TWO LIVES - Shattered Illusion
“Are you trying to punish me? I…I don't know how many times I can apologize even if it wasn't my fault that I almost—”
“I never asked you to. You do whatever you want, Niya, and I really don't care. Neither should you bother with what I do.”
“You're hurt. You're hurt, Alex, and you're acting out. Don't worry we could talk this through. This isn't you.” I try to reach him again but he shoots me a deadly glare that pierces through my skin like a dagger.
“Sure it is. You've just never seen me like this. You don't know what I look like when I'm not in love with you,” his brows grow together. “Now we’ve had enough of your drama. You'll find the papers and enjoy the party or use the fucking door.”
He pulls away and my eyes cloud again. My ears and heart find it hard to process what is actually going on. The looks on their faces tell me it is awfully too late—I have already lost everything.
“Niya, careful now,” my grandmother slowly tugs at my arm as if that will somehow make everything better. “We have guests. Don’t cause a scene.”
A scene? I have literally just seen a whole movie, ma.
*************
My name is Niya Kendrick. I’m 25, an author who once believed she had the perfect life. But how quickly can everything I love be stripped away in the blink of an eye? Or worse, what if the life, the family I’ve cherished has always been a blatant lie, a mere fragment of the truth? Now, I’m awake, and reality is far harsher than any dream.
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Chapter: CHAPTER 83: Vanished.Niya crawled to Ma Phil’s side, her knees scraping the floor. Her fingers trembled when she reached out, but the second Ma Phil turned her face toward her, she backed away, her knees hitting the ground with a soft thud, and the cold tile climbed into her bones.What she saw in her eyes wasn’t grief.Or it was. But not only that.Her grandmother’s eyes were red and hollowed with pain. They shone darker like they'd been burned with acid. Hatred and love all at once, and Niya didn’t have to be told who each emotion belonged to.“Don’t get any close!” Ma Phil’s voice cracked through the air like a whip, and Niya swallowed a gasp, recoiling.Ma Phil returned her eyes to May’s lifeless body and held her tighter, rocking her like a baby who’d just fallen asleep. “Oh, baby… oh, baby girl,” she sobbed, over and over.Niya's hands met the floor as she tried to understand what was happening. How this happened and how it could possibly be her fault.Just as if Ma Phil had heard her thoughts, “Fin
최신 업데이트: 2025-07-14
Chapter: CHAPTER 82: The Murder.Josh had started dating May two weeks after their final exams. “He likes me more,” Maybelle had said with that same syrupy shrug. “Boys don’t like mystery when they can have certainty.”She remembered how Alex barely spoke to May back in high school and how his caretaker only ever saw May when she looked her way. How May would press a possessive hand on her belly, laugh at inside jokes with Alex's caretaker whenever she visited Alex in school. The saddest thing about betrayal is that it never came from your enemies but from the ones who kiss your cheek while carving out your spine. And May had carved her deep so she didn’t even bleed anymore. She was now hollowed.And Raphael wasn’t just complicit. He was willing. And he was worse because he made her feel seen before he vanished behind the same curtain of lies.Niya wasn't going to take the fair and honest road anymore. That road had betrayed and chewed her up, then spat her out with scraped knees and trembling hands. So she was don
최신 업데이트: 2025-07-12
Chapter: CHAPTER 81: Broken deal.Was it that obvious to him and everyone? Had they all witnessed it before she did, that she'd fallen for a lie? That as they watched, her little heart, sweet and foolish, had been hanging in the open?Was that the reason why Silas never stopped staring at her? If he really knew, why didn't it tell her? Her thoughts were dragging through gravel like a body, and her eyes were glassy.Silas was never on her side. He'd watched Raphael fool her. After being duped once and twice, Niya was no longer even sure what she wanted.Death or paradise? Did it even matter. Both sounded like an escape from the pain clawing at her ribs.It was her own damn fault. She should’ve known better that men like Raphael didn’t fall for girls like her.The ache shot through her. May was carrying Alex’s child. That much she’d known. And yet she was sleeping with Raphael? What kind of twisted, soul-rotting circus had she walked into?Was it permitted? She was aware that it was a contract marriage, but she didn't
