ANMELDEN“No, no, Emily,” I said, my voice coming out as a strained, tight sound, a fragile barrier against the chaos that was threatening to consume my mind. I looked at Emily, my gaze firm, and with a slow, deliberate motion, I gently lowered my coffee cup onto the small, wooden table.The sound was a soft clink, a tiny, insignificant noise that felt deafening in the heavy, suffocating silence of the room. “Come on, Emily, you’re jumping to conclusions. I think Miriam is only trying to get some pictures for her Instagram reels or maybe a little bit of drama for her engagement.” I said the words, but even as I spoke, they tasted like ash in my mouth. I was trying to convince her, but more than that, I was trying to convince myself. I wanted to believe it was all just a wild, painful coincidence.Emily shook her head slowly, her eyes, usually so soft and kind, were now filled with a cold, unsettling certainty. Her hands, clasped around her own mug, were trembling, and I could see the fine trem
"What does Miriam have to do with it?"The question hung in the stale air between us, a puzzle piece that didn't seem to fit. Miriam. The name itself was a bitter taste in my mouth, a reminder of the kind of life I had left behind. She was the princess, the society darling who had always seen me as her rival for Ethan's attention. Even before I had infiltrated his life as "Norah," Miriam had been a constant, buzzing mosquito in the background, her jealousy a sharp, pointed thing. The idea of her being involved in something so brutal, so... street, was hard to wrap my head around.I took a slow, painful sip of the coffee Emily had made for me. It was bitter, just like everything else. The warmth was a small comfort against the cold, hollow ache in my bones. I didn't care about Freddie's death. I told myself that.He was a snake, a man who profited from other people's misery. He had been sniffing around people's past for years, a persistent pest trying to dig up people's secrets. A part
"You don't get it, Emily, I just don't want my coming back to be suspicious to Ethan."The words tasted like ash in my mouth, but they were the truth. I never needed him to wonder, to doubt. I never wanted him to feel the same gnawing uncertainty that had become my constant companion. I needed him to know that the woman he thought he knew, the one he called Norah, was nothing but the truth. It was a cruel necessity, a way to protect the shards of my heart that still clung to the memory of him.Emily's face, a mask of concern for so long, softened into a look of profound relief. A small, sad smile touched her lips, a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. She sat on the edge of the mattress, the springs groaning in protest. The room was small and airless, smelling of damp concrete and old dust. It was a far cry from the luxurious life I had been living, and it was a harsh reminder of where I had come from."I know," she said, her voice a low murmur. "I know. It's the only way this wor
Days blur into an endless cycle of pain and despair. I lay on the thin mattress, staring at the water-stained ceiling. The pain was a constant, throbbing hum beneath my skin, it was a deep ache that had settled into my bones and refused to let go. Every breath was a shallow, and painful gasp, it was a reminder of the brutality I had endured. My body was no longer my own, it was a cage of agony.My mind, however, was a battlefield of a different kind. It replayed my moments with Ethan, a cruel paradox of kindness and my mission of revenge. The memory of his face, that was so open and honest, was a phantom that haunted my waking moments.I could almost feel his hands in my hair, his lips against mine, and the phantom sensations were so real that they were almost more painful than my physical wounds. I tried to build a wall of hate, telling myself he was the enemy, a Malcovich bloodline, but his image persisted, a phantom of kindness in my memory. I felt a consuming loneliness, trapped b
"Why do you have to ask me such baseless questions? You know who did it."The words escaped my lips in a whisper of pure venom, a hiss of pain and rage. I tried to push myself up from the hard, unforgiving floor, every muscle in my body screaming in protest. A fresh wave of white-hot agony shot through my ribs, and I cried out, a broken, pathetic sound that was so unlike the woman I had become. I slumped back down, my body trembling, tears of frustration and helplessness welling in my eyes. The old, dusty floorboards seemed to mock me, the familiar scent of decay and lost dreams filling my lungs. This was my reality now, a brutal reminder of the world I had fought so hard to escape.Emily’s face, which had been a mask of shock, twisted into a look of anguished fury. Her eyes, usually so warm and full of life, were now a raging storm of anger and pain. She knelt down beside me, her hands hovering, afraid to touch the wreckage that was my body.“Aria, please,” she begged, her voice a ra
I opened my eyes. The world was a spinning vortex of pain, a maelstrom of agony that had no beginning and no end. My body was a battlefield of bruises, a map of purple and black that stretched from my shoulders down to my legs. Now, i was in my old apartment in the slums, a place I had thought and vowed I wouldn’t come to see again. The air was thick with the smell of mold and despair, and the light that filtered through the grimy window was a pale, sickly yellow.I was lying on the thin, lumpy mattress, my body a cold, shivering wreck. I was only wearing my bra and pants, my clothes ripped away from me in a brutal display of power. A deep, bone-chilling cold had settled into my soul, a cold that had nothing to do with the temperature of the room. I felt it in my bones, a cold that had come to stay.I tried to sit up, but a fresh wave of pain shot through my body, and I cried out, a small, pathetic whimper that was swallowed by the silence. My body was a mass of broken bones and bruis
Reading the trending news online at we chat it says, "CEO Of Malcovichs corporation with his fiancée linked up with his cousin." I tilted my head, reading the headline again and again, hoping maybe it would change or blink and vanish, but it didn’t. It stayed right there in bold black letters, mock
AriaAs my lips brushed on Ethan, I felt this tingling sensation crawl deep into my belly. It wasn’t supposed to be there. I didn’t invite it. It came on its own like a foolish butterfly in the wrong garden. God, I thought I had already forgotten about our wild encounter. I masked it up quickly, fa
AriaStepping out of VernBuilds, I paused the moment I reached the last glass step and saw them. Two men in deep black suits. They weren’t just security staff—no. These weren’t VernBuilds employees. These men were trained, rigid in posture, emotionless in the face. Their expressions were cold like
"Oh my goodness… Marcus," I gasped as I held my mouth with both hands, pressing my lips so tight just to keep myself from screaming. My heart beat fast like it was about to jump out of my chest, and my eyes stayed locked on the small blinking dot at the corner of the wardrobe. It was so tiny that i







