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
Last Updated: 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
Last Updated: 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
Last Updated: 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
Last Updated: 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
Last Updated: 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
Last Updated: 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 10: RosaliaHe had gone straight to the Don of the De Laurentiis. Unfortunately for me, whatever happened that night was buried and folded for political reasons and the illusion of peace among powerful allies. The Capellos had no real power to push back, especially not when their daughter’s marriage was the last thread tying them to safety and freedom.And my father was still bound to the family. No matter how loudly his heart must have screamed, he belonged to them.After realizing Davina had only confessed about the ambush and left out the rest, I was relieved. She had even arranged for me to see a secret therapist, Matteo had been forced to play along with the hiring since he too knew something happened, though he’d never learn the whole truth. Journaling became my escape, even if I had to write about anything but what really haunted me. Davina kept me disciplined, guided me through checkups, guarded me like I was her patient rather than her sister. And it worked, a little, at least the night
Last Updated: 2025-08-22
Chapter: CHAPTER 9: RosaliaI’d learned early that the walls in our house didn’t keep sound out. Today, the hallway carried my father’s voice to me like darkness curling under a door.“They’ve kept me in clerical servitude until the matter is closed,” his tone was stripped bare of anything but fact. He never raised his voice nor wasted words. “Every shipment that passes through the southern port is my responsibility. They found discrepancies with dates altered and cargo unlisted.” He paused, his chest rising and falling unsteadily. “The manifests matched a route flagged in a trafficking sting.”The words gripped my chest even though I didn't understand all that he said.Marco’s reply was honed enough to cut through the tensed air around them. “Well, you are saying Andrés claims your signature was the last one before they moved. I'm certain someone put those papers in front of you knowing they’d pin you for signing them.”Uncle Marco was suddenly worried about my father's affairs. That was new. “Speculation won’
Last Updated: 2025-08-21
Chapter: CHAPTER 8: ROSALIA“I got transferred to Stamford Hospital, just for the next couple of months. Some clinical program tied to San Fran Med,” Davina’s voice rustled through the line, too bright for the hour of the day. “Can you believe my luck?”She invariably knew how to make her triumphs sound effortless. To me, it was another reminder that my sister had slipped into a new world while I stayed in mine, stagnant.“You’ll see him more often,” I said, curling my knees to my chest on the bed. “Westchecter isn’t far.”“Yeah. That’s… good.” Her sigh carried through the static. “You remember Carlo? He’s gone. His cousin got caught up in some mess in Queens and he flew back, probably for good. I mean, can you blame him?”I held my breath.“The weeks he stuck around, he was impossible. Overbearing. But then again, what else do you expect from someone out of that family. Those De Laurentiis men are cut from the same impossible cloth.” A dry laugh slipped out of her, bitter more than amused. Then, softer, conspi
Last Updated: 2025-08-20
Chapter: CHAPTER 7: Dominic.I straightened. “Calliari doesn’t cross that line without permission. He wouldn’t dare. Not unless –”Alessandro raised one skeletal hand. “Don’t start a war over smoke.”My jaw flexed.Smoke?A man breached our perimeter, mapped half our surveillance blind spots, and died screaming in a fire I set myself. That wasn’t smoke. That was a signal flare lit in our yard.Marcello was frozen beside the desk before adjusting his gloves like they'd begun to itch. His lips twitched, and his expression was unreadable. He was trying not to be involved, but he already was.“You’re late, Andrés,” Alessandro said without glancing up even though we both knew he hadn’t touched the damn photos.I hadn't noticed Andrés walk in over the pulse in my ears and the heat rising in my throat.Andrés Falcone was a De Laurentiis Consigliere somewhere between fifty-five and sixty-five, but ageless in an odd way. He was bald with sharp Italian features, pale olive skin weathered by years of whatever happened here l
Last Updated: 2025-08-07
Chapter: CHAPTER 6: Dominic.The double doors creaked as I stepped in. Low light spilled across the marble desk, illuminating Alessandro’s war room in gold and grey. He was already seated, back straight, cufflinks spotless, and sipping scotch from a crystal tumbler.He wasn’t smoking.That was rare.Alessandro De Laurentiis didn’t breathe without lighting something on fire. Cuban cigars, parliamentary files or men who’d outlived their usefulness. But not today.“You know what to do, Domenico. Make it disappear,” his gruff voice drew my attention even further. They carried the same words and same fucking tone. We’d had this conversation last week. The one that pulled me from D.C and forced me to leave her. I was supposed to be cooling off, not detonating a future. But I went. And now, I was returning to vanish someone else.He finally looked up, one brow lifted as if it had been chiseled into place during the Cold War. His eyes were obsidian mirrors and no light ever made it through.“Marcello briefed you?” he qu
Last Updated: 2025-08-06
Chapter: CHAPTER 5: Rosalia.With all the strength I had, I twisted towards her, and she stumbled back. But before I was able to reach the journal, she turned around and went off the bed. I quickly cornered her, but she was fast enough to fist my hair, using my momentum to pull me into the ground like we were children fighting over a toy.“Argh!” My throat burned as pain exploded in my scalp as she yanked my hair.Davina always did pry, push and test boundaries like they were non-existent. I never had a moment of secrecy except this journal, and sure, she’d read it before, whenever I pissed her off, but not today. “Relax!” she chuckled, licking her lips, panting. “God, you’re so dramatic.”“I hate you!”“No, you don’t,” she grinned. “And what do we have here? ‘... blah blah, I imagine him at my window. Just standing there, watching, waiting for me to open it. I don’t know why, but I want him to climb through. I want him to grab me, to take me with him. I want to feel what it's like to belong to someone who’s dan
Last Updated: 2025-07-19
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