LOGINShare
Chapter 12
Last Updated:
2025-05-16 18:08:30Chapter 12: The Will of Shadows
The rain fell in soft patterns against the windows, a calming rhythm that Isla had come to appreciate in their lakeside home. It was midmorning, and the fireplace crackled quietly as she sat curled on the couch, reading one of the old poetry books Christopher had rescued from Aurelia's study.
The peace shattered when the doorbell rang.
Christopher appeared from the hallway, shirt sleeves rolled up and pencil smudges on his fingers. "Expecting someone?"
She shook her head and rose. Through the peep hole, she saw a courier in a dark gray uniform holding a flat envelope. No markings. No sender.
She opened the door slowly. The courier simply handed her the envelope with a polite nod before vanishing back into the misty road.
Her fingers trembled slightly as she turned the envelope over. It was thick, sealed with wax. The initials engraved into it made her stomach clench: A.D.
"Aurelia Deveraux," she whispered.
Christopher moved to her side. "She’s been gone almost a year."
"Then why is her seal on this?" Isla asked.
They sat together on the couch as she broke the seal. Inside was a single letter, yellowed slightly with age. Attached was a formal document from a law office neither of them recognized. At the bottom of the page, in elegant script, were the words:
"To be delivered one year after my death."
Isla's eyes widened. She began reading aloud.
---"If you’re reading this, then I’m gone. And hopefully Ethan is too. I’m sorry for the way things ended. But I knew it would come to this. I made too many mistakes, and I watched the people I loved drown in silence. I couldn’t stop Ethan. I should have tried harder."
"There’s a trust fund—hidden beneath the estate’s official accounts. It’s in your name, Isla. Not because of guilt, but because I believe you’ll use it for something good. Something pure."
"Ethan knew about it. He wasn’t supposed to. I found out he added his name as a witness on the trust. He threatened me when I tried to undo it."
"If this reaches you, you’re in danger. Not from Ethan. But from those who worked with him. The money—"
The letter ended abruptly. A section of the page was torn, as if ripped out in haste.
Isla looked up at Christopher, her face pale. "This was written before she died. Before the overdose."
He nodded slowly. "You think someone tore the rest out before mailing it?"
"Or after. Which means someone else knows this letter exists."
She turned to the official document. The trust fund was real. Several million dollars, locked in an overseas account. She was listed as the sole beneficiary, but only under the clause that she live at the Deveraux estate for at least six months following the letter's opening.
Isla’s voice dropped. "That place nearly killed us."
Christopher’s jaw tightened. "Someone wants us to go back."
---That night, sleep evaded her. She stood by the window, watching the fog roll across the lake.
In her heart, something stirred. A knot of fear. And beneath it, something darker: curiosity.
What had Aurelia meant by "those who worked with him"? Was it about the illegal dealings they had uncovered briefly in court — the falsified property deeds, the missing funds? Or something deeper?
A flash of movement by the trees caught her eye.
She squinted. A shadow. Too tall for an animal. Too still for a trick of the light.
Her breath hitched.
Christopher was beside her in seconds. He saw it too.
The figure didn’t move. Then, slowly, deliberately, it stepped back into the woods.
Gone.
They stood there, silence hanging heavy.
"We’re being watched," she whispered.
Christopher nodded once. His hand gripped hers.
And just like that, the quiet they had carved for themselves cracked open again — letting the past crawl back in.
They weren’t free.
Not yet.
