LOGINJULIANMaltida had changed and she was no longer the woman I use to know. And the worst part? I couldn’t predict her anymore. At least that has helped me know her moves for all these years. I stood by the floor-to-ceiling window in my office, staring down at the city lights bleeding into the darkness, my reflection faintly staring back at me. My fingers tapped absently against the glass, a rhythm I wasn’t aware of until it stopped.“She’s definitely up to something.” I muttered under my breath. I had been monitoring her closely and I know she's still interested in killing my son. I was torn between killing her and getting him to safety, but either of this will not be easy, since it was a taboo to kill a kings queen and Emily had made sure I would set my eyes on my son. Behind me, the door clicked open softly.“Sir?”I didn’t turn immediately. I didn’t need to.“Talk,” I said.My head of security stepped further into the room, his footsteps measured, controlled. “We’ve expanded surve
MALTIDA Something about her had been wrong from the very beginning.I had not wanted to admit it at first. In my world, instinct was everything, but so was patience, and I had learned long ago not to lunge at shadows before confirming they were real. Still, Ivory had unsettled me in a way I could not easily dismiss. It was subtle—so subtle that anyone less experienced would have mistaken it for admiration, or even harmless curiosity.But I was not inexperienced.I had spent years been the predator and I had no plans to settle into being the prey. So when I said something was wrong, I trusted that instinct.Ivory was too polished. Too precise. Too well-connected for someone who had supposedly appeared out of nowhere.At first, I had been flattered. It was not unusual for new money to gravitate toward me, to seek my approval, my attention, my endorsement. I was a gatekeeper in more ways than one, and people knew it.But Ivory had not performed.She had observed.That was the differenc
EMILY I had imagined this moment a hundred different ways, and yet none of those rehearsed versions prepared me for the reality of standing face-to-face with Maltida, breathing the same air, watching her smile as if she were untouchable. The room itself was a quiet declaration of wealth, soft gold lighting, polished marble floors, and the faint scent of something expensive and floral lingering in the air. Everything about her world screamed power, and yet all I could see were the cracks beneath the surface, the desperation she worked so hard to hide.I kept my expression composed, my posture relaxed but calculated, every inch of me transformed into Ivory, the woman she expected to meet. “Mrs. Maltida,” I said smoothly, offering a polite smile as I extended my hand.She took it, her grip firm but curious, her sharp eyes scanning my face as though trying to place me in a world she thought she already knew. “Ivory,” she repeated, testing the name on her tongue. “I’ve heard quite a bit
EMILYThe silence after they left was unbearable.I stood in the middle of the apartment, staring at the door long after it had closed behind Miriam and Venida. My arms felt empty, achingly so, as if they still expected the weight of my son to be there.I let out a slow breath, pressing my palm against my chest as if I could steady the storm raging inside me.“This is it,” I whispered to myself.There was no turning back now.If I wanted my son to live freely… if I wanted any kind of future for him… then I had to end this.And the first step was simple.Emily had to disappear.Two days later, I sat in front of a mirror I barely recognized.The small apartment belonged to Ella. It was tucked away in a quiet part of the city. The curtains were drawn, the lights dim, and the air smelled faintly of powder and something floral. I had bumped into her yesterday and honestly the rest was history. I haven't even had the time to ask her why she was no longer working for Alessandro. Ella stood
EMILY The call came when I was least expecting it.I was standing just outside the ICU, my arms wrapped tightly around myself, staring through the glass at Alessandro’s unmoving body. The steady beeping of the machines inside the room felt louder than it should have.My phone rang.The sharp sound cut through the silence, making me flinch. For a second, I hesitated. Then I forced myself to answer.“Hello?”“Mrs. Emily,” the officer’s voice came through, firm but controlled. “We’ve identified the people behind the attack.”My grip tightened on the phone. “Who?”There was a brief pause, like he already knew what my reaction would be.“Joselyn’s family.”For a moment, everything inside me stilled.Then something dark and bitter curled in my chest.“Have they been arrested?” I asked, my voice quieter now, colder.“Yes. They’ve been taken into custody.”A breath I didn’t even realize I’d been holding slipped out of me.Relief came first but then it didn't last because reality followed ri
EMILY I still couldn't bring myself to tjink about Julian's betrayal. I lay there, propped against the stiff hospital pillows, my body still trembling from the aftermath of labor, my son cradled carefully in my arms. He was so small. So warm. So impossibly real.I stared at him, tracing the curve of his cheek with my finger, my heart tightening in ways I didn’t yet understand. For a moment everything else disappeared. The pain. The fear. The chaos that had brought me here.Then I saw a movement.Barely there. Just a shadow shifting by the window.My breath caught instantly.I froze, my fingers tightening protectively around my baby as my eyes locked onto the glass. The curtain fluttered slightly, though I hadn’t felt any breeze.“Doctor…” My voice came out hoarse, strained. “Doctor.”He turned to me immediately, brows knitting together. “What is it?”“There..” I nodded toward the window, my pulse beginning to race. “Someone was there. I saw someone.”He followed my gaze, walking ove
JULIAN I saw her fall.For a split second, my mind refused to process it. Joselyn was standing there and Emily was on the ground beside her, curled slightly with one hand pressed to her stomach.Everything inside me snapped.“What the hell did you do?” My voice didn’t even sound like mine.Josely
EMILY “Hold still, ma’am.”“I am holding still,” I muttered, staring at my reflection as the brush swept across my cheek for what felt like the hundredth time. “But that’s too much blush. I look like I fell into a paint box.”The younger maid paused, glancing nervously at the head maid.The head m
EMILY The moment our eyes met, my body forgot how to function. It was like every nerve inside me had been dipped in ice.She was real. Not a dream. Not a distorted memory.Her smile widened slowly as if she could taste my fear from across the room.I took a step back on the staircase.Then another
EMILY I hadn’t been the same since I saw that picture. Since I saw myself in a white wedding dress, standing beside Julian.Since I saw proof that my life had existed before this mansion. Before Alessandro.Something inside me cracked open that day, and it had not closed since.I walked differentl