최신 업데이트: 2025-07-11
Chapter: CHAPTER 80: The betrayal.Her brows pinched as she dragged her thumb across the screen. The lock screen was open with no passcode, just messages stacked one beneath the other.It wasn't her intention to open the phone or even read on, but the picture before her had made the quiet night around her went silent, while a million drums beat noisily inside her head. She wanted to be sure she saw it right the first time. ~ ‘I miss the way your lips taste after wine. Next time, don’t wait for me to undress you.’The messages were new, only from tonight. It looked like the conversation went far beyond this, and whatever came before had been wiped clean carefully. All but these last few confessed desires left behind, like the sender hadn’t expected someone else to see. Or maybe they wanted to be caught. The photo icon beside the name was blank. She tapped on it anyway, praying it would lie to her. But no, it opened to the default contact page. The number was plain and simple, without any frills or initials.But it w
최신 업데이트: 2025-07-10
Chapter: CHAPTER 79: Wanted.Niya couldn’t make sense of her feelings. It felt like she had liked Alex for a long time – maybe she’d even loved him. When she first woke up, she remembered they were married. That they were in love. But the accident had happened barely two weeks after the contract agreement… if that. Which meant it would’ve been impossible for Alex to have loved her back in that short time.Or maybe it was just her foolish imagination playing tricks on her.Thinking that Alexander McKenzie would ever like her – let alone love her – was insane.She shook her head, her jaw setting. No more Alex. Let him stay caught up in whatever shallow world he’d carved for himself. She didn’t care anymore, especially when her body was still marked by Raphael’s touch. She was going to give herself to Raphael and show him the parts of her she had been bottling up for years.At the kitchen sink, she downed a glass of cold water, letting it cool the heat running down her thighs. What could she give him in return?Woul
최신 업데이트: 2025-07-09
Chapter: CHAPTER 78: Unholy devotion.Even before her lashes fluttered apart, Niya felt the dull ache blooming deep between her legs, a reminder of what she’d begged for hours ago. As she moved, every muscle in her body ached and every nerve lit like candle wax.Her eyes peeled open slowly to a room dimly washed in pre-dawn blue. She didn’t need to turn fully to know he was still there. His slow, warm breath skimmed the side of her neck, earning soft heat over her skin.He was sprawled around her, and carved in moonlight. His chestnut hair had come loose, falling over his damp forehead in feathered strands. His thick, dark lashes were motionless, fanned across his cheeks. A faint mustache framed the curve of his full, cupid’s bow mouth which was still slightly parted and looked too swollen to be innocent. A faded beard darkened the hollows of his cheeks and sculpted his chiseled jawline, and beneath it all, his face held a calmness that wasn’t sleep. It was something else. Something untouched.Niya couldn’t look away. His
최신 업데이트: 2025-07-09
Married To The Wrong Brother
As a pawn in her father’s game of loyalty and blood, Rosalia Capello was never meant to be remembered. At seventeen, she only wanted one night of rebellion to feel something real in a world where everything was orchestrated. But what started as a secret meeting with Dominic De Laurentiis, ended in blood and shattered innocence.
Now haunted by what was stolen from her and the guilt of falling for the wrong brother, Rosalia is trapped in a web of power, death, and vengeance. Her body may belong to one man, but her soul has always bled for another.
When love becomes a curse, loyalty becomes a lie, and the man meant to protect her might be the one who breaks her, what happens when the truth threatens everything?
