MasukShare
CHAPTER 26 — THE DESPERATE ACT
Terakhir Diperbarui:
2025-12-03 08:32:56POV: Claire
When I woke again, the first thing I felt was the emptiness in my womb, a strange hollow that pulsed with both grief and relief. My body shivered, exhausted from the procedure, from the medications, from the emotional storm that had carried me here. A nurse handed me a blanket and a cup of water, but I barely acknowledged it. My mind was elsewhere, replaying every moment of the past week: the calls to the clinic, the sleepless nights worrying about Sophie. And then, the relief: Sophie was alive. That knowledge was a balm to my soul, even as the cost of that survival—the permanent damage to my body—pressed down on me like a lead weight. I had saved her, yes. But at what price? The drive home was almost worse than the procedure itself. My body was weak, my mind a whirl of thoughts and regrets. I didn’t call Ryan. I couldn’t. Not yet. His anger, his fear, his love—they were all intertwined, and I didn’t have the strength to face it. I needed time to recover, to breathe, to process the enormity of what I had done. Pulling into my driveway, I hesitated before stepping out. The quiet of the neighborhood contrasted sharply with the storm inside me. I took a deep breath and forced myself to move. Each step toward the door felt like carrying a weight I could barely bear. Inside, Ryan was waiting. His expression was a mixture of fury, disbelief, and something I couldn’t quite name—perhaps fear or grief. His jaw was tight, his hands clenched at his sides, and I could feel the tension radiating from him before he even spoke. “Claire! You did it?” His voice was sharp, broken with emotion. “You went behind me? You actually… risked everything?” “I had no choice,” I whispered, voice trembling. “Sophie… she had no time. If I didn’t—” My voice cracked. “…she would have died. I couldn’t. I couldn’t let that happen!” Ryan’s eyes flashed with anger and disbelief. “And what about your pregnancy? Our future? You just—” “No, I have no choice,” I repeated, my voice firm and resolute. “Sophie’s life… her safety mattered more than anything else.” I couldn’t risk her for my own fears.” “And what about us?” he snapped. I had no answer. Because I had chosen. And the cost… was standing right in front of me. He made his way to the door, keeping it open. That gesture hurt more than any screaming ever could. “You need to leave,” he said. “Now.” My throat tightened. My heart hammered. “Ryan… please don’t do this.” He didn’t look at me. If he had — maybe I could have seen even a flicker of the man I knew. But he was stone. Frozen. And I realized… this was the moment. We were no longer Claire and Ryan. No longer two people burning with forbidden love. No longer desperate, reckless, entwined. This was the execution scene. He waited. I wiped my cheeks — I didn’t even remember when the tears started. I picked up my coat. My purse. My phone. Just objects now. Pieces of a life collapsing. When I walked past him, I could feel the heat of his body, but he didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. Didn’t soften. At the threshold, I paused — one last chance. “Ryan,” I whispered, not even sure what I was begging for. He finally spoke — voice flat as concrete: “It’s over.” And then… the door shut in my face. I stood in the hallway, numb, mascara streaking, heart splintering. The penthouse — our garden of sin, our escape, our love nest — it was gone. He was gone. And I walked away — one step, then another — with a pain I could feel in every bone of my body.