---
Latest chapter
In love with my step father in law Chapter 51
---Chapter 51: The protocol The air filtration system kicked in overhead, allowing the silence that fell after Victor's collapse. His breathing grew shallow, the paralytic substance which was given to him has already taking effect—slowing him down but not making him go silent.Ethan movesmaking sure locking Victor’s wrists into the cuffs. Christopher quicken his pace towards the his weapon, still on command, until Isla raised a hand. “It’s clear.”Christopher lowered his gun, his eyes locking with Isla’s. “You alright?”She didn’t answer immediately. Her pulse was still racing, her body alive with adrenaline and fury. “Definitly alright,” she muttered, turning her attention back to Victor. His head turned slightly to one side, eyes flickering.“No much time Isla said, her voice steadier than she felt. “The serum’s window is short. We need to start the extraction.”Ethan pulled out a small case and cracked it open. Inside, an interface rig—neural extraction pads, fiber-linked monit
In love with my step father in law Chapter 46
Chapter 46 —Beneath the boardThe night did not bring peace. Not to Isla. Not to the house that still held too many echoes of her mother’s silence. The rain had softened into a hush by midnight, but inside the walls, the weight of memory still pressed down like an invisible fog.She had tried to sleep. Curled under the same floral quilt that had once brought her comfort as a child, she had closed her eyes and listened for calm—but her thoughts refused to quiet.Elena’s face haunted her. Not as she’d last seen it, sick and pale, but younger—laughter in her eyes, rebellion in her smile. Victor’s words had painted the woman she used to be with strokes so vivid, Isla felt like she’d never really known her mother at all.At 3:14 a.m., Isla rose. She lit the lamp by the window and padded barefoot across the old wooden floor. The room had changed little since she left for college. Faded posters, a stuffed bear on the bookshelf, her name still etched in the corner of the dresser drawer.She p
In love with my step father in law Chapter 45
Chapter 45 — Her ShadowsVictor didn’t sit. He leaned against the potting table, eyes on the wilting petals of the orchid he’d trimmed minutes ago. It felt like time had stopped moving in this room. The rain outside kept falling, but neither of them could hear it now.Isla waited. Not because she was patient—she wasn’t—but because she needed to hear the truth fall from his lips. Not written. Not hinted. Just spoken, like a confession he’d owed her all along.“I met Elena when she was nineteen,” Victor finally said, voice low, worn thin with memory. “Your grandfather hired me for private security work. She hated me on sight.”Isla folded her arms. “That doesn’t surprise me.”Victor gave a faint smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “She called me arrogant. Said I had no business watching over her like she was some prize to be guarded. But she was already deep into things her family didn’t want to see.”“Like what?” Isla asked.“Politics. Rebellion. Secrets. Your mother was always drawn to
In love with my step father in law Chapter 44
Chapter 44 — The Letter She Shouldn't Have FoundThe storm outside hadn’t relented, and neither had the one in Isla’s chest. Thunder cracked the sky like it was splitting open secrets of its own. In her mother’s old bedroom—the one no one had touched since her passing—Isla stood barefoot, holding the yellowed letter that had just undone everything she thought she knew.She hadn’t come in here looking for truth. She came because sleep wouldn’t hold her, because her mother’s perfume still clung faintly to the wardrobe door, and because something had pulled her there. Fate, maybe. Or ghosts.The envelope had no name. Just a date from over two decades ago—before Isla was born. But the handwriting, the looping, graceful strokes, were unmistakably her mother’s.She read it again.> My dearest Victor,I still hear your voice when the world goes quiet. I still taste your kiss when I close my eyes. I should hate you, I should wish you gone, but I can’t. You live in me.I fear what this secret
In love with my step father in law Chapter 43
Chapter 43 – Fractured ReflectionsThe clock ticked in the background, the only sound in the room as Isla stared at her reflection in the mirror. The dim light from the bedside lamp cast a shadow across her face, highlighting the lines of weariness that had begun to settle in. She had always been so careful, so controlled. But now, the pieces of her life, of who she was, were splintering.Victor’s letter. Christopher’s distance. Her own conflicted heart. It felt like the whole world was unraveling, and she was trapped in the middle of it, unable to break free.She traced her fingers over the cold glass, as if seeking some comfort from the woman she had been. But there was no comfort to be found in that reflection. The woman staring back at her wasn’t the one she had once known. She didn’t recognize the way her eyes had lost their light, the way the corners of her lips turned downward with each passing day.Her mother’s words rang in her head: “You cannot hide from yourself, Isla.”The
In love with my step father in law Chapter 42
Chapter 42 – Where the Silence WaitsThe night in the Kane estate felt colder than usual, though the fireplace in Isla’s room still burned softly. Shadows danced along the walls, whispering secrets only the darkness understood. Isla sat at the edge of her bed, the worn envelope clutched tightly in her hand. It had been tucked behind a drawer in the attic, hidden away like something shameful.She hadn’t opened it yet.Something inside her wasn’t ready. Maybe it was fear—fear that the words inside would mirror her own feelings. Or worse, that they’d reflect everything she didn’t want to admit.Christopher had been distant these past few days. He lingered in the study, spoke less, touched her only when she reached for him first. But when he did, his grip said more than words ever could. He was slipping too, caught in a past neither of them fully understood.Isla stood and paced the room. Her breath came faster than it should, her fingers trembling slightly as she tore open the envelope.
