Chapter: BENDED KNEESThe eggs on Jessica’s plate had gone cold. She kept pushing them around with her fork, unable to bring herself to take a bite. Her eyes were puffy from barely sleeping. Every time she closed them, she heard Avery’s voice again in her head. “Grandpa said I’ll be spending more time here.”Janet reached across the small dining table and lightly touched her daughter’s hand.“Sweetheart… are you alright?”Jessica forced a smile that fooled no one. “I’m fine, Mom. Just tired.”Joseph looked up from his newspaper. “Did Ethan say something yesterday?” His voice was calm. He always knew when something was wrong.Jessica dropped her gaze. “It was… nothing.”Joseph frowned. “That didn’t sound like nothing.”Before she could answer, the doorbell rang.Jessica’s fork froze mid-air. Janet’s head snapped toward the hallway. Joseph stood, walked to the window, and peeked through the side curtain. He inhaled slowly.“It’s Ethan.”Jessica’s heart dropped. She wasn’t ready to socialise with th
Last Updated: 2025-11-26
Chapter: FEAR FILESThe families moved slowly toward the front doors of the Mitchell estate, the night air cool against their skin. The courtyard lights glowed warm and golden, softening the edges of everyone’s strained smiles.Avery clung to Jessica’s hand, swinging it as though the night had been nothing but fun. “Mommy, can we come back again?” she asked, half-asleep, half-excited.“We’ll see, sweetheart,” Jessica murmured, brushing a curl off her daughter’s forehead.Charles stepped forward. “Thank you again for coming, Jessica. It meant a lot to the family.”Jessica forced a polite smile. “Of course. It was… nice.”Eleanor hugged Avery tightly. “Goodbye, darling.”Avery giggled. “Bye Grandma! Bye, Grandpa!”William patted her back gently, leaning on his cane. “Sleep well, little one.”Ethan stood behind them, trying to look relaxed, but his fingers wouldn’t stop tapping against his thigh. Jessica noticed. She didn’t comment.She knelt, fixing Avery’s slightly crooked hair bow. “Say goodbye
Last Updated: 2025-11-25
Chapter: EXTENDED ROOTSThe Mitchell estate still had its tall windows glowing against the evening sky. Jessica stepped out of the car, smoothing the front of her dress while Avery clutched her hand tightly. The air smelled faintly of pine and wood polish which gave the environment an elegant, distant, and far too familiar scent. Ethan stood by the grand doorway, his hands tucked in his pockets, trying to look casual but looking every bit as nervous. Behind him stood his parents, Charles and Eleanor, and the man with a walking stick, William Mitchell.Ethan’s smile faltered, then steadied. “Hey, Jess. Thanks for coming.”Jessica felt Avery’s grip tighten. Joseph and Janet flanked her, both standing a little taller than usual.Charles stepped forward first, extending a hand to his friend Joseph. “Joseph, my old friend. It’s been a long time.”Joseph clasped it firmly, his voice low. “A very long time. The last time we met, our kids were tearing each other apart.”Charles’s jaw flexed, but his tone stayed
Last Updated: 2025-10-23
Chapter: LAKE COMOIt was late in the evening, and the house was quiet except for the annoying ticking of the clock in the living room. Avery was already asleep upstairs, after a long day of being a menace. Jessica sat curled on the couch with a mug of tea that had long gone cold, her laptop open but forgotten. The glow from the table lamp cast gentle shadows across the room, brushing over family photos on the shelf.She scrolled absently through old pictures of her and Avery in Italy, bundled in coats, laughing by the canals. Her chest tightened at the memory. The house felt too still, too heavy with what-ifs.Then came a knock at the door.Jessica frowned, glancing at the clock. 9:47 p.m.Her stomach sank knowing that hardly anyone visited at this hour. She reached for her phone, opened the security camera app, and froze.Ethan.He stood on the porch in his work clothes, tie loosened, sleeves rolled to his elbows. His hair was slightly tousled, his expression unreadable. For a brief moment, she
Last Updated: 2025-10-22
Chapter: STORM'S COMINGThe evening light slanted through the half-drawn curtains, drawing gold lines across Jessica’s bedroom wall. She sat on the edge of her bed, the cream envelope resting heavy on her lap like a decision she didn’t want to make. Her thumb kept tracing the raised letters of the Mitchell name, over and over, until the motion felt like punishment.The door creaked softly. Janet, her mother, stepped in, her voice low. “Still thinking about it?”Jessica didn’t look up. “Thinking, regretting, overthinking. It’s one of them or maybe all?”Janet smiled faintly and sat beside her, the mattress dipping slightly. “You’ve been staring at that thing for almost an hour.”Jessica sighed, setting the envelope aside. “I’m scared, Mom.”“Of what?” Janet asked gently.“Not the trip,” Jessica said in a quiet voice. “Of what it means if I say yes.” She picked at the corner of the envelope. “Every time I start trusting him again, he proves and gives me reasons why I shouldn’t.”Janet watched her daugh
