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Life Is Not Late

Life Is Not Late

Cerita Pendek · Romance
Oleh:  Ivy MonroeTamat
Bahasa: English
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10Bab
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Sinopsis

Tragic Love

Counter Attack

Bias

Girl Power

Winning Back the Wife

Cheating

Face Slapping

I cradled Chloe’s newborn, filled with joy and affection. The baby was not blood of mine, yet as Chloe’s best friend, I would love and protect the little one with everything I had. "Sweet boy," I whispered, gently tapping the tip of his nose. "I'm your godmother. No one would ever hurt you." The hospital room was washed in golden afternoon light. Adrian stood by the window in a dark overcoat, his profile sharp against the glass. He looked exactly like the man the whole industry knew: controlled, elegant, untouchable. Hollywood's golden producer. My newlywed husband. Then he said, in a voice as flat as if he were discussing a contract, "He's not your godson. He's my son." For a second, I thought I had misheard him. Maybe I was just exhausted from the wedding, from the endless calls and fittings and congratulations. I almost laughed. But Adrian turned around. A cruel little smile curved his lips. "The child is mine," he said again. My arms tightened around the baby. "The night you got hurt," he went on, "I was with Chloe the whole night. We went through an entire box... apparently this little guy still found a way to arrive." I couldn't move. It felt as if ice water had been poured down my throat. I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. After a long silence, I finally managed to whisper, "But... we only registered our marriage yesterday." Adrian walked over and put an arm around my shoulders, almost gently. His tone was soft, but it carried the kind of condescension people used with a child throwing a tantrum. "Don't worry. Chloe and I were never going to get married. If I had wanted to marry her, I would have done it years ago." He paused, and something almost pleased flashed in his eyes. "Didn't Chloe ever tell you? We had a history. I was her first."

