Library
Maghanap
Home / Romance / Beneath the Façade / Chapter 36

Share

Chapter 36

Author: Pat
last update Huling Na-update: 2025-06-22 00:27:45

BENEATH THE FACADE

Behind the façade of wealth and power, a web of secret awaits

CHAPTER 36

The house had never felt this still. Not even when Emily left for university. Not even when her mother died.

This was a different kind of quiet—heavy, unkind. It didn’t settle. It hovered, like a breath held too long. The walls echoed with silence, yet somehow, it was the loudest thing I’d heard all day.

I stood at the far end of my study, fingers pressed lightly against the glass window. Outside, the gravel in the driveway had just begun to settle, still bearing the imprint of Nyla’s car tires. She had driven off only moments ago, with my daughter slumped in the passenger seat like a ghost of herself.

I watched until the dust cleared. Until there was nothing left to focus on but the ache in my chest.

I hadn’t said much to Emily before she left. Not because I didn’t care, but because the words wouldn’t come. They sat in my throat, too heavy to speak, too late to matter. She hadn’t looked at me.
Patuloy na basahin ang aklat na ito nang libre
I-scan ang code upang i-download ang App
Locked Chapter
Nakaraang Kabanata Susunod na kabanata

Pinakabagong kabanata

  • Beneath the Façade   Chapter 41

    BENEATH THE FACADEBehind the façade of wealth and power, a web of secrets awaits.Chapter 41Caleb's POV:The first time I felt it—really felt it—we were sitting beneath the old neem tree behind Ava’s house. Just the three of us. Me. Ava. Alex. Like nothing had changed. Like time hadn’t pulled us in different directions and stitched new layers into our lives.The late afternoon sun was melting into the horizon, casting gold across the walls and painting shadows over the yard. That part of the day always felt sacred somehow—quiet, slow, forgiving. You could hear birds in the distance, and the breeze carried the soft sweetness of guava from a nearby tree. It was the kind of air that made you want to close your eyes and believe in simpler things.Ava came out holding a tray—banana bread, still warm, with the edges a little too brown. She laughed as she set it down on the bench between us, brushing flour off her dress."Don’t judge it too quickly," she said, handing us cold drinks. "I bu

  • Beneath the Façade   Chapter 40

    BENEATH THE FACADEBehind the façade of wealth and power, a web of secrets awaits.Chapter 40Caleb's POV: A few days later, he brought it up like it was nothing.We were sitting in his aunt’s backyard, two plastic chairs sunk into dry soil, the scent of grilled meat hanging in the air. He leaned forward, his voice low, like he was letting me in on a secret the world wasn’t ready to hear yet.“There’s this tech startup I’m backing,” he said, wiping his fingers with a napkin. “Young guys, brilliant minds. I believe in them. Big future.”I nodded, pretending to understand. “Tech, yeah?”He grinned. “Don’t worry, you don’t need to be an expert. You just need to be smart enough to get in early. Minimum investment is a stretch for most, but I can talk to them. You’re family.”Family. That word again. Sweet in the mouth, heavy on the chest.I should’ve asked more questions. Should’ve checked the numbers, requested documents, done the sensible thing. But I didn’t. I didn’t care about the co

  • Beneath the Façade   Chapter 39

    BENEATH THE FACADEBehind the façade of wealth and power, a web of secrets awaits.Chapter 39That night felt like a pause in time.We sat on the hood of his rented car, the metal still warm from the day’s sun. There was nothing grand about where we were—just outside the gates of the school that had shaped our earliest dreams. The same school where we’d run barefoot across the field, dodged punishment together, laughed until our ribs ached. Now, it stood quiet behind us, a relic of who we used to be.Above us, the sky stretched wide and clear, freckled with stars that shimmered like promises. The kind we used to whisper to each other when the world hadn’t yet asked for proof.I leaned back on my palms, listening to the hum of the night. The crickets. The faint rustle of leaves. The silence that wrapped around us—not awkward, but thick with the weight of everything we no longer said aloud.Alex sat beside me, his elbows on his knees, head tilted up like he was searching for something i

  • Beneath the Façade   chapter 38

    BENEATH THE FACADEBehind the façade of wealth and power, a web of secrets awaits.CHAPTER 38 Caleb's POVHe came back that Christmas.And when I say he came back, I don’t just mean the plane touched down and he showed up with a suitcase. I mean he arrived—in every sense of the word. Like someone who had stepped out of the pages of a success story, not just traveled across the ocean.Alex walked off that plane wearing a charcoal coat that looked like it belonged on a magazine cover, a wristwatch that shimmered like glass dipped in gold, and a calm confidence I didn’t recognize. He was still smiling. Still warm. There was something different about him, something you couldn’t quite put your finger on but felt the second he walked into a room. It was in the way people turned to look, in the way their eyes lingered a little longer. He didn’t try to command attention—he just had it. That kind of quiet confidence that came from knowing you had climbed a mountain most people were still sta

  • Beneath the Façade   Chapter 37

    BENEATH THE FACADEBehind the façade of wealth and power, a web of secret awaitsChapter 37The first real crack between us came the year we turned seventeen.We had heard about the scholarship from one of our teachers—a full ride to study Business Administration overseas. It sounded like a dream too big for boys like us, raised on borrowed books and whispered ambition. But that’s the thing about dreams: they never ask if you qualify before they let you hope.That scholarship became everything. Our way out. A chance to leave behind the heat, the hunger, the thin walls that did nothing to keep the world out. A chance to wake up to more than the hum of faulty generators and the smell of soaked uniforms dried over smoke.We filled the forms out side by side, our pens racing over the questions as if finishing fast meant we’d be chosen first. We joked about being roommates in New York, about getting rich and sending money home, about finally living the life we carved into mango trees years

  • Beneath the Façade   Chapter 36

    BENEATH THE FACADEBehind the façade of wealth and power, a web of secret awaitsCHAPTER 36The house had never felt this still. Not even when Emily left for university. Not even when her mother died.This was a different kind of quiet—heavy, unkind. It didn’t settle. It hovered, like a breath held too long. The walls echoed with silence, yet somehow, it was the loudest thing I’d heard all day.I stood at the far end of my study, fingers pressed lightly against the glass window. Outside, the gravel in the driveway had just begun to settle, still bearing the imprint of Nyla’s car tires. She had driven off only moments ago, with my daughter slumped in the passenger seat like a ghost of herself.I watched until the dust cleared. Until there was nothing left to focus on but the ache in my chest.I hadn’t said much to Emily before she left. Not because I didn’t care, but because the words wouldn’t come. They sat in my throat, too heavy to speak, too late to matter. She hadn’t looked at me.

Higit pang Kabanata

Maaari mong magustuhan

Galugarin at basahin ang magagandang nobela
Libreng basahin ang magagandang nobela sa GoodNovel app. I-download ang mga librong gusto mo at basahin kahit saan at anumang oras.
Libreng basahin ang mga aklat sa app
I-scan ang code para mabasa sa App
DMCA.com Protection Status