Chapter: Their Happily Ever AfterCHAPTER 196ZYLIAH'S POV"You think you can ask Sayge to marry me?" She looked hopeful."I'm here, Claire." Sayge stepped forward. "I'll marry you."She faced him. "Really?"He nodded. "Yes." He extended a hand to her.Giggling, she ran into his hands. The gun was then snatched from her by Kevin, who quickly disarmed it."The cops are already on their way," Oslaz announced."W-what?" She looked confused for a moment, then realized what had truly happened. "You tricked me!" She hit Sayge. "I'll kill you. I'll kill all of you the same way I killed her."My brows furrowed. "Killed who?" Was that human blood on her dress?Kevin had Marvin tie Claire while we waited for the police, who arrived fifteen minutes later."We just received a call that a gunshot was heard in the home of Danielle Holly Bermout, the Hollywood actress. She was found dead in her home." One of the cops relayed, taking in the scene. "One of the neighbors said Miss Bermout and her daughter were always quarreling.""The b
Last Updated: 2025-12-01
Chapter: One Last DramaCHAPTER 195ZYLIAH'S POVIt was the twins' birthday today.But all three of them were celebrating it. It turned out Alexa shared the same birth month with them but different dates.She was tenth. The boys were twenty-fifth. Two weeks older than them. But she had insisted on celebrating her birthday with the boys. It was a welcome idea.With my dad, Martino, and Sabrina in prison, life was perfect once again. No more drama.After trial, Dad received a life sentence without parole for murder.Martino had many charges to his name, including bribing a judge to evade justice. He was also given life without parole.The judge who had received the bribe was stripped of his legal robe and status; he was also spending time in jail, but his wasn't as much as Martino's.Sabrina, for kidnapping and attempted murder—which was how the judge saw the torture she put me through to get me to miscarry—plus other charges I couldn't remember, was given forty years with the possibility of parole after thirt
Last Updated: 2025-12-01
Chapter: Birds Of A Feather Arrested TogetherCHAPTER 194ANTHONY'S POV"A-Anthony?" I saw the flicker of fear in her eyes.Martino was with him. He had helped me lure her here with that text message."Happy to see me?" My mouth was spread in a thin, mean smile.She swallowed. "I thought..." Her eyes nervously glanced over Martino, who was quietly watching the drama."You thought what? That your boy toy is going to give you money gotten from selling my company?"She went ashen with shock and disbelief. "How did...""How did I know? Okay, I'll tell you." My tone was scathingly bitter. "Two guys came into my home and robbed me of my valuables, including my documents. They shot my legs and killed one of my maids, but not before she had alerted the cops. They came, and I explained all that had happened. Alas, the thieves were nowhere to be found."I got up from the bed of the motel room I'd come to visit Martino in, approaching her. Anger and vengeance are swirling inside of me."But something happened. The guys were caught by Zyliah
Last Updated: 2025-12-01
Chapter: Sabrina In Trouble (II)CHAPTER 193SABRINA'S POVA guy with wild red hair and an inked drawing around his neck came in."Marvin?" Fynn was surprised."Let her go, Fynn, or I'll follow my boss's second order if you refuse to comply.""Which is?" Fynn didn't sound too happy."Shoot you dead." He produced a gun from his back in a swift, smooth motion.There were two other guys behind him."What business does he have with her?" Fynn all but spat."His special someone needs her alive, and that's all I'm saying. Now, let her go." He cocked the gun.A whimper left my lips. I didn't know whether to be relieved or be even more scared. How were these people finding me?Fynn let go of me, raising his hands in surrender. "You know, Kevin is really beginning to piss me off. How did he know where I'd be? Were you both tailing me?"This Marvin dude chuckled. "Tail you? You must think I don't do my job well if I followed you down here. You, come here." He pointed the gun at me.With tears falling furiously and my stomach c
Last Updated: 2025-12-01
Chapter: Sabrina In Trouble (I)CHAPTER 192SABRINA'S POVThat little bitch! I had no idea how she had gotten hold of that sex tape and escaped. How had she even known where it was?But by God, I blamed myself for trusting her enough to tell her personal stuff about me. I'd done everything to make sure she was well taken care of, and now she had ruined my plan.How was I supposed to find a pregnant girl who didn't want to be a mother? Since my mother had left without a word to me, and Courtney was doing the same to me, I knew I had to leave that motel.There was this apartment I've been checking out for a while now, thinking it would be suitable for me and Courtney.I was scared Fynn might come find me at the motel. Although I'd been expecting his call, nothing yet.Maybe Courtney hadn't been able to get through to him. Maybe. I hoped.I have tried searching for her, to no avail. She had even stolen a few cashes from me, nothing too much. Some change she had probably found in my purse.I have also tried the number o