In love with my step father in law Chapter 41
---Chapter 41 – Fragments of the PastThe house was quiet, too quiet.Isla stood in the hallway of the manor, her hand resting on the banister that had once seemed too grand for her small palms as a child. Dust clung to the edges of the floorboards, and the scent of old paper and forgotten memories lingered in the air. Something had shifted inside her since uncovering the letters. They hadn't just been correspondence between old lovers—they were pieces of her mother’s soul, carefully folded and hidden.Now, she couldn’t stop seeing her mother’s face in a different light. Not just as the woman who’d raised her, but as a woman who had once loved deeply, desperately, and perhaps... recklessly.Victor Kane.That name, once a ghost Isla avoided, had become an obsession. The letters spoke of him not just as a man, but as a tempest. A savior, a destroyer. And something inside her ached at the familiarity in his words—how easily they echoed the ones whispered to her in the dark by Christophe
In love with my step father in law Chapter 50
Chapter 50: The Red Room ReturnsThe facility was buried beneath an abandoned psychiatric hospital in the outskirts of Marlowe. Cold, metallic, and eerily silent. The only sound was the hum of generators buried beneath layers of concrete. Isla stood at the entrance to the Red Room, a door marked with faded letters and smeared fingerprints—as if the ghosts of its past occupants had tried to claw their way out.She inhaled deeply. Her palms were sweaty despite the chill in the air. Her fingers brushed over the transmitter embedded in her collarbone, a tiny device Ethan had inserted the night before."You hearing me?" she whispered."Loud and clear," Ethan's voice came through the earpiece. "Christopher's tracking your position. Stay sharp."She pushed the door open.Inside, the Red Room was exactly as she'd feared: clean, clinical, and laced with hidden horrors. The walls were padded, but beneath the padding she saw the outlines of old restraints, bloodstains carefully painted over. In
In love with my step father in law Chapter 49(2)
Chapter 49: The Red RoomPart 2The house was quiet again, but it was no longer peaceful. The silence wrapped around Isla like a noose, drawing tighter with each breath.She stared at the scattered contents of the "Project Lyra" folder. Diagrams of brain scans, personality overlays, pain tolerance experiments. Pages marked with observations like:"Subject shows strong response to maternal visuals.""Behavioral correction through sensory deprivation achieved moderate success.""Mirror empathy nearly complete—98.7% personality alignment."She felt her throat close. Victor hadn’t raised her to be loved—he had raised her to reflect.“Do you think I’m still her?” she asked suddenly, her voice brittle. “Am I still Isla? Or just… Lyra’s second coming?”Christopher came to her then, kneeling before her, eyes dark and intense. “You are you, Isla. You survived his programming. You still question. That alone proves it. If you were just an echo, you wouldn’t be trembling right now. You wouldn’t b
You may also like
BILLIONAIRE QUADRUPLET BABIES
Cor T Ney442.5K viewsCold Showers
Symplyayisha815.2K viewsBillionaire's Ex-wife is Mommy of Twins
Lami274658.4K viewsThe President's Accidental Wife
Blue Fruity1.0M viewsSecond Chance For Him?
Queen Ash9.6K viewsRevenge of Billionaire's Ex-Wife
Kester125 viewsA Deal With The Billionaire : Revenge To My-ex
Liliaby1.0K viewsBetrayed but Married to a Disabled Billionaire
Piemar1.2K views
