INICIAR SESIÓN🌹🌹🌹
The driver swallowed painfully before speaking again, voice trembling harder now.“I just needed money,” he whispered brokenly. “They promised enough to help my family if I caused the accident…”“And you agreed,” Lucian said factually.Tears slid down the driver’s bruised face.“I know what I did was wrong,” he choked out. “I know… but I swear I never planned to kill anyone. They only told me to hit the car hard enough to scare you. I didn’t know it would turn out to be something that bad… Heck! I didn’t even know it was your car.”Lucian’s eyes darkened dangerously. “You expect me to believe that?”“I’m telling the truth!” The man broke down completely then, sobbing openly despite the pain it caused him.“My daughter is seven,” he whispered shakily. “My son is ten… I just wanted money for them…”Silence swallowed the room once more.Then Lucian finally spoke quietly.“If my wife had died…”The driver stopped breathing from that one incomplete sentence.Lucian’s voice remained calm, c
The driver nodded frantically through tears.“They didn’t do anything… please… Mr. Hale...”And for the briefest moment, something shifted behind Lucian’s eyes.Because suddenly, against his own will, he thought of Elira.Her smile.The car finally came to a stop in front of a massive abandoned warehouse hidden far beyond the city limits, isolated enough that no one would hear screams if they echoed through the night. Rain had started sometime during the drive, pouring steadily now, washing over the rusted steel exterior and dripping from the edges of the roof in heavy streams.Thunder rumbled faintly in the distance, low and ominous, while the headlights illuminated cracked concrete stained by years of neglect. The entire place looked dead... cold, forgotten, and dangerous.One of Lucian’s men rushed forward the second the vehicle stopped, quickly opening the back door with an umbrella. “Sir.”Lucian stepped out without responding.The night air carried the scent of rain, rust, da
Lucian stopped attending the company meetings entirely and handled them from home instead. At night, Elara woke up several times only to find him still awake beside her, quietly watching to make sure she was breathing comfortably. Once, very late into the night, she had caught him staring silently at her stomach. The expression on his face had startled her... Wonder, fear, and love. Something so raw and overwhelming that it made her heart physically hurt. Lucian had always loved deeply. She had come to know about that. Well, from his cousin's death. But now? Now it felt almost consuming. And the worst part was... Elara loved every second of it. Even if they treated her like a rare endangered species. Things only became more chaotic when Grandma Hale returned unexpectedly that afternoon. The old woman had supposedly left for a week-long spiritual retreat at the Buddha temple. She had only departed on the same day as the car accident. So when a familiar luxury car suddenly en
One Week Later The Hale mansion had not known a single moment of peace for the past two days. Not because tragedy had struck or because danger lingered. But because every single person inside the estate had collectively reached the same terrifying conclusion... Elara Hale was now the most delicate, precious, overprotected human being alive. And it was slowly driving her insane. “No, no, no ..don’t carry that.” “Elara, sit down first.” “Why are you walking so fast?” “The doctor said you need rest.” “Elara, give it to me.” “Elara... careful!” "Madam... watch your steps please. Walk slower." By the fourth interruption that afternoon alone, Elara finally dropped her forehead dramatically against the dining table with a loud groan. “Oh my God,” she complained miserably, her voice muffled against the polished wood. “I am pregnant, not terminally ill. Please, give me a break!” Around the table, several heads immediately turned toward her. Lucian, who sat beside her reviewing a
Annabelle sat in the VIP section beside two of her best friends, Vivian and Celeste, both equally intoxicated by gossip, wealth, and cruelty. Vivian leaned closer first. "So it’s true?” she asked loudly over the music. “Lucian really married that girl?” Annabelle downed half her drink before answering. “Yes.” The bitterness in her voice was impossible to miss. Celeste frowned dramatically. "I still don’t understand what he sees in her.” Annabelle laughed humorlessly. “Neither do I.” But the words hurt more than she wanted to admit. Because deep down, she did understand and that was the problem. Lucian loved Elara in a way he could never love Annabelle. And she hated Elara for it. Hated her for being chosen so effortlessly despite her poor background. “They’re everywhere online,” Vivian muttered while checking her phone. “People are obsessed with them after the accident. They’re calling them some tragic romance couple now.” Annabelle’s grip tightened around her glass again.
The city looked different at night. It felt colder and crueler.The glittering lights outside the tall glass windows of Annabelle Kingley’s penthouse reflected against the darkness like jewels scattered across black silk, beautiful and cold all at once. From above, the streets looked tiny, insignificant, filled with people who would never understand what it felt like to lose something that was supposed to belong to you.Annabelle stood near the floor-to-ceiling window with a glass of untouched champagne in her hand, still dressed in the elegant black outfit she had thrown on after leaving the spa.Her reflection stared back at her through the glass.Perfect makeup. Perfect hair. Perfect posture. And eyes filled with poisonous thoughts.The anger inside her had not cooled. If anything, it had become worse and more dangerous.The words from those headlines still echoed inside her skull like mockery.Lucian Hale and his wife, Elara Hale.Every time she thought about it, her chest burned
Her touch stunned him into stillness. “I’m not... I’m not...” Her breath hitched, the words tangling in her throat as her eyes burned. She shook her head, frustrated, and desperate. “I don’t even know how to explain it.” Lucian shook his head too and spoke. “I’m sorry,” he blurted out, the apolo
Elara frowned. Her gaze lingered on it, confusion settling in slowly, followed by a creeping unease she couldn’t quite name. How could there be a door inside the closet? She had been in here dozens of times. She knew this space. She would have noticed. Her heart began to beat just a little faste
Grandma Hale did not raise her voice. She didn’t need to. The moment she rose from her seat, straightening her spine with that terrifying, unyielding posture that had once commanded families, dismantled rival conglomerates, and bent entire bloodlines to her will, the room fell into a tense, unnatur
Elara had just convinced herself, truly, genuinely convinced herself, that Lucian was finally gone. The kitchen had settled back into something resembling peace. The pot on the stove bubbled softly, thick and fragrant, releasing waves of steam that smelled like herbs, garlic, and comfort. The







