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208. The Chaos
Date de publication:
2026-11-03 14:14:12
Dernier chapitre
Don’t Beg for Love 217. Awake!
Andrew’s POVThe first thing I knew was the smell. Antiseptic, floor polish, and something faintly floral underneath.The second thing was the weight on my hand.I opened my eyes slowly. The ceiling above me was white and blurred at the edges. A thin tube ran from my arm to a bag of clear liquid. A monitor beeped beside my bed, steady, patient, almost bored. And draped across the edge of the mattress, her cheek resting on the blanket and her fingers wrapped around mine, lay Annalise, fast asleep.For a long time, I did not move.I had imagined this too, in the long nights of the last five years. I had imagined her hand in mine, her hair spilling across a white sheet, her breath rising and falling against my arm. In my imagining, she was always smiling. In my imagining, I was always well.Her face was drawn and pale in the lamplight, with dark crescents under her eyes. She had cried, I thought. She had cried until she could not any longer. A smear of dried tears lay across her cheekbon
Don’t Beg for Love 216. Days Left
Annalise’s POVThe ambulance doors slammed shut, and the siren swallowed the world.I do not remember climbing in. I only remember the bench seat digging into my back, the paramedic's rapid voice calling out numbers, the oxygen mask fogging over Andrew's pale face, and my own hand, locked around his, as though letting go would make him disappear. His fingers were cold. His skin had gone the color of candle wax. Every few seconds, the monitor above his head let out a thin, ragged beep, and every few seconds, my own heart skipped to match it."Stay with me," I whispered. "Do you hear me? Don't you dare."He did not answer.At the hospital, they took him from me. A swinging door, a gurney, a blur of white coats, and then a nurse's hand on my arm, steering me gently toward a waiting room with beige walls and a humming vending machine. I sat down because my legs would not hold me. I looked at my hands. They were shaking so badly that I tucked them under my thighs.Footsteps pounded down th
Don’t Beg for Love 215. What Happened
Andrew’s POVThe old man did not offer me a chair.He settled behind his desk, laced his fingers over the head of his cane, and looked at me across the polished mahogany for what felt like a full minute. The study smelled of leather and old paper. Behind him, floor-to-ceiling windows threw a long gold light across the carpet, and a wall of framed photographs watched me from the far side of the room. Annalise at five, gap-toothed and grinning. Xander in a graduation gown. A younger version of Grandfather Sterling beside a woman who must have been his late wife."Five years," he said at last. "Five years, and you never once thought to look for her.""I did look.""Not hard enough."I had no answer to that, so I stood and took it."Let me be plain with you, Hale." His voice was low, dry, and absolutely level. "I do not like you. I did not like your family when your father was young, and I did not like you when I offered you my granddaughter's hand eight years ago and you let her walk awa
Don’t Beg for Love 214. Fifteen Years Ago
Annalise’s POVThe study door closed behind Andrew with a soft, final click.I stood in the middle of the Sterling living room and stared at that door, my arms wrapped around myself, my pulse thudding in my ears. Grandpa's cane had tapped all the way down the hallway, slow and steady, and Andrew's footsteps had followed it without a word. Two men who had never once agreed on anything, shut away together in a room with thick walls and a bad temper."Don't," Tania said quietly from beside me."Don't what?""Don't go and put your ear against that door. I can see you thinking about it.""I wasn't.""You were. You've got the face." She tugged me toward the sofa. "Sit. Breathe. Eat something. Your whole family is trying to feed you, and I'm tired of watching you refuse."She had a point. The long dining table had been dragged into the center of the room, and my mother had apparently emptied half the kitchen onto it. Roast chicken, steaming rice, a bowl of fruit, three kinds of dumplings, an
Don’t Beg for Love 213. Reunion II
Andrew’s POVI did not remember opening the car door.One moment I was sitting in the back seat, watching the Sterling gates rush toward me, counting my own pulse. The next, I was standing on gravel with the engine ticking behind me, and the only thing in the world was the staircase in front of the mansion.She stood at the bottom of it.Five years. I had imagined this moment so many times that I had worn the edges off it. I had pictured her older, harder, glittering with some new coldness. I had pictured myself saying something clever, or cruel, or nothing at all. But she was just Annalise. Her hair was tangled and her blouse was torn at the sleeve, and she had a smudge of dust across her cheek. She looked exhausted. She looked furious. She looked like the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.And beside her stood three small figures in capes.My chest tightened, hard, a fist closing around my heart. I pressed a hand to my jacket, over the pocket where the butterfly mask lay, and for
Don’t Beg for Love 212. The Reunion
Annalise’s POV"Amazing?" I repeated weakly. "Xander, I just lost my children for three days, got locked in a security room, and nearly got dragged out of a taxi by your bodyguards. Which part of that is amazing?""The part where you had three kids and didn't tell your own brother!" He had not stopped staring at the triplets. He crouched down in front of Abby, who regarded him with grave suspicion, then looked up at Liam and Max, then back at me, his mouth hanging open. "Three! At once! And look at them, they're perfect. They're tiny superheroes. Big Sis, I'm an uncle. I'm actually an uncle, and I didn't even know it.""You're an uncle of five now," Tania said dryly. "Congratulations.""You're the one who gave my mommy a heart attack," Max informed him, folding his arms. "Just so you know."Xander blinked. "I did what?""You sent the bad guys after us.""They were my men! They were trying to rescue you!""We didn't need rescuing," Max said. "We had a plan.""He's right, Daddy," Annie
Don’t Beg for Love 3. Mr. Harrison!
Cassandra pointed at me, her soft voice echoing in the hallway. That was when Aiden peeled his gaze from her, and the tender look on his face was instantly gone.But instead of appearing confused, only fear and frustration flashed in his eyes.He quickly let go of Cassandra, While Cassandra tremb
Don’t Beg for Love 1. The Twentieth Time He Chose Her
“We are sorry, Miss. We tried our best, but the fetus was gone. We had to evacuate it to prevent damage to your womb.”The word “it” echoed through my mind, cutting through my last strand of hope.Yet, the doctor’s words, along with the beeping of the heart’s monitor and every noise inside the hosp
Don’t Beg for Love 5. The Place I Swore to Leave
I only glanced at the device once then went about my morning routine.After I was done, I picked up my phone to find several messages piled up.[Annalise, where are you? Why aren't you answering my calls?][Where did you sleep last night, Annalise?][What is going on between you and Alexander Sterl
Don’t Beg for Love 2. Big Sis, Please Come Home
The next day, I discharged myself from the hospital.Standing across the bustling street outside the hospital’s skyscraper, my eyes squinted at the burning sun.For thirty minutes, not a single taxi stopped.Then, suddenly, a convoy of black luxury cars swept onto the street, instantly drawing ever
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