LOGIN~ Veronica ~Failure had a sound.It wasn’t loud and it wasn’t dramatic.It was quiet… suffocating… the kind that sat in your chest long after everything had gone still.And right now, it was all I could hear.The teacup in my hand trembled ever so slightly before I set it down with controlled precision against the saucer. Anyone looking at me would think I was calm. Composed. Untouched.But beneath the surface, something vicious clawed its way up my throat.Last night had been perfect.Every detail accounted for. Every movement calculated. I had waited, endured, tolerated his distance for over a year, playing the role expected of me while he looked through me like I was nothing more than a decorative piece placed at his side.A wife in name.An afterthought in truth.And yet… I had still been patient. Because patience, I had learned, always paid off.Except last night—My fingers curled slightly on the table as the memory replayed itself whether I wanted it to or not.The tray had
— Xander —Waking up felt… wrong.Not in the way one would expect after a long night or too little sleep, but in a way that sat deeper than the body, something that lingered beneath the skin like a memory refusing to fully surface.My eyes opened to the ceiling, unmoving for a moment as I let the silence settle.The room was too still, too quiet.And yet—Not untouched.A faint crease formed between my brows as I pushed myself up slowly, the sheets shifting against my skin. The first thing I registered was the dull heaviness in my limbs, not exhaustion, not quite pain either, but something in between. My body felt used, strained in a way that didn’t align with rest.That alone was enough to make me pause.I sat there for a moment longer, letting my gaze drift across the room.Nothing appeared out of place at first glance.The furniture stood exactly where it should. The lighting was unchanged. The structure of the room remained intact, familiar.But the longer I looked…The more the
~ Avelyn ~The hospital lights felt too bright, too clean and unforgiving.By the time we got there, my body had started to shut down in ways I couldn’t explain. It wasn’t sleep. It wasn’t relief either. It felt like something in me had simply reached its limit and decided to stop responding.But my mind…My mind refused to stop.Ciara.That was the only thing keeping me upright.Kyle didn’t waste a second. The moment we stepped through those doors, he was already moving ahead of me, his voice sharp, controlled, authoritative in a way I had only seen a few times before.“Clear a room. Now.”People moved.Fast.Not because they understood everything, but because something in his tone didn’t allow hesitation.I followed behind him, clutching the small storage pack that held the blood. I retrieved it from Kyle just before we stepped out of the car. My fingers had gone numb around it, but I didn’t loosen my grip. I couldn’t.It felt like the only thing tethering me to reality.Ciara was
~ Avelyn ~By the time I stepped out of that place, I wasn’t sure what was holding me together anymore.It definitely wasn’t strength.It wasn’t pride either.Maybe it was desperation. Maybe it was the thin, fragile thread of hope wrapped tightly around the pint of blood hidden against my body. Or maybe it was just Ciara… the thought of her, the image of her tiny chest rising and falling beneath hospital lights.Whatever it was, it kept my feet moving.One step.Then another.The night air hit my skin the moment I crossed the gates, cool and sharp, but it didn’t soothe me. If anything, it made everything worse. It made me aware, too aware of my body, of every ache, every mark, every lingering sensation I didn’t want to name.I pulled the shawl tighter around myself, my fingers trembling despite my effort to steady them.Don’t think about it. Don’t feel it.Just move.The car was exactly where Kyle said it would be. Parked in the shadows like it didn’t want to be seen.Like me.I didn’
~ Avelyn ~I don’t remember when it ended.At some point, the world blurred into fragments—heat, weight, breath, the sound of my own voice betraying me over and over again. After that, everything dissolved into a thick, heavy silence that swallowed the room whole.When I opened my eyes again, the first thing I felt was pain.Not sharp or sudden.It was everywhere.It settled deep into my bones like something that had taken its time, something that knew it didn’t have to rush because it wasn’t going anywhere.For a moment, I didn’t move. I just lay there, staring at the ceiling, my lashes barely fluttering as I tried to gather myself from whatever was left of me.The room was dimmer now. The light had shifted, softer, quieter, like even time itself had slowed down out of respect for what had just happened.Beside me, I could hear him.Xander.His breathing had evened out into something steady, controlled, almost peaceful. It was the only sign that the storm had passed, that whatever ha
~ Avelyn ~I hadn’t expected him to reciprocate with a hunger that completely knocked the air out of me. He took total control of the kiss. I couldn’t even believe I was the one who initiated it.One of his hands squeezed my waist while the other held my head in position so there was no escape from what he was doing to me. I found myself gasping for air between his deep soul plundering kiss. Finally, he released my lips but I didn’t get a chance to steady my ragged breath when he hoisted up me against the door.My legs instinctively wrapped around his waist. My body trembled violently as I felt his gigantic cock press underneath me. It wasn’t in. But my body responded from the fear of if it had been. I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced my mind out of that thought. This position wasn’t aimed at that. It was aimed at something else. His skin pressed against my neck and my hand wrapped tighter around his neck. I didn’t know if it was to support myself or anchor him further.
~ Avelyn ~Morning came too soon.It wasn’t sunlight that woke me, it was the silence. That eerie kind that presses against your ears until you start to hear your own heartbeat. For a moment I lay still, staring at the ceiling, half expecting to feel cold water and chocolate dripping down my skin a
~ Avelyn ~We arrived a humongous villa and they ushered me in, polite and efficient down a corridor I hadn’t seen before. Portraits stared from the walls with faces of men who looked like they had never learned to smile. The villa smelled of citrus and something older, like money that had been ste
~ Avelyn ~The screen blurred for a second and then snapped into sudden focus. One hundred thousand dollars. My mouth went dry and the stupid grin that announced itself felt like a betrayal, a twitching little traitor sitting like a light in the back of my throat. A hundred thousand. Not a hundre
~ Xander ~The car was too quiet.Only the faint hum of the engine and the sound of rain drumming on the tinted glass filled the silence between us. She sat on the far end of the seat, head lowered and shoulders trembling. Every few seconds, she sniffed softly, trying to hide it.The heater was on