Last Updated: 2025-10-09
Chapter: JINGLE BELLSThe hum of orchestral music filled the air in Jessica’s studio, was alive with colour, bolts of silk spilling over tables, the scent of fabric glue and coffee blending in the air. She leaned over her sketchpad, pencil gliding quickly as she murmured to her assistant, “Tell Maya to adjust the hemline by half an inch on this dress.”A knock followed almost instantly.“Ma’am,” her assistant said from the doorway, slightly breathless. “There’s a man here. He says his name is Mr Ethan Mitchell, and he is here to see you.”Jessica froze. Her pencil paused mid-stroke. “Did you say...?”“Yes, ma’am. Mr Mitchell.”A dozen emotions formed in her chest. “Goddamn it. Send him in,” she muttered, her tone cool, clipped.Ethan stepped inside, looking oddly out of place among all the pastels and chiffon hanging around. His suit was dark, his presence heavier than the air itself. “This is a nice setup, Griselda.” he mocked, scanning the mannequins and the photos pinned to the mood board. “You’ve
Last Updated: 2025-10-08
Chapter: Chapter 60I woke up feeling like my emotions had been scattered all over. Sound reached me before my eyes opened up fully. I heard voices drifting in and out, blurred at the edges, as if I were underwater and the world was speaking from the surface. I didn’t open my eyes right away. I wasn’t sure I could. I wasn’t sure I wanted to. My head pulsed with a dull, steady ache and my body felt like it had been pressed into the mattress, weighted down, pinned.“…blood pressure stabilised,” a man wearing an all-white coat said somewhere near my left. His voice was calm with each word that left his lips. “She fainted due to emotional shock. Likely dehydration and exhaustion played a role as well.”Another joined the conversation even though I couldn’t see his face. But it was familiar enough that my chest twinged before I knew why.“If you don’t mind me asking, doc. What was the cause of Mr Derek’s death?” I frowned faintly, my brow tightening without my permission.“The kidneys were the primary
Last Updated: 2026-02-05
Chapter: Chapter 59I turned sharply toward the voice at the reception desk, my body reacting before my mind could catch up.“Brian?” The name tore out of me, like an animal filled with disbelief.The waiting room noise dulled instantly, like someone had pressed a hand over the world. I stepped closer, my shoes striking the floor louder than they should have. “What are you doing here?” My voice rose despite myself. “Why are you asking questions about my father?”Brian stared at me like I was the last person he expected to see. His brows pulled together, surprise flickering quickly into something guarded. “Chloe?” He straightened. “How did you even know Derek was here?”The question immediately struck me as wrong.My shoulders squared. “Why wouldn’t I know?” I snapped. “He’s my father. Why are you here?”“I came to see my father-in-law,” Brian said, his tone calm but firm, like he was bracing for impact.I laughed after hearing those same untrue words again. “No. You didn’t.” I stepped closer,
Last Updated: 2026-02-05
Chapter: Chapter 58The hospital was larger than I thought it be.I parked crookedly, killed the engine without really registering it, and sat there for a beat with both hands locked around the steering wheel. The building’s lights glared back at me through the windshield, they were too bright, too white, too final. My phone buzzed in my pocket, probably Lois, but I ignored it. I opened the car door and stepped out, the night air sharp against my skin.Each step toward the entrance felt more difficult than the previous one. The automatic doors slid open with a quiet hiss, releasing the sterile scent of disinfectant layered with something sharper beneath it. The emergency lobby buzzed with contained motion. Voices stayed low. Footsteps moved fast. A child whimpered somewhere to my left. A man argued quietly into his phone near the wall.I stopped just inside the doors.I pressed my tongue to the roof of my mouth and breathed in slowly. Once. Twice. My shoulders dropped a fraction.Then I walked to
Last Updated: 2026-02-03
