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홈 / Romance / Love, Lessons, and Late Blossoms / Chapter Eighteen: The Stranger Behind the Words

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Chapter Eighteen: The Stranger Behind the Words

작가: Crankyswan
last update 최신 업데이트: 2025-06-24 22:39:00
He sat in his study, sleepless again, watching the cursor blink on the screen like a heartbeat he couldn’t steady.

Outside, the city pulsed with midnight lights, but his world had narrowed to this moment—this decision.

He could no longer just watch her from a distance.

Someone else had her attention now.

Lucas.

And maybe Ethan.

And maybe… neither.

But he wasn’t willing to take the chance.

He had waited too long. Loved her words too quietly. Watched her healing from the shadows with a heart that had learned restraint far too well.

Tonight, that changed.

Tonight, the story shifted.

He created the profile himself—no assistant, no consultant, no legal team.

Just him and a pseudonym:

Renner

An independent publishing scout “based in Lisbon,” working under the umbrella of a boutique literary house that existed—technically. He had invested in it years ago under a different entity.

He used it now like armor.

In the email, he wrote with precision:

Dear Layla Brooks,

I came across your essay “
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