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Proof of Courage
publish date:
2026-01-03 22:42:57
Latest chapter
A Kiss For Every Bruise Dinner With the Devil
GwenThe house felt much more hollow after my mother left. I sat curled on the library sofa long after sunset pretending to read while rain lashed softly against the tall windows. The book remained open to the same page for nearly forty minutes. I kept hearing her answer in my head. "Yes." But fractured slightly around the edges. Like belief forced through fear.Matteo eventually entered carrying two glasses of wine. “You’re brooding theatrically,” he informed me. “I learned from Sebastian.” “Fair.” I accepted the glass quietly.The library lights glowed warm against dark wooden shelves while thunder rolled faintly beyond the estate. As children, storms used to bring us here together with blankets and stolen desserts while our father pretended not to notice.The memory hurt unexpectedly. Because suddenly I realized that before Camilla, before Mason, before Kai, before all the violence…I had once belonged somewhere effortlessly. I missed that girl sometimes. “She’ll come back,” Matteo
A Kiss For Every Bruise The Invitation
GwenMy mother avoided looking at me the entire morning. Not obviously and that was the worst part. It happened in fragments. A pause too long before answering me, eyes sliding away during breakfast, hands trembling slightly whenever Camilla’s name surfaced in conversation.Hairline fractures. That was what Adrian called them once during one of our late-night conversations. “Control rarely collapses dramatically,” he had said quietly. “It breaks in tiny uncomfortable pieces first.” At the time, I had been talking about myself. Now I realized he could have been describing my family too.I stood near the kitchen windows watching rain collect against the garden stonework while Matteo scrolled through financial reports across the island counter. The house felt restless lately. Like something beneath it had begun shifting structurally.“You didn’t sleep,” Matteo observed without looking up. “Neither did you.” “Fair.” A faint smile tugged briefly at his mouth before disappearing. Silence se
A Kiss For Every Bruise What Mothers Choose
Author's POV Camilla knew something shifted before anyone spoke. Elenna Cruize did not answer her morning calls immediately anymore. Forty minutes yesterday. Twenty-three this morning. Insignificant to ordinary people but not to Camilla.For her, attachment patterns mattered. Emotional dependency revealed itself through rhythm...response time, tone changes, hesitation and eye contact. And Luciana had begun hesitating. Which meant Gwen was succeeding and that was totally unacceptable.Camilla stood silently inside her penthouse office overlooking the city while one of Kai’s remaining operatives waited near the door, nervous. As he should be. “You sent the photographs too early,” Camilla said calmly. The man swallowed. “We thought pressure would destabilize her.”Camilla turned slowly as cold irritation sharpened her features. “And instead?” “She’s becoming more reliant on Salvador.” Exactly...Idiot. Fear only isolated people when they lacked emotional anchors. Gwen now had Adrian, Seb
A Kiss For Every Bruise The Daughter She Could Not Replace
Author's POV Mrs. Cruz woke before dawn with a headache pressing behind her eyes...Again. Lately the headaches came often after emotional confrontations involving Gwen. Dr. Weston insisted it was stress. Grief resurfacing as well as emotional exhaustion. Camilla said much the same thing. Still…Something about the house no longer felt settled.She sat slowly at the edge of the bed, pressing trembling fingers against her temple while pale morning light stretched across the room. The villa was quiet. For six years she had prayed endlessly for Gwen’s return. Then Gwen came home…and somehow nothing became easier afterwards.The thought filled her with immediate guilt. A mother should not think such things. Yet the truth remained. Before Gwen returned, grief had been simple. Painful, yes. Devastating, even but still simple. Now everything felt fractured. Her sons whispered privately. Her husband watched Camilla differently lately. And Gwen…Oh dear. Gwen looked at her now with eyes that c
A Kiss For Every Bruise The Second Disappearance
Author's POV Adrian answered on the second ring. Sebastian rarely called him directly. Which meant something was wrong...Very wrong. “What happened?” No greeting or politeness. Straight to the wound.Sebastian’s voice came low and tight through the line. “Someone sent surveillance photos of Gwen.” The temperature in Adrian’s office dropped instantly. Across the room, Miguel looked up sharply from the couch.Adrian’s expression did not change. That was always when he became most dangerous. “How recent?” “Tonight.” Adrian rose slowly from his chair. “Send everything.” The files arrived seconds later and Adrian opened them immediately. His pulse slowed. Not from calmness but from control.Photographs of Gwen entering the villa grounds. Gwen near the east terrace. Gwen standing by her bedroom balcony. All taken from long range. Professional distance. Professional angles. Not paparazzi but deliberate surve
A Kiss For Every Bruise No Longer Emotional Manipulation
Author's POV Sebastian began noticing the gaps everywhere once he allowed himself to look.That was the frightening part. Not discovering one inconsistency but discovering hundreds. That included tiny things, dismissed things as well as conveniently forgotten things.The human brain loved continuity. Most people would rather force broken pieces together than admit someone had quietly rearranged the puzzle while they were grieving.Sebastian stood alone in his office at Cruize Global Headquarters long after most employees had gone home. He watched the city lights sprawling beneath the towering windows in fractured ribbons of gold. It was raining again. Lately it felt like the entire city had become trapped beneath storms.His laptop glowed across the darkened desk, several recovered archival files spread across the screen. They were of old event schedules, financial transfers, family calendars and visitor logs. What his sister, Gwen, called patterns.Gwen had inherited that instinct f
A Kiss For Every Bruise Conversations That Wear Two Faces
Gwen’s POV Once I got the earrings, something in me settled. I knew that the family was compromised and Camilla had them all in the palm if her hands. However, I had Adrian Salvador, and I had chosen to trust him again. I was no longer alone and that made me smile. Julian walked on my right, clo
A Kiss For Every Bruise The Signal She Chose
Adrian’s POV I knew the moment she stepped into the jewelry wing. Not because a screen lit up or an alert sounded, those came later, but because something in my chest loosened in a way it hadn’t in years. A quiet, dangerous hope unfurled, slow and cautious, like an animal testing unfamiliar groun
A Kiss For Every Bruise The Things That Were Always Mine
Gwen’s POV The jewelry wing sat at the far end of the mall, quieter than the rest, insulated by glass and velvet and the kind of hush money creates. Sound softened there. Footsteps turned polite. Even breathing felt measured. Julian slowed instinctively as we crossed the
A Kiss For Every Bruise The Smile They Believe
Gwen's POV The car door closed with a soft, expensive thud.Julian settled into the driver’s side beside the hired security detail, Dr. Weston took the seat across from me, her posture relaxed and satisfied. The spa had done its job, for them. I leaned back, letting my head rest against the cool
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