Chapter: Chapter 57The quiet hit me the moment I shut the door behind me. I locked it the same way I did every day, whenever I returned. They proceeded to do my usual ritual of resting my forehead against the wood. My bag slipped from my shoulder and dropped to the floor with a dull thud I didn’t bother reacting to. My heels followed immediately, kicked off without care, one of them skidding toward the wall.I stayed there longer than necessary.When I finally pushed away from the door, my body protested immediately. My lower back was tight, my neck stiff, my jaw aching from hours of clenching. I rolled my shoulders once and winced, then exhaled slowly through my nose like I was trying to teach myself how to breathe again.“Okay,” I murmured to the empty apartment. “Okay, let’s do this.”Those words didn’t convince anyone.I fished my phone out of my coat pocket and scrolled without really looking, muscle memory taking over. When I saw Lois’s name, I didn’t hesitate. I hit call before I could sec
Last Updated: 2026-02-03
Chapter: Chapter 56Martin’s lawyer was the first to move.He cleared his throat once, sharply, then placed a firm hand on Martin’s arm. “We need a moment,” he said, not asking. “Privately if you don’t mind.”Martin jerked his arm slightly but didn’t pull away. His eyes landed on Alex, filled with visible anguish and hatred.Alex didn’t object. He didn’t even say a word or give a damn. He gestured toward the door with two fingers, relaxed, already done with the argument.I stayed seated by his side.My back was already hurting, my hands flat on the table now, fingertips pressing into the polished wood. I stared down at the grain, at a faint scratch near the edge, anywhere but at Martin as he shoved his chair back. The scrape was loud and violent.Martin stood abruptly, jaw tight, face flushed. He didn’t look at me as he stormed toward the door. His lawyer followed quickly, murmuring something low and urgent as he steered him into the hallway.The door shut behind them and no one around me flinched
Last Updated: 2026-02-02
Chapter: Chapter 55I knew there was something wrong with the conference room the moment I stepped inside it.For some strange reason I had been summoned yet again and ask to me in the conference which was too quiet that I could hear my own breathing in my ears. The long table in the room looked like it had just been polished a few minutes ago. It looked like the scene of a crime with how things were wiped down.Alex walked in beside me a few minutes later, his presence steady but restrained. He said nothing to me, not even a good morning and that was enough to let me know that he was still annoyed with how things had turned out. Our lawyer, Mr. Hart, moved ahead of us, before gesturing for all of us to sit “Good morning everyone,” Martin’s lawyer said after about an hour of waiting for him and Martin to arrive. “Forgive our tardiness.” “We’re here in the interest of resolving this matter privately, without unnecessary escalation.”“Privately,” Martin echoed, his eyes never leaving me. “Which is m
Last Updated: 2026-02-02
Chapter: Chapter 16The tablet felt heavier than it should have as I stepped out of Liam’s office, like it carried more than just names and deadlines. It felt like it held expectation and pressure, along with something else I refused to put a name to. My fingers tightened slightly around it as I tried to steady myself and focus on what actually mattered.“Ma’am?”The voice pulled me out of my thoughts, and I looked up to see a tall man standing in front of me with glasses slipping slightly down his nose. His posture was polite, but there was a quiet curiosity in his eyes as he studied me. “I’m Ralph, a data analyst. I was told I’d be working under you on this project.”I nodded and adjusted my grip on the tablet as I tried to gather myself. “Right, yes. Hi, Ralph. Good to meet you.” Before I could say anything else, a woman stepped forward beside him, her posture confident and her gaze steady.“Amy, systems engineer,” she said, offering a small but warm smile. “Looks like we’re on the same team.”“Good t
Last Updated: 2026-04-12
Chapter: Chapter 15FIRST DAY AT WORKAmanda’s voice filled my ear as I stepped out of the car and stared up at the glass building in front of me. It was taller than I expected, sleek, modern, the kind of place that made you feel like you had to adjust yourself before walking in. My reflection stared back at me from the tinted doors, composed on the outside, completely unsettled on the inside.“So let me get this straight,” Amanda said, not even trying to hide the disbelief in her tone. “You’re actually going to work for him? Like every day?”A small sigh slipped out as I adjusted my bag on my shoulder and started walking toward the entrance. “It’s not for him. It’s a partnership deal. We’d be working together.”“Right,” she dragged the word out. “A partnership where you gotta show up to his office every morning. That sounds very healthy for someone who is tryna get over a man.”My lips pressed together as I pushed the door open and stepped into the cool, quiet lobby. “I don’t have a choice.”“Girl, you