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10 Bab
Chapter 1
I didn't remember how I got back to our Beverly Hills mansion.Three months earlier, I had stood on the Oscar stage with the Best Actress statuette in my shaking hands. Under the blinding flashes of cameras from every major media outlet, I announced my engagement. I told everyone I was ready to step back from the peak of my career and focus on building a family.That night, the whole world called me the happiest woman alive.Adrian had been sitting in the front row, looking at me with such devotion that I truly believed I was the only person in his universe.Now I knew that devotion had been nothing but poison disguised as love.By the time Adrian came home, the living room looked like a battlefield. I had smashed our wedding photos. Broken glass covered the floor. The silk decorations for our newlywed home had been torn down, and the master bedroom we were supposed to share was wrecked beyond recognition.Adrian stood in the foyer and finished a cigarette in silence. Then he walked ov
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Chapter 2
Adrian finally looked up from the stove. His brows drew together, not in panic, not in guilt, but in annoyance.He was about to speak when his phone rang.It was the special ringtone he had set for Chloe.The moment he saw her name, the cold, professional mask on his face softened into a smile."What is it, princess?" he said, his voice low and gentle. "I'm already making the soup. If you're bored, play with the baby for a while."He paused, glanced at me, and said into the phone, "She doesn't know. Don't worry."Then he hung up and turned back to me."Chloe doesn't know I told you everything," he said. "Act like you don't know. She doesn't want to lose you as a friend."With that, he packed the soup into a thermos and headed for the door."Divorce," I said again.Adrian stopped and looked back at me as if I had said something absurd."We registered our marriage yesterday. Why would we divorce now? Do you want us to become a joke in front of everyone we know? Be professional, Evelyn. S
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Chapter 3
I had barely sat down in Paul's SUV when two silver Bentleys cut across the driveway and blocked our path.Adrian stepped out of the car.He didn't give me a chance to ask anything. With one careless wave of his hand, his bodyguards moved in and stopped Paul from getting out."Get out of the car, Evelyn," Adrian said. "Chloe was caught on camera. The video was going to leak tonight."I gripped the door handle so tightly my knuckles turned white.Through the window, I looked at my handsome, cold-blooded husband."I told you I wanted a divorce," I said. "Her PR crisis has nothing to do with me.""Nothing to do with you?"Adrian stepped forward, yanked the door open, and dragged me out by the wrist."You think announcing your retirement means this industry will let you disappear? The footage is blurry. If you show up at the press conference tonight and say it was you celebrating your wedding a little too wildly, the media will move on. You have the innocent golden-girl image. A small scan
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Chapter 4
Adrian texted me at dawn."I'm sending Chloe to London for a while. Once the storm passes, I'll find the best medical team to help you recover. Then we'll go to the Mediterranean for our honeymoon."I stared at the screen with dry, empty eyes.He had killed my baby and destroyed my reputation, and now he thought a vacation could buy my obedience.I didn't reply.When I was about to leave the hospital, paparazzi and protesters surged toward the entrance like a tide."Evelyn! Did you encourage underage fans to attend those parties?""Is the golden girl image officially dead? What's the truth behind the midnight video?"Their questions stabbed at me from every direction.Before I could even react, Adrian pushed through the crowd, his face dark with rage.He didn't ask a single question.He raised his hand and slapped me across the face.The sound echoed through the hospital entrance.My ear rang."Evelyn, I already agreed to send her away," he growled, grabbing my collar and lowering his
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Chapter 5
Adrian lost track of how he survived the next three days.Scandal crashed over him like a tsunami. The board suspended him from all duties. Reporters surrounded his companies, investors demanded answers, and every news outlet in the country was replaying the final video Evelyn had left behind.Adrian barely noticed any of it.He spent his days locked inside the empty soundstage, staring at the dark, dried bloodstain on the floor.He refreshed his phone like a madman, searching for any proof that Evelyn was still alive. A hidden account. A hospital transfer. A private jet record. Anything.But Evelyn had vanished overnight.Then he saw an old post from Paul: a photo of autumn leaves.The location tag was a small town in Connecticut, Evelyn's birthplace.She had once told him that if she ever got too tired, that was where she wanted to rest.By the time Adrian reached the rural church, the sunset had turned the brick cemetery walls the color of dried blood. There were no cameras, no flas
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Chapter 6
Seven days after Evelyn disappeared, a heavy rainstorm hit Manhattan.Adrian wandered through the mansion like a ghost. He no longer dared to sleep in the wedding bed. Instead, he spent every night in the study, digging through everything Evelyn had left behind.Recordings. Interviews. Behind-the-scenes clips. Old voicemails.He was desperate to hear her voice one more time.In a dusty drawer, he found an old phone with a cracked screen.At first, he thought it belonged to Evelyn. But when it powered on, the pink case stirred a memory.It was Chloe's phone.She had dropped it in his car two years earlier, and he had kept it ever since.That night, driven by an impulse he couldn't explain, Adrian typed in the password.The phone unlocked.What appeared on the screen was not the soft, pretty world he had imagined.It was an encrypted album titled "Game."Adrian opened the first video.It was from ten years ago, during the kidnapping that had changed all their lives.In the video, Chloe w
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Chapter 7
Adrian didn't spare a glance at the panicked man trying to flee.He looked down at Chloe, lifted his hand, and hurled the cracked phone into her face."Ten years," he said. His voice was hoarse, scraped raw, and edged with something lethal. "For filth like you, I drove my wife to her death and lost my only child. Tell me, Chloe. Did you ever feel even one second of guilt?""Adrian, listen to me." Chloe lunged forward and tried to grab the hem of his coat. "I love you. I was just afraid of losing you. Those messages were nonsense. I didn't mean any of it.""Love me?"Adrian let out a broken laugh. A single tear slid down his cheek, but there was no tenderness left in it, only mockery."Do you love me, or do you love my resources? My PR team? The fool you could move around like a puppet?"He grabbed Chloe by the hair and dragged her close, forcing her to look at the truths on the phone screen."The kidnapping was fake. The assault was fake. The betrayal that night was fake. And this firs
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Chapter 8
Adrian drove through the midnight streets of Manhattan.Neon lights smeared across his blood-stained face as the car sped forward. The man who had once ruled the careers of countless stars, the king of producers, now calmly called the police."This is Adrian," he said. "I've killed two people, and I'm on my way to turn myself in."He didn't hire a top legal team. He didn't call PR. He refused every possible way out.To him, the world outside had become more of a prison than prison itself. Everywhere he looked, he saw Evelyn's shadow.But at the final turn before the police station, a massive black SUV roared out of the darkness and slammed into his car.The impact flipped the vehicle in the middle of the road.Glass shattered with a deafening crash.Through his blurring vision, Adrian saw a tall man jump out of the SUV.The man pried open the twisted car door and dragged him out of the wreckage by force.It was Paul."Please," Adrian gasped, blood running down his face. There was somet
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Chapter 9
Two years later, I was living at the foot of the Alps.The mornings there were always cool and clean, carrying the scent of grass, stone, and distant snow.No one in that little European town knew Oscar-winning actress Evelyn. To them, I was simply Cindy.I had traded my heavy Manhattan gowns for hiking boots and soft sweaters. I bought bread from the same bakery every morning, learned the names of my neighbors' dogs, and walked through streets where no one raised a camera at my face.After surviving the wreckage of my old life, that kind of ordinary peace felt almost unreal."Eve, you forgot something!"Paul's hurried footsteps came up behind me.I turned and saw him holding my hiking pack, worry carved into his face."Are you sure you don't need me to go with you?" he asked.I smiled and took the pack from him."Our hiking group is all women. If you join, they'll be nervous.""Cindy, le bus va partir!" one of my friends called from the bus.Just as I was about to climb on, Paul rubbe
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Chapter 10
Adrian walked toward me as if every step carried the weight of a lifetime.The perfectly controlled man I remembered was gone. His cheeks were sunken, his bones too sharp beneath his skin, and the old arrogance in his eyes had been replaced by a sick, desperate plea."Evelyn," he said when he stopped a few paces away. "You've tanned a little. You're thinner too... but you look well."He stared at me as if he had been surviving on the memory of my face for years.I didn't break down. I didn't scream. I didn't even feel the rage I once thought would never leave me.I simply looked at him the way one looks at a stranger from a past life."Evelyn, I only have half a day," Adrian said when I didn't answer. He took an urgent step forward, but the women from my hiking group immediately moved closer, wary and protective. "I have to leave soon."He gave a self-mocking laugh and slowly lifted the hem of his pant leg.In the fading sunset, the cold metal of an electronic ankle monitor flashed aro
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