Go ahead and flip those pages to find out>
Rated 18+
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Chapter: CHAPTER 68: Vincenzo"You sent for me, sir –"She halted and the color drained from her face.At least somebody in this house still possessed survival instincts because I knew exactly what I looked like.My shirt sleeves had been rolled to my forearms, and my jaw ached from clenching it. Every muscle in my body felt wound so tightly it threatened to tear itself apart.“Shut the door.”Lauren obeyed immediately, and by the time she turned back to me, she gasped because I'd already crossed the room.One moment she stood near the doorway. The next, her back struck the wall with a violent thud that rattled the framed artworks beside her.My hand closed around her throat.“Unless my memory has suddenly deteriorated, I distinctly remember placing you in charge of this household.”“Enz –” A wheeze strangled the rest of her sentence.“When was she hired?”“Her... file...”“Oh, we have a file,” a humorless smile pulled at my mouth. “Perhaps that file can explain how a woman who attempted to poison Rosalia under my
최신 업데이트: 2026-06-17
Chapter: CHAPTER 67: RosaliaBut he never touched me. His fingers merely caught the loose strand of hair that had fallen across my face and pushed it behind me, careful enough that his skin never brushed mine once.Still, my entire body went cold. Because that level of control somehow frightened me more than if he had grabbed me.What had I done?I had slapped him.I had cornered a man who stood downstairs and watched somebody die without blinking.“Listen carefully, piccola.” My pulse staggered unevenly when he leaned closer. Gone was the composed diplomat from downstairs. This voice was darker and I could feel the heat of him surrounding me completely.“At the dinner table, I exercised an extraordinary amount of restraint with you tonight.” His dark stare locked onto mine. “Far more than any man in my position would have.”My lips trembled uncontrollably.“You interrupted me repeatedly.” His voice remained unbearably calm. “You challenged me in front of my staff. You questioned my judgment. You raised your vo
최신 업데이트: 2026-05-30
Chapter: CHAPTER 66: RosaliaI sat upright in my bed. And every single time I squeezed my eyes so hard that it hurt, the images kept coming anyway.Pearl choking.Pearl collapsing.Pearl’s fingers bruising her neck while everybody just stood there watching.While I stood there watching.And Enzo.That was the part my brain refused to process correctly. The terrifying composure on his face while she fought for air at his feet caused a shaky breath to escape me.My anger hadn’t disappeared. If anything, it had become worse now that it had tangled itself with what I couldn’t logically explain. I had watched him force her to drink it. I could still hear myself arguing with him. Still remember how sure I’d been that he was wrong.And when she lifted the glass with those shaking hands, I didn’t stop her.The realization burned through me so viciously I suddenly shoved the blanket off my body and stood up from the bed like that sudden movement alone could outrun the feeling.Nothing about tonight felt real anymore. Not
최신 업데이트: 2026-05-30
Chapter: CHAPTER 65: VincenzoPearl’s shoulders stiffened.“Enzo – what are you doing?” Rosalia exhaled sharply. “This is ridiculous.” I rose abruptly, and Pearl’s breath hitched.“There are many ways to be present in a room, and only a few of them require honesty.” Rosalia shook her head once. “What does that even mean?”I looked at her, then back to Pearl again.“Why don’t you show us?” I said evenly, stretching the glass towards her. “Since you’ve had so much opportunity to speak in place of answers.”Pearl swallowed.Rosalia’s confusion deepened. “Enzo, you’re acting like she’s some kind of stranger. I'm even more of a stranger than she is here. Pearl’s been nothing but nice since I moved in. She didn’t do anything strange –”“Exactly,” I cut in quietly. “Which makes it worth checking.”Pearl’s fingers trembled violently the second she reached for the glass. The crystal clinked against itself in her grip while I watched her without expression.A thin layer of sweat had begun gathering near her hairline now,
최신 업데이트: 2026-05-29
Chapter: CHAPTER 64: VincenzoShe sat by herself at the long dining table, surrounded by half-cleared plates amidst crystal and candlelight, with remnants of dessert still clinging to the black square plate in front of her – the aftermath of a dinner that had obviously finished without me.It hadn't been entirely intentional.The meeting with Theodore Hunt had taken longer than planned, and by the time I returned to the villa in McLean, Washington traffic had turned into its usual organized form of misery.One of the maids hurried forward to place a bottle beside Rosalia, and the second she noticed my presence, she immediately retreated behind the pillars to rejoin the rest.My gaze cascaded over Rosalia briefly.Hmm.How intriguing. A direct refusal this early into the arrangement.Bold.The scent of her perfume reached me before I properly crossed into the dining room. It had something warm rested beneath the floral notes, softer than what she’d worn yesterday.“New perfume,” I observed as my footsteps slowed.
최신 업데이트: 2026-05-29
Chapter: CHAPTER 63: Vincenzo“Fuck,” I thought, watching Theodore Hunt laugh smoke into the air like his lungs had personally offended him. “How did this idiot end up owning one of the largest media empires in America?”Across the terrace, Theodore leaned into the waitress serving their table, silver lighter dangling between his fingers while he smiled at her with all the dignity of a divorced politician on his third relapse.She couldn’t have been older than twenty-three.In this world, wealth rarely found the right people. It either landed in the laps of fools or stayed buried inside bloodlines too powerful to lose it. Mine was no exception.Washington had always been full of men like Theodore Hunt. Old, rich, rotting from the inside out, and somehow, they still held entire governments by the throat.The rooftop lounge overlooked half of D.C., marble fire pits flickering against glass railings while about three suited officials – whom may be his – drank themselves numb beneath the skyline. I’d heard Theodore w
최신 업데이트: 2026-05-10
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