Last Updated: 2026-04-09
Chapter: Chapter 14The door opened again before I could change my mind or come up with another argument.Daniel stepped out briefly, his voice carrying into the hallway. “Liam, get back in here.”My hands rested on my lap, fingers loosely intertwined, but the tension in them told a different story. Ever sat somewhere and felt like the room itself was watching you? Like every decision you were about to make was already sealed, and you were just there to act it out? That was exactly how it felt sitting in that chair.Liam walked back in as if nothing had happened. Like he hadn’t just walked out on a billion-dollar deal like it was nothing or like he hadn’t just turned my world upside down.Daniel walked up immediately; as soon as he stepped in, his face lit up with excitement. “You’re one hell of a stubborn man, you know that?” he said with a laugh as he extended his hand.Liam took it, a faint smile on his lips. “Depends on the situation.”“Well,” Daniel said, gripping his hand firmly, “you got what you
Last Updated: 2026-04-09
Chapter: Chapter 13The glass doors of Daniel’s office building slid open with a quiet hiss, and the cool air inside hit my skin at once. Without wasting time, I walked toward the reception desk, trying to calm myself down, thanks to the unease twisting in my stomach. Everything from the night before, the wedding, the car, Liam’s words, the slap, Olivia’s sudden appearance, it all sat heavily on my chest like something waiting to explode.“Good afternoon, ma’am,” the receptionist greeted with a polite smile. “Mr Daniel is currently in a meeting, but he asked that you come in as soon as you arrive.”A small pause followed as I adjusted the strap of my bag. “A meeting?” The words came out slower than expected.“Yes, ma’am. But you can go right in.”“Okay. Thank you.”The hallway felt longer than usual as I counted over 500 people while walking by. The familiar walls, the framed awards, the subtle scent of expensive polish, everything looked the same, yet nothing felt right. Something about being called her
Last Updated: 2026-04-08
Chapter: Chapter 12THE NEXT DAYAmanda sat across from me on the couch, her hands locked together, while her usual playful energy was nowhere to be found. The living room felt like a haunted house for ghosts with all the silence. She had been watching me for a while now with eyes filled with unbelief while she waited for me to finish.“Girl, you really slapped that man?” she asked after processing what I had said and hearing only that.A tired breath slipped out as I leaned back into the cushions. “Of course. He left me no choice.”Amanda winced slightly. “In his own car?”“Jesus Christ! In his car!” I replied, rubbing my eye as the memory replayed itself too clearly. “Right after he said that ridiculous thing about rescuing me.”Her brows pulled together. “He actually said that?”“Oh my gosh! Yes, he did,” I yelled at the top of my voice from frustration of listening to her repeat everything I said. “He said if it came to destroying my marriage, he’d see it as rescuing me from a castle I’m locked up i
Last Updated: 2026-04-06
Chapter: Chapter 11The drive back was quieter than I expected. Not the kind of silence that anyone would love to be a part of, but the heavy kind that pressed against your chest and made every breath feel deliberate. What wouldn’t stop annoying was the damned radio that felt this was the right moment for a slow song to be played. As if things were planned, the lyrics were almost too fitting, talking about timing, about wanting something that didn’t belong to you, about knowing better and still not stopping. “Can you turn that off?” I said after being fed up with all of it. Liam didn’t argue with me. His hand reached out, and the music cut off immediately, leaving nothing but the sound of the engine and the sound of life outside the car. “Thank you,” I added like I meant the words that were leaving my lips. He didn’t respond. Time continued to pass until the car slowed and finally pulled to a stop in front of my house. The lights from the porch spilt onto the driveway, announcing my return to eve
Last Updated: 2026-04-05
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