Bab terbaru
Her Daughter’s Lover Epilogue — Years Later
POV (Sophie)The morning sun spilled softly through our wide windows, painting the living room in gentle bands of gold. Dust motes drifted lazily through the air, catching the light like tiny stars, and for a moment I simply stood there, breathing it in.This—this—was what peace looked like.Laughter filled the room, light and musical, as our children played together in that effortless way children do when they feel safe. Aria darted between the furniture, her bare feet barely touching the floor as she moved, small hands weaving sparks of magic into shapes that shimmered and twisted in the sunlight. Butterflies made of light flitted toward the ceiling, dissolving into glitter when they touched it.Arianna sat cross-legged on the rug, notebook balanced carefully on her lap, her brow furrowed in concentration as she documented every playful spell with meticulous detail. She paused often to observe, to tilt her head and murmur to herself, already thinking about patterns and possibilities
Her Daughter’s Lover Chapter 139: ALWAYS
Years from now, when someone asks how it all ended, I won’t talk about villains defeated or magic mastered.I won’t describe the nights where the air cracked with power or the days where survival demanded everything we had. Those stories exist. They always will. But they aren’t the ending.They aren’t what stayed.I’ll talk about mornings without fear.About waking up and knowing—without checking, without bracing—that everyone I love is still breathing under the same roof. About the way sunlight fills the kitchen before anyone else is awake, and how that light feels like a promise instead of a warning.I’ll talk about the sound of footsteps in the hallway. Of doors opening not because something is wrong, but because someone is hungry, or bored, or curious. I’ll talk about coffee growing cold because conversation matters more than schedules now.Fear used to wake me before the sun did.It lived behind my eyes, tight and vigilant, already scanning the day for fractures. Even peace once
Her Daughter’s Lover Chapter 138: THE THINGS WE DON’T SAY GOODBYE TO
There was one thing left undone.Not unfinished—because that would imply something broken or incomplete. This wasn’t that. What remained wasn’t a loose thread or a mistake waiting to be corrected.It was unacknowledged.Some experiences don’t ask to be resolved. They ask to be recognized—to be seen once, fully, without judgment or fear, and then allowed to exist where they belong: in the past.I realized this on a quiet afternoon when the house was empty in that rare, fragile way that only happens when everyone’s routines line up just right. The kids were at school. Elena was with Adrian and his wife. Cassian had gone out—no explanation given, which somehow meant he’d be back with groceries, a story, or both.Lucian was in the study when I found him, looking at nothing in particular.“You’re thinking again,” I said gently.He smiled. “So are you.”I hesitated, then nodded toward the back hallway. “There’s still one place we haven’t revisited.”He didn’t ask which one.The old storage
Her Daughter’s Lover Chapter 137: THE SHAPE OF TOMORROW
The future used to feel like something I had to brace for.Not anticipate—brace. As if it were a storm already forming on the horizon, inevitable and waiting for the smallest lapse in vigilance to break over us. Every plan I made once had contingencies layered beneath it like armor. If this failed, then that. If safety cracked here, we retreat there. If joy arrived, I learned to keep one eye on the door.Even happiness felt provisional.There was always an unspoken for now attached to it, trailing behind like a shadow that refused to be shaken. I didn’t celebrate without measuring the cost. I didn’t relax without calculating the risk. I didn’t dream without asking myself how I would survive losing it.That mindset had saved us once.But it had also kept us suspended in a version of life that never fully touched the ground.The change didn’t arrive in a single moment. There was no epiphany, no sudden certainty that announced itself with clarity and confidence. It came the way real heal
Her Daughter’s Lover Chapter 136: WHERE WE ARE NOW
Time moves differently when you stop measuring it by fear.I didn’t notice it at first. There was no single moment where the weight lifted all at once, no dramatic realization that announced itself like a revelation. Instead, it happened the way healing often does—slowly, quietly, in increments so small they felt invisible until one day I looked back and realized how far we had come.The mornings stopped beginning with tension.No sharp intake of breath when I woke.No instinctive scan of the room.No mental checklist of threats before my feet even touched the floor.I woke because the sun was warm against my face. Because birds argued outside the window. Because life continued, not because I needed to be alert to survive it.That alone felt like a miracle.The girls flourished at school in ways that still caught me off guard. Not because they were excelling—though they were—but because they were happy doing it. Happiness without conditions. Without shadows trailing behind it.Aria fo
Her Daughter’s Lover Chapter 135: THE LAST CEREMONY
We returned to the Memory Garden at dusk.Not because we needed closure—but because we wanted acknowledgment.There is a difference, I’ve learned. Closure implies something unfinished, something still aching for resolution. What we carried no longer demanded that. The pain had already softened, reshaped by time and understanding. But acknowledgment—that was different. It was about seeing what had been, without flinching. About standing in the presence of our own history and saying, Yes. This happened. And we are still here.The garden greeted us the way it always did—quietly, without judgment.The flowers were in full bloom now, wild and unapologetic, no longer arranged with care or intention. They had grown the way living things do when given freedom: uneven, vibrant, resilient. Colors bled into one another—yellows too bright to ignore, purples deep and grounding, greens thick with life.This garden had once been symbolic.Now, it was simply alive.Elena lay on a blanket beneath the
Anda juga akan menyukai
Even After Death
Lilting Champ6.7M DibacaFlash Marriage: A Billionaire For A Rebound
LiLhyz716.0K DibacaThe Devil's Love For The Heiress
LiLhyz501.5K DibacaHer Accidental Billionaire Husband
Lexusstar writes682.1K DibacaTrapped in Ex-Wife's Love
Ratu Halu114 DibacaThe Seduction Contract
Liamneche02 75 DibacaLOVERS AT CHRISTMAS EVE 1
Zemira Fortunatus264 DibacaMy CEO Prince Charming
Luna Nalu75 Dibaca
