LOGINChapter 97: The Kisses**Hannah’s POV**The knock rattled the air again. Piper and I sat frozen for what felt like an eternity, silence pressing down like a weight, until she finally straightened her shoulders with a sigh that carried equal parts annoyance and bravery.“Fine. I’ll get it,” she muttered, tossing her throw blanket aside.She padded toward the door, her slippers scuffing softly against the floor, while I sat rigid on the couch, holding my breath so hard my chest ached. My heart was thudding violently, every beat pounding against my ribs like it wanted to betray me….to scream out that I was here, waiting, terrified of what I might face.The handle twisted. The door creaked open.And then Piper’s sharp gasp sliced through the quiet.“Lucas?”My head jerked up, my body reacting before my mind could.He was there.Lucas filled the doorway, tall, composed, his presence consuming the cramped hallway beyond. His suit jacket was still on, shoulders squared, hair immaculate, ever
Chapter 96: Persistent Knock**Hannah’s POV**How sly of Lily.I sat there on Piper’s couch, my phone heavy in my palm, rereading her message for the fifth time. My lips twisted in disbelief.She doesn’t know her real parents?How ridiculous.The audacity of her to play the orphan card now, after everything. She thinks she can twist the narrative, make herself the victim once again, just because people are finally seeing her for who she is.Should I tell her?Should I finally tell her that I knew the truth, that her father was none other than Mr. Gabriel, our family’s driver?The secret burned at the back of my throat like acid. I wanted to scream it, to throw the truth in her face, to watch her choke on it, but the weight of Gavin’s words lingered. He hadn’t wanted me dragged deeper into the circus, and if I threw this truth into the fire, Lily might just drag me down with her.So I swallowed it.The door creaked open and Piper returned, humming, looking like the happiest girl in the
Chapter 95: The Message**Lily’s POV**I locked my bedroom door and threw myself onto the edge of my bed, my whole body trembling. My mind was a carousel of panic, shame, and rage, spinning too fast for me to breathe.The humiliation I’d faced in the last twenty-four hours was enough to kill a weaker woman. Enough to strip me bare in front of the entire world.My heart thudded in my chest, too loud, too fast. I pressed a hand over it, but it didn’t slow.How could this have happened?One mistake, one slip of control, and now everything was crumbling.Ray.Damn him.The only thing he knows how to do is fuck. That’s all. That’s all he’s good for, spreading my legs open and whispering lies about our future, swearing he would protect me, that he’d keep our little secrets till I am ready. And yet, when the moment came to stand tall, when everything depended on his silence, he blabbed. He revealed us. He tore the curtain off the stage and left me naked before the world.How could he be so d
Chapter 94: The Black Family Isn't Good For Piper**Hannah’s POV**The call ended with that scream ripping out of me, and I dropped the phone onto the couch like it had burned me. My chest was rising and falling too quickly. My palms were damp. Lucas Bristo had just called me his “future wife.”What the actual hell.My brain was still scrambling for balance when I caught Piper’s and Gavin’s faces staring at me. Oh no. The room was too quiet, I knew I had interrupted something serious between them.Piper’s cheeks were flushed the same shade they turned when she tried new lipstick shades at Sephora, and Gavin’s posture was rigid, his hands clasped neatly over his knees like he was deliberately holding himself back from saying something. My interruption with a scream had definitely cut into something between them.Great. Another thing for me to feel guilty about.“Uh…” I muttered, rubbing the back of my neck. “Sorry for… screaming in your ears.”Piper shot me the sharpest glare, her blus
Chapter 93: Future wife to be**Lucas’ POV**The night air outside the Bristo mansion felt lighter, freer. For the first time in years, I wasn’t going to walk back into that house as some puppet waiting for orders. I had stood up to my grandfather, to my father, and I had made my voice clear: no more.Beside me, Damon leaned lazily against the car, his arms crossed. He wasn’t celebrating like me. He rarely celebrated.I exhaled long and hard, shoving my hands into my pockets. “Oh yes,” I muttered, staring up at the grand windows glowing with warm light. “Finally, they’ll respect me in this house. Finally.”Damon’s mouth twisted into a smirk. “Yeah, sure. You should’ve let me continue babying you through everything. But I guess you needed that push.”I shot him a glare sharp enough to cut glass. He was right, though, and that was the worst part. If not for Damon constantly badgering me, constantly reminding me that I wasn’t just some heir to be ordered around, I probably wouldn’t have
Chapter 92: Lonely Gavin**Piper’s POV**The apartment was dim except for the soft glow of the television. Some random K-drama was still playing, the kind where everyone looked way too perfect to be suffering, but the sound was turned down so low it was practically just moving wallpaper.Hannah had finally drifted off on my couch, curled up in a tight little ball like she was trying to fold herself away from the world. Her breathing had evened out, but her face still wore the raw traces of everything she’d cried out earlier, eyes puffy, cheeks blotchy, lips parted like she hadn’t quite escaped her pain even in sleep.I sat in the opposite armchair, hugging a pillow so tightly I thought the stuffing might pop. My gaze kept flicking uninvited toward Gavin. He hadn’t left. Said he’d stay “just to make sure she was okay,” but the way he perched on the single-seater by the window made him look like he was bracing for cross-examination. His posture was flawless, back straight, shoulders squ







