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Emotional Chess

Auteur: Tyson Roy
last update Dernière mise à jour: 2025-06-25 15:40:55

Adrian’s Private Library – Midnight

The knock was firm. No hesitation. No deference.

Isabella no longer played politely.

Before Adrian could answer, she pushed open the door and stepped inside with the force of a truth newly unearthed. Her steps were sharp, deliberate, echoing off the polished wood floors like the ticking of a fuse.

Adrian’s library was nothing like the rest of the Retreat. It was old world—warm shadows and the scent of leather and paper. Books rose to the ceiling, untouched by surveillance. At the center, a chessboard sat mid-game on a carved oak desk.

He stood by the window, back turned, watching the moonlight stain the Cornwall cliffs in silver. A book hung from his hand, thumb grazing its spine.

“You knew,” Isabella said. Her voice was low, but the heat behind it burned.

Adrian turned slowly, the book closing with a soft snap. His face was unreadable. Calm. Measured.

“I suspected you’d find out,” he said. “It was inevitable.”

“Inevitable?” Her laugh was hollow. “Y
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  • His Darkest Temptation   Diverging Paths

    The train ride from Cornwall to London felt like it was trying to shake Isabella loose as if the rhythmic clatter beneath her seat might rid her of the weight of everything she had just left behind. She clutched the stolen drive in her coat pocket, fingers running over her mother’s locket like a talisman. Her mind was a blur of encrypted messages, new alliances, and whispered threats. She wasn’t sure if she was running away or merely searching for a moment of respite—somewhere to breathe without the suffocating weight of what had just unfolded.The streets of London greeted her like a harsh, unwelcoming canvas. The city’s lights were sharp, unnervingly bright, and her sense of familiarity was lost among the rain-soaked streets. It was almost as if the city were asking her a question she didn’t have an answer to: Can you still survive here, Isabella? Can you still find yourself in this world? The familiar buzz of taxis and pedestrians felt foreign now, after the damp, shadow-filled iso

  • His Darkest Temptation   The Choice

    The forest at the edge of the Blackwood Estate had always felt ancient, like a boundary between the ordered cruelty of the Society and a wildness that no amount of control could tame. Isabella stood just beyond the last stone lantern, where the path narrowed and the moss grew thick and cold beneath her feet. The sky above was a bruised shade of grey, the air heavy with the promise of rain. All around her, the wind teased at her hair, tugging at the edges of her coat, as if the world itself was urging her to move forward—or turn back.Her hands were unsteady as she opened her laptop, her breath clouding in the chilly morning air. She could still feel the weight of the encrypted drive in her pocket—the kill switch, the patient records, the voice logs, every line of code and confession the Society had desperately tried to bury. For the first time, she was completely alone with her decision. No Adrian to guide her, no ghosts to haunt her, no desperate faces to steer her. The silence press

  • His Darkest Temptation   Hidden Kill Switch

    The corridors leading to the Society’s IT server room felt different from the rest of the estate. While the upper floors echoed with the quiet hum of old money and carefully cultivated lies, the basement had a pulse all its own—alive and dangerous. The air was thick with the metallic scent of recycled air, the faint crackling of static from the fluorescent lights above, and the distant hum of machines that never truly rested. Isabella moved through the hallways quickly, but there was a wariness in her step. Her stolen badge was still warm in her palm, and her mind raced with exhaustion, grief, and the weight of everything that had come before.Adrian’s face haunted her thoughts—his pleas, his confessions, his unbearable honesty. She forced herself to push him out of her mind, focusing instead on the mission that had to be done: find proof, find leverage, find a way to make the Society answer for its crimes. The memory of Leah’s terror, the haunting words of her mother, and the spectre

  • His Darkest Temptation   The Rift

    The door to Adrian’s chambers stood ajar when Isabella arrived, her pulse hammering, thoughts tangled between fury and heartbreak. The walk from the underground therapy chamber was a blur—blinding lights, the echo of Leah’s screams, the deadened expressions of the orderlies as they dragged Isabella away. She didn’t stop. She didn’t flinch. She moved like a storm, and the house—wise enough—parted in silence as she passed.Inside the room, Adrian stood by his desk, yesterday’s clothes rumpled, his sleeves rolled past his elbows. A lamp glowed beside a stack of unread reports, throwing harsh shadows across the room. The fireplace was cold. The rain was just starting, tapping lightly against the open window. Adrian didn’t speak as she entered. He looked like a man waiting for judgment.Isabella shut the door behind her and locked it. Her steps were quick, hard, almost surgical. When she reached him, she didn’t hesitate.“You lied to me,” she said, her voice cutting the quiet like a blade.

  • His Darkest Temptation   Sacrificial Minds

    The estate was quieter than usual, cloaked in a silence that felt unnatural. Even the wind outside seemed to tiptoe past the windows, as though the world itself had grown wary. Isabella moved through the hallways with deliberate calm, though each step thrummed with tension. The bugs she had planted, the board’s threats, the whispered warnings—none of it would leave her alone. Something gnawed at her, a missing piece she couldn’t yet name.She kept thinking of what Vance had said: “We move the files tonight.” That line wouldn’t let her go. There was something deeper, more damning, buried beneath the foundation of this place, and she wouldn’t rest until she found it.Timing her movement between staff shifts, Isabella made her way to the estate’s restricted lower level. She wore the borrowed staff badge like armour, her mind focused, her face unreadable. The elevator didn’t go this deep; she followed service stairs, their metal grates groaning underfoot. Finally, she reached an unmarked

  • His Darkest Temptation   The Eyes Turned Back

    Morning bled pale and uncertain across the Blackwood Estate, its stately windows catching the chill light and scattering it across manicured lawns still wet with dew. Inside, the retreat’s corridors felt changed—brighter in places, but heavy with tension. The air carried the memory of last night’s confessions, as if even the walls had absorbed the pain and hunger shared in Isabella’s room.Isabella woke before Adrian. She stayed still for a while, watching the slow, steady rhythm of his breathing, memorising how his brow relaxed in sleep, how the worry lines faded when his eyes were closed. She brushed her fingers down his arm, feeling the warmth of his skin. It felt like a moment suspended outside time, but she knew it couldn’t last.Reality waited.She eased out of bed, careful not to wake him. The cold tile underfoot sobered her. She dressed quickly, the adrenaline of purpose winding its way through her chest. There was no time to waste. Today, she would stop waiting for the Societ

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