Share

The Gaslight Gala

last update publish date: 2026-01-02 21:59:29

Chapter 35:

Evelyn’s POV

The steam in the master bathroom was so thick I could feel it clinging to my skin, turning my silk dress heavy. My heart was a drum, beating a rhythm of pure, unadulterated certainty.

I have him.

I watched the silhouette behind the frosted glass. The broad shoulders, the way he tilted his head when he was thinking, it was Caleb. It had to be. No baker, no matter how talented, possessed that specific, arrogant posture.

"The water is getting cold, Jean-Pierre," I said,
Continue to read this book for free
Scan code to download App
Locked Chapter

Latest chapter

  • Once His Wallflower, Now His Biggest Mistake    The Architect of Shadows

    Chapter 180The hum of the surveillance equipment provided a low, mechanical heartbeat to the room. I stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, my reflection a pale ghost against the backdrop of the city lights. Jasper was reclined in a velvet armchair, sipping tea with an unnerving calmness, while Nikolai paced the perimeter like a restless wolf. On the main monitor, the feed from Volkov’s penthouse played on a loop, his rage, the shattered cognac bottle, the feral look in his eyes as he roared into his intercom."Are you sure this is going to work?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper. My hands were shoved deep into the pockets of my silk robe to hide the tremor. "He looks... he looks like he’s ready to tear the world apart.""What do you see on that footage, Aurora?" Jasper asked, not even bothering to look up from his cup."It's Evelyn," I gritted out, the name feeling like a shield I was losing the right to carry."Your marriage certificate says otherwise, Mrs. Kitonio," he countere

  • Once His Wallflower, Now His Biggest Mistake    The Phantom Screen

    Chapter 179The ceramic basin was cold, but the water Viktor Volkov ran over his knuckles was freezing. He watched the pinkish swirl vanish down the drain, remnants of a man who had dared to lie to him earlier that afternoon. He didn't use a towel; he let the water drip onto the marble floor, a rhythmic tap-tap-tap that filled the silence of the penthouse.He moved to the nightstand, his fingers closing around a bottle of vintage cognac. He didn't bother with a glass. The burn of the alcohol hit the back of his throat, but it couldn't touch the cold irritation settled in his chest."Rai Kirov," he muttered, a dark, jagged smirk pulling at his lips. "Did you really think I was that blind, Evelyn? Did you really think you could play the ghost and I wouldn't recognize the haunt?"He took another long pull from the bottle. He had known the moment she asked, How are you still alive? Rai Kirov wouldn't have cared. Rai Kirov wouldn't have had that specific tremor of terrified hope in her voi

  • Once His Wallflower, Now His Biggest Mistake    The Altar of Vengeance

    Chapter 178The door hadn't even fully latched behind Jasper before the air between Nikolai and me turned poisonous. My brother, the boy I had played with in the sprawling gardens of a life that felt like a past incarnation stood there looking like a ghost that had learned how to kill."You abandoned us!" I shrieked, the leather straps creaking as I strained toward him. "The Prokofiev legacy, our name, our blood, you let it all be burned to the ground while you played dead!"Nikolai let out a harsh, jagged laugh, pacing the perimeter of my chair like a caged wolf. "Legacy? That’s rich, Evelyn. Or should I call you Rai? I thought you spent your entire life trying to scrub the Prokofiev scent off your skin. Now you’re the guardian of the heritage?""I am the only one left who isn't a lapdog for a Kitonio!""You think this was a choice?" Nikolai roared, spinning on his heel to face me, his eyes bloodshot and haunted. "I watched them die, Evelyn. One by one. Sergei… Mikhail… Yuri… they d

  • Once His Wallflower, Now His Biggest Mistake    Sibling Rivalry and Blood Pacts

