“A snap went off and he tumbled all the way down, disappearing from sight, his screams of terror filling my ears. What the heck just happened?Well, my greater concern lay with Seraphina back at the old house. So I had to get back to her… Carefully
Last Updated: 2025-06-26
Chapter: Chapter 48: Back away nowSeraphina’s POVI sat at the only table in the cold, empty room of an old building in Santa Fe, my gaze zeroed into the distance, my thoughts running wild. This was the place I’d chosen as the meet-up joint for Aric and I. According to him, the plan was that he shows up, sets my brother free in the air, and I leave with him. No problems. No casualties. No troubles. Simple. But I would be crazy to just go along with that absurd plan, don’t you think?That was why I had a few burly farm workers from Martha's, hiding in the small bushes behind the dilapidated house. A whole different plan drafted out. If Aric decided to move funny, more than I could handle, they would intervene. That was my own plan. But in all this, I couldn’t afford to get my brother injured.So I had a plan for him too. A ferryman would be waiting to pick him up to the boat as soon as he arrived.The sound of a car pulling up to the house immediately snapped me out of my thoughts, and I bolted to my feet, anxiety
Last Updated: 2025-06-26
Chapter: Chapter 47: Your brother diesJaxon’s POVWe touched down at Monaco sometime before noon, and as the hunter led the way to the arrivals lounge, I cautiously trailed behind him, my eyes roaming about in a vigilant sweep.My jaw twitching every now and then.My gut feeling about Seraphina being in Argentina was strong enough, and that was why I’d offered to go there in search of her.I couldn’t bear the thought of her being hurt, or in a difficult situation over there.I was eager to see her. But then, as if Lazaro had seen right through my plan, he’d shattered it, sending me to fucking Monaco, when we both knew it was a lost cause.And although I knew, a small part of my mind still wished the one in Monaco here, was the real Seraphina.I sighed, my grip tightening around the duffel bag I carried, as I watched the hunter flag down a cab.We got in, and the hunter gave the address, and soon, we were on our way to fake Seraphina.“So,” the hunter cheered his throat, leaning into the seat next to me, “you’ll be the on
Last Updated: 2025-06-26
Chapter: Chapter 46: Tell me where you areAric’s POVI sat at the top pew of the grandstand, cracking my neck from side to side, as I watched the brown-haired boy that danced around energetically on the field, in the game of rugby.He bore a striking resemblance to his sister, and sitting here, watching him play, I concluded he was the key I needed to unlock this unforeseen mess that had rolled out.The same mess his sister had created.Seraphina had disappeared all of a sudden, two weeks ago, disrupting the string of plans I’d had in place to reclaim my father’s legacy. And I’d beaten myself up for days, wondering why I hadn’t moved any faster than I did.Racking my brain to string another plan together.Well, I believe I wouldn’t have found a solution by now if I hadn’t decided to show up at Lazaro’s suite unannounced the previous day.It was fate, yeah. I had overheard Lazaro’s phone call with the boy, and I’d known instantly, that this was the heavens offering their support to help me reclaim my father’s legacy in the fu
Last Updated: 2025-06-24
Chapter: Chapter 45: I'll try to be thereLazaro’s POV“The bounty hunters have returned.”I looked up from the journal in my hands, to find Jaxon there. I’d been reading the journal non-stop for days, since I found it. Biding my time for whenever the bounty hunters returned with news of their search. And that moment had finally arrived. Thank heavens.“Send them in,” ‘I ordered, slamming the journal shut and pushing to my feet. He left and returned seconds later, with three men trailing behind him, all of which their appearances screamed their profession.“So,” I started as they spread out in front of me, their heads tilted in slight curtsy, “what do you have for me? Did any of you find her?”The burly man with a heavily tatted face stepped forward, clearing his throat. “Take a look at this,” he said, lifting his phone to my eyes. “Saw someone with a striking resemblance to her in Monaco,” he continued, “although this one’s married to a lawyer.”I squinted my eyes at the picture on the phone, taking in the fiery red hair a
Last Updated: 2025-06-24
Chapter: Chapter 44: was that worse?Lazaro’s POVI sat at the desk in my study, my eyes pinned on the picture I held in my hands. It was a picture of Seraphina and I, one we’d been obliged to take after our wedding months back. As my eyes burned into the picture, my chest constricted painfully. It’s been two long weeks since she disappeared, leaving behind her ring and that stupid note. And after searching everywhere for her, without a trace of her identity, I crawled into a cave of dark despair, staring at her picture all day long. That was all I could do at the moment. Wait. And stare longingly at her picture. Until I found her someday.The search around the neighborhood had spread to other households, ending in violent house raids and chaos. I let out a deep sigh, raking my fingers through my hair in frustration, and just then, a knock sounded on the door. Jaxon walked in seconds later, his shoulders moving stiffly as he approached my desk.“What’s the update?” I demanded, glancing up at him. He shook his head, h
Last Updated: 2025-06-24
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