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Fraud in the family
Last Updated:
2025-05-14 01:59:49
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A Love Forged In Ruins And then there was you
Layla’s POVThe silence in the house was unbearable.Not the peaceful kind—the kind that wraps itself around your shoulders like a soft blanket at the end of a long day—but the suffocating kind. The kind that presses against your chest like a weight you can’t shake. It followed me from the living room to the kitchen, into the bedroom, and curled into the corners of my studio like a ghost that refused to leave.Verena’s ghost.She was gone. Dead. Buried beneath a polished marble headstone that read a name I was only just beginning to claim as part of my story. The woman who gave birth to me, who disappeared, who returned too late, who tried—maybe not enough, but still tried.And now, she was just... silence.I hadn’t stepped outside in three days.The boutique was closed. Damian had quietly rescheduled every meeting, every appointment, without asking. He was careful not to push, careful not to hover—but I could feel him outside the door, pacing sometimes, pausing other times. Waiting f
A Love Forged In Ruins What still remains
Layla's Pov The call came just after sunrise.My phone buzzed once on the nightstand, piercing the fragile silence of the room. I blinked into the pale morning light, not yet fully awake—but something in my chest tightened before I even looked. A cold, creeping sense. A whisper in my bones.I knew. Somehow, I already knew it was her.Verena.The name flashed on my screen like an echo from a wound I’d learned to live with. My hand hovered before answering, like touching the screen would set off something I couldn’t control.“Hello?”“Layla?” The voice on the other end was soft, too careful. “This is Nurse Farrah from Crestview Medical. I’m sorry to call so early, but… Verena’s asking to see you. She… she says it’s urgent.”There was a pause. The kind people use when they don’t want to scare you, but they already have.“She’s still in Room 309. Her condition’s worsened overnight.”I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry. “Okay. I’ll come.”---I didn’t let myself think too hard. No makeup.
A Love Forged In Ruins Not her shadow
Layla's Pov The lights in the boutique were soft, warm, like a quiet sunrise. I stood in the center of the room, surrounded by pieces that weren’t just fabric or stitches anymore. They were memories I hadn’t lived, emotions I hadn’t known I needed to feel. I'd decided to spend more time here and leave House of Amara in Damian's care.The sketches I’d found in Verena’s box—tucked away in the corner of her crumbling apartment—were more than drawings. They were windows into the life she once imagined. Dresses made of light, strength, sorrow, softness. I had taken them, reworked them, added my own vision. Every design on display tonight was half her, half me. But the story behind them? That was all mine.It wasn’t a big event. Just a small showing. A few close friends. A few loyal clients. And Ashley, a client's daughter who hadn’t let go of my hand since she walked in.“Aunty,” she whispered, tugging gently at my fingers. “You okay?”I nodded, squeezing her hand back. “Yeah. Just... a l
A Love Forged In Ruins Love, however late
Layla's Pov The hospital smelled like bleach and distant grief. The air was too cold, the walls too white, like the place had been stripped of all warmth on purpose. Everything about it reminded me of endings. The finality of things. I hated that.I stood outside Verena’s room for a few seconds, just breathing. My fingers clenched and unclenched around the handles of the paper bag I carried. My chest felt tight—like if I took one more step, I’d collapse under the weight of a hundred unspoken things.What was I walking into?Closure?Goodbye?Another lie?The door creaked softly as I pushed it open, like even the hinges knew this moment needed reverence.She looked smaller than I remembered—shrinking into the stark white of the hospital bed, her body dwarfed by crisp sheets and coiled wires. The IV hissed beside her like an impatient whisper. Her skin was pale, the rich bronze I remembered now reduced to something paper-thin and gray. Her curls, once wild and glossy, clung to her temp
A Love Forged In Ruins Why now?
Layla’s POVShe chose the garden behind the hospice.It was quiet. Tucked away from the main road, with cracked benches and overgrown vines curling around the fences. It smelled like earth and old rain. Peaceful—too peaceful for what I was about to say.Verena sat waiting on the far bench, wrapped in a long brown coat, scarf pulled tightly around her neck despite the warm afternoon sun. Her hands were folded in her lap, frail, almost trembling. She looked thinner. Paler.We hadn’t spoken in two weeks.Not since the café. Not since she hinted at her “medical bills” and tried to lace guilt into every word.But I’d found her again.Not because I missed her—but because I couldn’t keep waking up with questions burning holes in my chest. And because no matter how much I hated it… part of me wanted to understand. Needed to.I walked over slowly, the sound of my heels crunching on gravel announcing me. She looked up.Her smile was soft. Hesitant.“Layla.”“Don’t,” I said quickly. “Don’t act l
A Love Forged In Ruins Ghosts in velvet
Layla’s POVThe house looked exactly the same.White shutters. A slanted roof. The jasmine vine still curled up the porch columns like time hadn’t passed at all. But I had changed. I wasn’t the girl who used to sit on those steps and tie her shoelaces while waiting for Grace to call me in for dinner.Now, I stood at the foot of the driveway, hands cold even in my coat pockets, and stomach tight with dread.I hadn’t called ahead.I didn’t want to give them time to prepare a script or practice a lie. I needed the truth raw, unpolished. I needed to see it in their eyes.I pressed the doorbell.Footsteps.Then the door opened.Grace’s face was the first to appear, soft and older than I remembered, framed by a messy ponytail. She froze, hand still on the knob, surprise blooming across her features like ink spreading in water.“Layla?”I didn’t smile. “Hi.”“Sweetheart, what—come in. Come in out of the cold.”I stepped inside, and the scent of cinnamon and old wood hit me all at once. The f
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