Last Updated: 2025-12-01
Chapter: Deception And BetrayalCHAPTER 191VICTORIA'S POVI stood by on the bridge, waiting. It was night. Cars were still on the road, probably on their way home. Buses were fewer by this time.Those on foot walked either leisurely or urgently. The former were having night strolls, while the latter were running errands or racing home.And there was me.Waiting for someone to show up.I wouldn't feel bad for doing this. She had betrayed me and showed she was ungrateful.My own daughter had refused to help me get vengeance. All she was more concerned with was getting money to sponsor the plan I—emphasis on that word—brought up.Suddenly, the money was suddenly too small, but she was buying all kinds of food and even making plans to get an apartment.I'd left the place for almost a week now, and I hadn't looked back.I wouldn't stay and watch my own daughter ignore me like I was some trash.Everything I'd ever done was for that bitch. I killed and left her father just to ensure she had a good home, and what did I get
Last Updated: 2025-12-01
Chapter: ProgressCHAPTER 154Camryn's POVThe anniversary of Julian's death arrived quietly, without ceremony or announcement.I woke up thinking about him, which happened less often now but still hurt when it did. My brother who'd been broken by a game that made him its villain. Who'd helped me rewrite the system that enslaved him. Who'd chosen to die so everyone else could choose to live.A year. An entire year of rebuilding, of truth-telling, of watching Lenore transform from a controlled simulation into something messier and more real.Amon was already awake, sitting by the window with coffee and the morning reports. We'd moved into one of the old House Gold buildings months ago, converting it from a monument to my family's destruction into something useful. A community center now, with living quarters on the upper floors."You're thinking about him," Amon said without looking up."Is it that obvious?""You get this look. Sad but not quite sad. Like you're remembering pain through glass." He set d
Last Updated: 2026-01-31
Chapter: Small VictoriesCHAPTER 153Camryn's POVThe breakthrough came six months after Julian's death, in the middle of a routine meeting about agricultural distribution.Miranda was explaining crop rotation schedules, and I was analyzing the logistics, when suddenly I felt it. Not analyzed understanding but genuine boredom. The real, immediate sensation of being bored by crop rotation schedules.It was the most beautiful boredom I'd ever experienced."Camryn?" Whitney noticed my expression. "You okay?""I'm bored," I said, and started laughing. "I'm actually, genuinely bored. Not processing that I should be bored or remembering what boredom felt like. I'm experiencing it right now."The team stared at me like I'd lost my mind."That's progress?" Fabian asked cautiously."That's massive progress. I've been analyzing emotions for six months. This is the first time I've felt one continuously for more than a few seconds without it fading into code." I stood up, pacing with energy I didn't know I had. "It's sti
Last Updated: 2026-01-31
Chapter: RipplesCHAPTER 152Camryn's POVThe second disclosure went worse than the first.The Ironworks District was more integrated with House Red than we'd realized, and when we revealed the truth about the game, half the audience accused us of spreading anti-House propaganda. Three people tried to physically attack us before Amon's shadows intervened. We left with nothing accomplished except confirming that some communities weren't ready."We should have screened them better," Miranda said afterward, frustrated. "Checked their House loyalties before attempting disclosure.""Then we're just creating echo chambers," I argued. "Only telling people who already distrust the Houses. That doesn't spread truth, it reinforces divisions.""But it keeps us from wasting time on people who won't listen."Whitney checked her notes from both disclosures. "The difference wasn't House loyalty. It was economic dependence. The Hollow Quarter survives independently. Ironworks relies on House Red contracts for employm
Last Updated: 2026-01-31
Chapter: Feelings?CHAPTER 151Camryn's POV"Everything and nothing," I said. "You still live here. Still have relationships and goals and daily concerns. But now you understand the larger context. The Houses have been maintaining lies to preserve their power. Julian spawned anomalies because the game programmed him to. Intent feeds manifestations not because of some mystical force but because it's literally the game's fuel source.""And knowing that helps us how?""It means we can build something better. We don't have to accept the Hunter System as inevitable. Don't have to let Houses control our lives. Don't have to treat anomalies as unstoppable threats." I gestured to Eugene's device. "We have tools to eliminate anomalies safely. Knowledge to prevent Intent surges. Power to rewrite the systems that exploited you. But only if we work together."Another man stood. "What about people who want to leave? You said we're from other realities. Can we go back?""Yes. The game now allows players to choose. St
