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Chapter Twenty

Penulis: jengreyy
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-08-07 06:02:10

* Jana *

I enjoyed the dance, and the champagne accompanied by it plus the presence of a colleague from work. Patrick, has been a perfect gentleman that I thought I would enjoy his company but not until after a few glasses of his whiskey.

"Uhm Jana, so the night is getting late. Can we go somewhere? I mean it's fun here but it will be more fun if it's just me and you."

My eyes widened from the way he made his invitation too vulgar and too obvious. I pulled away from his hold and look around us. Everyone seems to be busy with each other's partners on the dance floor and our VIP guests have already left.

Some lovers dancing on the floor started to feel at home.

I laughed softly, polite, and practiced. The kind of laugh women like me are forced to master, sharp enough to reject without bruising a man's ego.

"Patrick," I said, lifting my champagne glass between us like a shield, "I think the whiskey's starting to talk a bit louder than you are."

His hand lingered on my waist, and I stepp
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  • Mister Dream Man   Chapter Forty Four

    * Jana *The alarm clock on my nightstand blinked 6:45 a.m., its red digits far too sharp for the fog still clinging to my head. Monday. The beginning of another work week. But I couldn't move. Not yet.I lay staring at the ceiling, listening to the faint hum of traffic outside my apartment window, my chest tight with indecision. The thought of walking into that office, passing in his office, made my stomach twist.Lawrence knew. Or at least, he suspected. I had seen it in his eyes last night, the way his voice sharpened when he demanded the truth, the way his silence carried more weight than any accusation.Part of me wanted to stay hidden behind the mask I had built so carefully. My new name, my quiet life, the illusion of being just another employee, invisible and safe. If I went back to work, I could pretend again, bury it all under professionalism and distance.But I knew it wouldn't last. Lawrence was not the kind of man to let go once he had a thread to pull. And I... I was tir

  • Mister Dream Man   Chapter Forty Three

    * Lawrence *I hadn't set foot in this villa for months, maybe a year. Yet the moment I stepped through the doors, the past came rushing back like a tide that refused to ebb.My father sat in his usual chair near the window, glasses low on his nose, a newspaper open but unread. My mother was at her vanity, touching the pearls at her throat, as though compensating for what was no longer there the pink diamond ring on her finger.The infamous diamond.That cursed jewel had done more damage than anyone dared admit.I could still hear my mother's voice from that night at Magnolia resort. "It's gone! My pink diamond is gone!" Panic had cracked her perfect composure, the staff scattering like frightened birds.I closed my eyes. Even now, the memory clawed at me. Jana, just a teen standing with her older sister, her brother standing between them like a shield. Their faces stained with tears as I made the decision."You all have to leave!" I had said, cold and final, though my heart thundered

  • Mister Dream Man   Chapter Forty Two

    * Jana *My chest rose and fell unevenly, the weight of his demand pressing down on me. His words scraped against every fragile wall I had built over the years."I'm not hiding," I whispered, but even to my own ears, it sounded weak, defensive.His eyes narrowed, sharp and relentless. "You think I can't see it? The way you flinch at my name. The way Dianne's accusations tore through you last night. You're carrying something, Jana. And I won't—" he broke off, exhaling hard, dragging a hand through his hair. "I won't stand here pretending I don't notice."I backed away, needing distance, needing air. The kitchen suddenly felt too small, the walls closing in around me. My hand throbbed where the water had cooled the burn, but it was nothing compared to the heat flooding through my chest."You don't understand," I muttered, turning my back to him."Then make me understand." His voice was deep, steady, but beneath it lay a desperation that rattled me. "If Dianne is lying, then prove it. Lo

  • Mister Dream Man   Chapter Forty One

    * Jana *I know Dianne must have recalled me, or recognized the resemblance between me and my mother. My hands were still trembling as I drove my car back to the apartment, hoping that Lawrence would not listen to what Dianne has been whispering behind my back.To him I am Jana Salazar, not Jana Kramer. I don't owe anything to Dianne, not when my mother is still missing for many years. While her father is declared dead, my mother's fate remains unknown. For years I convinced myself that they ran away together, that maybe they had loved each other enough to abandon everything. But the silence that followed...the absence... it gnawed at me.I reached my apartment, the dim light of the hallway flickering above me. My chest felt tight as I locked the door behind me, leaned against it, and finally allowed my knees to buckle. My breaths came shallow, broken."Why now? Why does the past have to chase me now?"The shadows of my small living room wrapped around me. I didn't turn on the lights.

  • Mister Dream Man   Chapter Forty

    * Lawrence *The moment Dianne slid into the alcove, her hand curling around my arm like a shackle, I felt the ground shift. Jana's eyes sparked with triumph, taunting, tempting, daring me, while Dianne's smile cut the air like a blade dipped in honey. I should have pulled away. I didn't. Restraint was my weapon, and restraint was all I had left."Enough," I said, but the word was low, dangerous, meant for both of them.Dianne leaned in, her perfume sharp, too sweet. "She looks familiar," she murmured, her voice low enough to pass as curiosity but edged with venom. Her eyes lingered on Jana like she was a memory clawing its way out of the past.Jana tilted her head, unbothered, sipping her own silence like fine champagne."Does she now?" I asked, my voice flat.Dianne's gaze flicked to me, lingering, her grip tightening. "Yes. I've seen that face before. Years ago... Magnolia Resort."The name landed between us like a stone dropped into still water. Magnolia. My family's crown jewel,

  • Mister Dream Man   Chapter Thirty Nine

    * Jana *The gala was a symphony of distraction, laughter, deals whispered into crystal rims, the low thrum of a jazz band, but all of it blurred once Lawrence angled his body toward me. His presence was like a gravity, everything else in the room tilted, unimportant."Walk with me," he said, not a request, I a very commanding manly tone. His voice that slid under my skin, the same way it always had, a command disguised as civility.I arched a brow, feigning ease. "And here I thought you didn't mix business with pleasure."His lips curved, the faintest shadow of a smile, but his eyes... There is no smile there. Just fire banked under control. Looking deep into my own."Who said this was pleasure?"The words were a strike meant to wound, and maybe once upon a time they would have. But tonight? Tonight I'd armed myself for this exact war."Careful, Lawrence," I murmured as I let him guide me toward a quieter alcove draped in velvet curtains. "If you keep saying things like that, people

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