LOGINShare
Chapter 43
Last Updated:
2025-05-19 16:17:13Chapter 43 – Fractured Reflections
The 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 truth hung heavily in the air. It was a truth Isla had been running from for years. The lies she’d told herself. The denial of what she truly wanted. Of what she truly felt.
But the more she tried to ignore it, the louder it became. And the more it demanded to be acknowledged.
The sound of footsteps on the floor pulled her from her thoughts. Christopher’s presence was felt before he spoke, the weight of his gaze pressing into her skin.
“You look like you’re about to disappear,” he said, his voice rougher than usual.
Isla turned to face him, her heart tightening. His eyes were darker, clouded with something she couldn’t quite place. Regret? Longing? Desperation?
Or was it something else entirely?
“Do you ever feel like you’re losing yourself?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Christopher didn’t answer right away. He walked toward her slowly, every step heavy with purpose. When he stopped in front of her, he reached out, brushing a strand of hair from her face.
“I feel like I’ve already lost everything,” he said quietly, his voice raw, vulnerable. “And I’m not sure if I can survive losing you too.”
The words hit her harder than she expected. The weight of them crushed down on her chest, and for a moment, she couldn’t breathe.
“Christopher…” she whispered, reaching for him, but pulling back as she realized how much she had been pushing him away. How much she had been hiding from him.
But it wasn’t just him she was hiding from. It was herself. The truth of what she had become—the person she was allowing herself to be in this tangled mess of love, lust, and power.
“Don’t pull away from me now,” he said, his hand coming to rest on her shoulder. “I don’t care what’s between us. What happened in the past. What we both did before we found each other. I only care about what’s happening now. What’s happening in this moment.”
His hand moved to her cheek, the warmth of his touch melting the coldness inside her.
“I’m afraid,” she admitted, her voice trembling. “I’m afraid of what this is doing to me. To us.”
Christopher’s thumb gently traced the outline of her jaw, as if memorizing her features. “I know,” he said softly. “But that doesn’t mean we have to let it destroy us.”
The silence between them was thick, heavy with all the unsaid things they hadn’t been able to voice. There were so many things they hadn’t addressed—things that still stood between them like an invisible wall. But in this moment, that wall didn’t matter.
He leaned in, his lips brushing against hers in a slow, deliberate kiss. It wasn’t a kiss of passion, nor one of desperation. It was a kiss of understanding, of shared grief and fear, and the unspoken desire to heal the wounds they had both been hiding.
When they finally pulled away, Isla looked into his eyes, searching for something, anything that would give her a glimpse of certainty in all the chaos.
“I don’t know if we can survive this,” she whispered, the words hanging in the air like a broken promise.
“We’ll survive,” he said firmly, his voice unwavering. “We’ll survive because we’re in this together. You’re not alone, Isla. And neither am I.”
For the first time in what felt like forever, Isla allowed herself to believe him. To believe that maybe, just maybe, they could both find a way through the darkness.
But there were still so many things left to confront. So many truths to face. And Isla knew that whatever came next, she couldn’t run from it any longer.
---
Latest chapter
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
In love with my step father in law Chapter 49(1)
Chapter 49: The Red RoomThe air turned metallic the moment the lights flickered out.Isla’s breath caught as the hallway swallowed her in darkness. For a moment, the only sound was the faint hum of old wiring, like the heartbeat of the Nest itself. She called out for Ethan.No answer.She moved, hand gliding along the cold stone wall, pulse racing with every step. Then a sharp click echoed behind her. She turned quickly.Nothing.Her phone buzzed—just once—before the screen cracked and died in her hand. The last thing she saw was a single message.“RUN.”But she didn’t run. Not yet.She wasn’t the same girl who had run from the truth. Not the same girl who once thought pain was weakness. Now, pain was proof—of love, of loss, of a past that refused to stay buried.She moved toward the back of the house where they had stored the remaining files and weapons. As she passed one of the metal doors, she noticed something that hadn’t been there before.A red glow beneath it.Victor had activ
You may also like
The Wrong Woman
Ginny Not Genie1.1M viewsBillionaire's Substitute Bride and Her Secret Child
Lana West447.0K viewsRevenge of the Hideous Lady
Moonlight951.7K viewsForced marriage: Dear wife, you can't escape me
Natie 567.5K viewsPROFESSOR GREY'S GIRL
Sinner525 viewsMy Best Friend’s Father Wants me
Camila Lee33.7K viewsA Night With My Best Friend'sTwin Brother
Vina B199 viewsMy Unfaithful Lover
Rach's pen36.8K views