Last Updated: 2026-01-31
Chapter: Speaking TruthCHAPTER 150Camryn's POVWe chose the Hollow Quarter for our first disclosure.It was one of the oldest abandoned districts, populated mostly by people who'd given up on House protection years ago. They survived through cooperation and grit, running their own security patrols and managing their own anomaly responses. If anyone could handle the truth without falling apart, it was them.Still, my hands shook as we approached the community center they'd built from salvaged materials. Not from fear exactly, but from something my fragmented consciousness recognized as anxiety even if I couldn't quite feel it properly."You don't have to do this," Amon said quietly. "Miranda could take the lead.""No. It should be me." I checked my notes one more time, though I'd memorized everything already. "I rewrote the game. I should be the one who explains what that means."The community center was packed. Word had spread that we wanted to talk about Julian's death and what came next, and apparently e
Last Updated: 2026-01-30
Chapter: First StepsCHAPTER 149Camryn's POVThe city felt different without Julian's presence threading through it.I noticed it first in the anomalies. They still spawned when Intent accumulated enough, but the pattern had changed. No central coordination. No deliberate escalation. Just natural manifestations responding to genuine human emotion instead of game-designed challenges.It made them easier to predict in some ways, harder in others. At least when Julian controlled the spawns, there was logic to their placement. Now they appeared wherever grief or fear or obsession concentrated enough, which meant anywhere and everywhere."Another one in the western markets," Whitney reported, checking her detection equipment. We'd converted Julian's old command center into something between a war room and a community planning space. "Class D, Hollow Child variant. Manifested near a family mourning their daughter.""I'll handle it," Fabian said, already gathering his weapons. "Reginald, you're with me. Time to
Last Updated: 2026-01-30
Chapter: Epilogue Rose’s POVThe waves had a rhythm I didn’t know I needed until now.A full week had passed since everything. Helixis, Victor, the gunfire, the blood, the panic, and the impossible relief of surviving it all. Now I sat on the balcony of our suite on Santorini, legs curled beneath me, the sun warming my shoulders as I flipped through the latest Westmore Herald Damien had brought from the concierge desk downstairs.Helixis filled the entire front page.Their logo, their crimes, and their history.They included exposés, names, timelines, and investigations. Below it was the name: Rose Sinclair.It was like the world had suddenly woken up to a nightmare we had lived inside for months.“Deadliest organization of the century,” the headline screamed.I closed the paper and let it fall on my lap. For a moment, I just breathed and existed.Lily’s funeral had been small and quiet, just like the way she lived. There had been no fanfare or unnecessary drama. My dad was there, along with Damien's s
Last Updated: 2025-12-02
Chapter: The CostChapter 149Third-Person POVShe froze on instinct—one she immediately regretted. A guard sprinted toward her.“You…you aren’t supposed to be out,” he said, reaching for her arm.“One of the guards let me go,” she lied quickly. “I—I’m lost. Please, I need to get outside…”He narrowed his eyes, suspicious.He reached for his radio. Her hand moved before her fear could stop it. The knife slashed across his throat. He choked, collapsing in his own blood.Rose stood there for half a second, shaking uncontrollably, before she forced herself forward again.She ran until the hallway opened into a wide lobby, bright lights spilling across the polished floor.She didn’t know where she was. She didn’t know if she was running toward danger or away from it.Then, a gunshot cracked through the building.Rose gasped, ducking instinctively. And everything went silent.Layla was lounging in Victor’s office like she owned the place. She had her legs crossed, her nails tapping rhythmically against the
Last Updated: 2025-12-02
Chapter: No One's ComingChapter 148Third Person POVRose had lost all sense of time inside that place.Two days, maybe more, and everything blurred together. The crying, the hunger, and the fear that settled deep in her chest like a cold stone she couldn’t spit out had stopped. She spent most hours with her knees pulled to her chest, face buried, trying not to hear the muffled footsteps outside her door.Victor’s men brought her food she wouldn’t touch. She let the meals sit, untouched, watching them grow cold.On the second day they moved her. When the guards unlocked her cell and escorted her to a different room, a large, well-furnished one that looked wildly out of place in the middle of a hideout, for a moment she felt dizzy with relief, until the truth crashed right back. She was still trapped. The room was only a prettier cage.The door opened minutes later, and Layla stepped inside like someone arriving at a spa, her arms folded, chin raised, and her eyes sparkling with a cruel, satisfied amusement.