    Chapter 177"That was exactly what I was trying to do, Jasper! Didn’t your precious research show you that?" I thundered the words, my voice cracking under the weight of my rage. I lunged against the leather straps, ignoring the way they bit into my wrists, ignoring the fire spreading from the wound in my back. I wanted to wrap my fingers around his throat and squeeze until his smug expression turned blue.Jasper didn't even flinch. He didn't blink. He just sat there in that velvet chair, crossing one expensive leg over the other, the picture of absolute, terrifying serenity."By playing Rai Kirov?" He tilted his head, his voice a cool splash of water on my burning skin. "Please, Evelyn. You may be many things, a liar, a survivor, a tragic heroine but you aren’t a coward. And only cowards hide behind a mask to attack. Just look at Yamelyan; he spent years playing Caleb Knight, even a chef and a nanny and look where that caution got him. It’s a loser’s game.""I did what I had to do

  • Once His Wallflower, Now His Biggest Mistake    The Resurrection of a Ghost

    Chapter 176The shadow moved closer, the flickering lightbulb casting jagged patterns across a face I had buried under a thousand layers of trauma and new identities.My breath hitching, I felt the phantom weight of old textbooks and the scent of cheap university coffee. The man standing before me wasn't a memory; he was a breathing, lethal contradiction to everything I knew about my past."Jasper Kitonio?" I blurted out, the name tasting like ash and disbelief. I shouted it, my voice echoing off the damp concrete walls, desperate to shatter the nightmare. This was the boy who sat in the back of the lecture hall. The one who struggled with basic macroeconomics. The one we all thought would fade into some middle-management oblivion."Yes, Aurora," he said, his voice smooth as aged bourbon, devoid of the stutter he’d had at twenty. "The one and only.""But..." I shook my head, the movement sending a flare of agony through my neck. "How? Jasper, you... you were...""What?" He stepped f

  • Once His Wallflower, Now His Biggest Mistake    The Echo of a Dead Name

    Chapter 175The world was not gray. It was a blinding, sterile white that burned the back of my eyelids. I was running, my feet hitting a floor that felt like glass, smooth and unnervingly cold."Leo! Luna!" I screamed, my voice echoing back at me, multi-layered and hollow.They were right there. Standing just twenty paces ahead. Leo was holding Luna’s hand, his small back straight, his shoulders squared in that protective way he always had. They were walking toward a horizon that didn't exist."Stop! Please, stop! Mommy’s here! I’m right behind you!"I lunged forward, my fingers inches from the hem of Luna’s pink jacket. But the harder I pushed, the further the floor stretched. It was an accordion of space and time, mocking me. They didn't turn. They didn't even flinch at the sound of my voice."Leo, please! Look at me!"I tripped, falling onto the glass, and as I reached out one last time, a jagged bolt of lightning, pure, white-hot agony shot through my spine. The white shattere

  • Once His Wallflower, Now His Biggest Mistake    The Consommé Catastrophe

    Chapter 71The morning after the pantry incident with Lucien felt like waking up inside a pressurized steam cooker. Every time I closed my eyes, I heard that low, gravelly promise, The Fox always catches what he hunts. My skin still felt sensitized, the ghost of his knuckles tracing my jawline act

    last updateLast Updated : 2026-03-29
  • Once His Wallflower, Now His Biggest Mistake    The Mediterranean Metamorphosis

    Chapter 67 Caleb’s POV The morning light in Marbella was far too bright for a man who had just survived a trash compactor and a death threat. It danced off the white-washed walls with a cheerful indifference to my misery. I stood on a street corner, my body aching, dressed in a set of nondescri

    last updateLast Updated : 2026-03-29
  • Once His Wallflower, Now His Biggest Mistake    Girls Night Out With The Chairperson

    Chapter 69Caleb’s POV The first week as Antonella had been a masterclass in psychological endurance. Every morning, I woke at 4:00 AM in the cramped servants' quarters to begin the grueling ritual of self-erasure. I glued the lashes, mapped the contours of a stranger’s face onto my own, and cinc

    last updateLast Updated : 2026-03-29
  • Once His Wallflower, Now His Biggest Mistake    The Fox’s Hunger

    Chapter 70Caleb's POV The Andalusian night pressed against the villa like a lover too impatient to wait. Heat lingered in every stone, every shadowed corner, turning the air inside the walk-in pantry into something thick, almost drinkable. I was reaching for the jar of Marcona almonds when the v

    last updateLast Updated : 2026-03-29
More Chapters
Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status