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Chapter 24

Penulis: Kamsi Ugo
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-05-30 22:11:21

Ayala was different now. She wasn’t confronting me. That would’ve been easier. No, she was slipping again. We never slept in the same room again. She didn't return after she left.

Over the next few days, I buried her under texts.

“You’re not thinking clearly.”

“Come home and talk to me.”

“You promised we’d work through things.”

“Don’t make me remind you what you owe me.”

She didn’t reply.

So I showed up at her job again.

This time, the receptionist asked me to wait outside. Polite but firm. The tone of someone who’d been told very specifically that I was no longer welcome.

When Ayala came out, she looked like a different woman.

She wasn’t broken.

She wasn’t defeated.

She was done.

“I’m asking you, Alexei,” she said, voice steady, “not to come here again.”

My jaw tightened. “You’re overreacting.”

“I’m setting boundaries.”

“Quietly pulling away. Laughing less. Answering my questions in clipped tones are not boundaries, you are avoiding me”, I said whilst holding her wrist. I really did
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  • Love in Deceit   Chapter 34

    Alexei – POVThe silence in his penthouse was too uncomfortable. Too sterile. Like the kind of silence one carries when one's parents promise to take them along for a night out and leave before you can reach for the door. Alexei sat on the edge of the leather couch, his hands resting almost lifeless, his eyes fixed on the marble floor. He had become a slave to the bottle and this was rare for him. But the weight in his chest tonight wasn’t something that even the smoothest scotch could handle.She was gone. He pushed her.He loved her but when he figured she was working for Vladimir, something in him stirred up. Something negative. He saw her as a puppet to exercise control over Vladimir.But instead, he made her run.Not just from Vladimir—but from him. And that was the worst of it all.He hadn’t expected the aftermath to feel like this. Now that she was gone, everything echoed with her absence.He pressed a palm to his face and sighed.He’d won. That’s what he was supposed to bel

  • Love in Deceit   Chapter 33

    The next few days were strange but beautiful.I worked tirelessly on putting my house in order. I longed to have gotten all I needed from Harrods as I usually would have done, but I couldn’t afford to do so. I had to try leaving within my means and that meant not indulging in extravagant frivolities I couldn’t afford.I still tried to keep my apartment looking chic and minimalist. I thrifted some of my interior designs, shopped from diffusion line brands and affordable designers like Ted Baker, Zara, and unfortunately SHEIN (I also insulted people that did, now here I was)I bought dishes, cooking utensils, and food items. Though I couldn’t cook, there was nothing I could not learn from the internet. I also put my house in order, though it cost me more than I expected. I was proud of myself.I wasn’t going to keep floating from one man’s house to another’s. I wasn’t going to keep hiding behind emotions I didn’t understand, or shielding myself from decisions I needed to make. I was do

  • Love in Deceit   Chapter 32

    I stood frozen by the door long after it clicked shut. My hands were shaking, and the heaviness that started in my fingertips spread up my arms. My throat ached, and my eyes burned. The weight of everything Vladimir had said still echoed in the walls.“You already did,” I had told him. I wasn’t even sure if I meant it.The silence after Vladimir left wasn’t peaceful; it was deafening. But it was what I needed. I needed my eyes shut from the several whispers in my head. I had stopped listening to myself and my voice and became a puppet to the voices in my head.His voice still echoed against the walls, and the worst part was that it wasn’t the words that haunted me. It was the sincerity. The desperation. That trembling thing in his throat when he said he’d wait. I wanted to doubt him, I wanted to hate him more but mostly, I wanted to forget him, not just him, but the whole fiasco that had happened over the months.I wanted relocating to Boston or maybe go to Texas, live by the countrys

  • Love in Deceit   Chapter 31

    Vladimir — POV“I’ve located her. She’s at the Pluto Rick Hotel. She just checked in now under a dummy name,” said the agent I sent to track her. This probably proves the stalker and possessive claims, but I was simply bothered. The corridor outside her hotel suite was eerily quiet.I’d been standing outside her door for twelve minutes—twelve whole minutes—thinking of what I would say to her, too afraid to knock, too terrified that this time—really this time—she wouldn’t open.Ayala had checked into the hotel under a false name. Smart. I only found her because I had people. But that felt pathetic now. Like everything else. She would hate to know I had her followed. But she hates me already Finally, I raised my hand and knocked. Once. Twice.Silence.I knocked again.This time, the door cracked open. Barely. Just enough for her to see me.Her eyes met mine.Empty.No softness. No welcome.“Who told you I was here” she asked. She seemed annoyed but expectant.“I’ve my ways”. I regrett

  • Love in Deceit   Chapter 30

    Ayala — POV (contd.)The doors to the elevator shut behind me, and I didn’t look back.I held my shoes in my hands and walked barefoot. I didn’t care that I’d left most of my belongings at both Alexie's and Vladimir's houses jointly, also half my dignity was divided at both their places. I was left with my phone charger, my credit card and a few clothes I managed to have packed plus some money in cash. I just walked. Fast. As if distance would drown out the weight of what Vladimir said—or didn’t say.I didn’t want to cry in the street. So I didn’t. I flagged down a cab, gave the name of a hotel I remembered from a work errand months ago—neutral, high-end, far enough to breathe—and kept my mouth shut the entire ride.The driver looked at me, with pity. I hated it.The reception was lightly lit and a scent that reminded me of work. The smell of my office. The office where I walked for him, Vladimir.I didn’t give my real name when I checked in. Just “Mara,” short for a character I used

  • Love in Deceit   Chapter 29

    AYALA’S POVThings didn’t change after that. The press meeting was of no effect. I continued to be the headline of subject matters.Ayala Shomer: From Assistant to Heiress—Or Just Another Pretty Pawn?”This time, they included Alexei’s statement. Or what he called a “clarification.”“I was misled,” he’d said to the reporter. “She came to me with stories about needing help for her father’s company, but clearly, there was a bigger agenda. I suppose Vladimir and I were both used.”Used.My blood ran cold reading it. Not because it hurt me—but because it came from Alexie. I froze when I saw the article. I became pale, I suddenly gripped my coffee cup with my hands shaking.I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t.Alexei had declared war.And I wasn’t going to let him win.I didn’t go to the office the next morning. Neither did Vladimir. We hadn’t spoken since yesterday. Not really. Just nods. One-word answers. The silence between us was louder than any argument we could’ve had.He made an attem

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