Last Updated: 2025-12-02
Chapter: The Sound of a SnapChapter 147Damien’s POV“That doesn’t make me feel better.”“It should,” he said. “It means we still have time.”I stared at the dark doorway, imagining her somewhere in a room just like that. Cold, afraid, and alone.“I’m going to get her back, Jonas,” I whispered. “I don’t care what I have to burn down to do it. I’m going to get her back.”Jonas didn’t look up, but I heard the certainty in his voice when he answered.“We will.”And God help whoever took her when we do.Jonas was still working, fingers flying over his laptop, eyes narrowed in that way that meant he was getting close to something, but not close enough for me.“I’ll be back,” I said, grabbing my jacket.Jonas didn’t even look up. “Where are you going?”“To the Al-Mansoor's.”He cursed under his breath. “Damien!”“I won't touch her," I snapped. "I just need to look her in the eye.”And I left before he could talk me down.Night had settled deep by the time I reached the mansion. The entire place looked cold and hollow,
Last Updated: 2025-12-02
Chapter: Trace the SignalChapter 146Damien’s POVEverything inside me detonated the second I stepped into the house and saw the front door wide open, the living room a mess, and—God—two of my guards lying on the floor, dead.I didn’t even let myself react. I couldn’t. If I did, I’d break something or someone.“Where’s Rose?” I demanded, my voice already shaking with something that felt like rage swallowing me alive.My head of staff was trembling, wringing her hands. “S-sir… she… the power went out, and the technicians from the power company came and—”“That wasn’t the damn power company,” I snapped. I could feel the fury rising fast, like heat under my skin. “Tell me exactly what happened.”She spilled the details in a frantic rush: Rose's call, the van, the uniforms, and the request for the backyard panel. The gunshots that followed.How the gunshots followed minutes later.I already knew the second she said “power company” that these weren’t random criminals. This was Helixis. And someone made sure they g
Last Updated: 2025-12-02
Chapter: ConsequencesCHAPTER 145Rose’s POVI woke up with my head spinning violently, a dizzying tilt as if the room had been turned on its axis. The floor under me was cold concrete, rough and dusty. My wrists hurt. My throat felt like I’d swallowed sand.It was pitch black except for a sliver of light slicing in from under a door somewhere to my right.“Hello?” My voice cracked painfully. “HELLO? Somebody help—”I could make out two, maybe three, distinct voices. They were talking fast, but I couldn’t make out the words. Just that the tone was rough, clipped, and irritated.“Please!” I pushed myself up, legs shaking beneath me. “Please, I need help—”The voices stopped, and the door creaked open. A silhouette blocked the light, but it wasn't Damien or anyone I recognized.“Shut up,” the man snapped and swung his hand.Pain exploded across the side of my head, and I crumpled sideways, dizzy.“You yell again, you won’t like what happens next.”The door slammed shut, and silence wrapped around me again.T
Last Updated: 2025-12-02
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