LOGINShare
Chapter 36: Between Headlines
publish date:
2026-02-12 02:11:45
Latest chapter
The Night Before Christmas Chapter 83: The Woman Who Built the Board
Desmond’s POVThe estate announced itself long before we reached the gates.Not through splendour, Aviel Beckham was too intelligent for vulgar displays of wealth, but through intention. The road narrowed deliberately as it approached the property, forcing vehicles to slow down. The trees were arranged in symmetrical formation, not wild growth but cultivated presence. Even the silence felt curated.“She wants control of the atmosphere,” I said quietly as the car rolled forward.“She wants theatre,” Aria replied.No.Aviel did not waste energy on the theatre.She built architecture.The gates opened before we reached them.No guard stepped forward. No intercom crackled to life. The message was unmistakable.You are expected.James’ voice filtered through the comm in my ear. “Thermal readings confirm three active bodies inside. One adult female. One adolescent male. One child.”David?So she had brought him into this.“That’s deliberate,” I murmured.“She wants legitimacy,” Aria said,
The Night Before Christmas Chapter 82: Another War
Aria’s POV“She’s been taken.”The words did not explode. They did not echo. They landed with terrifying precision and seemed to still the air inside my lungs.For a heartbeat, I genuinely thought I had misunderstood him.“Taken?” I repeated the syllables, scraping against my throat.The officer standing a few feet away did not look uncertain. He looked trained, composed in crisis, careful with language, but there was a strain beneath the professionalism.“Your daughter was collected from school this afternoon. The pickup was authorised.”The world tilted.“Authorised by who?” I demanded.He hesitated, just long enough for the dread to deepen, before replying.“By you, Miss Whitmore.”I stared at him.“That’s impossible,” I said slowly. “I’ve been here.”“We know,” he replied gently. “The authorisation was submitted digitally three days ago. It included your verified signature and facial confirmation.”Three days ago.Three days ago, I had still been untangling the fractures in my mem
The Night Before Christmas Chapter 81: The Basement Where I Broke, And Refused To Stay Broken
Aria’s POVThe basement did not feel like a room. It felt like a decision.Cold concrete beneath me. Damp air clinging to my lungs. A single bulb humming overhead, flickering just enough to remind me that even light could be unreliable.My wrists burned.The rope had been tied too tightly the first time. When I struggled, it tightened further. My shoulders ached from being forced behind me. My legs were bound at the ankles. I had counted the cracks in the wall three times. Counted the seconds between the guard’s footsteps. Counted my own breaths when panic threatened to swallow me whole.Time did not move here.It stretched.It mocked.The door opened.I didn’t look up immediately. I had learned that looking up too quickly gave him satisfaction.“Still stubborn?” Evans’ voice drifted down the steps.I lifted my head slowly.He looked composed. Almost cheerful.There was something cruel about cheerfulness in a place like this.“I have news,” he said, holding up his phone.I said nothin
The Night Before Christmas Chapter 80: The Fall
Desmond’s POVThere is a particular silence that comes before collapse.Not panic. Not shouting.Certainty.The kind a man carries when he believes he is untouchable. Evans Grant had been living inside that certainty for days.By the time the warrants were signed, I was already in position.The operation moved without spectacle. No media leaks. No dramatic confrontations. Just documentation, signatures, authorisation. Years of quiet evidence threaded together into something sharp enough to cut.Financial fraud. Illegal asset transfers. Coercion. Obstruction of justice.And beneath it all, conspiracy.Aviel’s shadow lingered, but today was not about her.Today was about leverage.And Aria.The police vehicles arrived at Evans’ building at 18:07.I watched from across the street, seated in the back of an unmarked car. James was beside me, earpiece in place, monitoring the coordination channel. Two plain-clothed officers entered first. Uniformed units followed seconds later.No sirens.J
The Night Before Christmas Chapter 79: The Husband Who Begins to Doubt
Third Person POVElliot Whitmore had always trusted his memory.It was one of the many things he prided himself on: sharp recall, precise detail, the ability to dismantle a conversation hours later and remember who shifted in their seat, who hesitated before answering. It had served him well in boardrooms and negotiations, where a single overlooked nuance could cost millions.But now it was failing him.He sat at his desk in his corner office, winter light filtering weakly through the floor-to-ceiling windows. The city below moved with its usual rhythm, traffic crawling, pedestrians braced against the cold — yet Elliot felt strangely detached from it all, as though separated by glass thicker than the panes before him.His laptop screen glowed.Unread emails.Pending approvals.A draft acquisition proposal awaiting his signature.He had not processed a single word in the past fifteen minutes.Instead, his mind replayed that morning.Helina lying in bed, watching him dress. The blanket
The Night Before Christmas Chapter 78: The Man Who Should Be Dead
Desmond’s POVI had already woken once after the surgery, too soon, too stubborn, dragged back from the brink by the single thought that refused to release me: Aria. The pain had followed later, not as a sharp intrusion but as a slow, crushing tide that rolled through my ribs and lungs, forcing the doctors to sedate me again, to press chemicals into my veins until the urgency dissolved into darkness. Even under sedation, her name had remained steady and insistent, threading through the fog like a compass I could not ignore.When I opened my eyes again, it was not pain that greeted me.It was silence.Not the ordinary hush of a hospital wing at night, but the dense, suspended quiet that settles over a battlefield after the first shot has been fired, when everyone waits to see who will fall. It pressed against my chest as though listening for weakness.The machines were still attached to me, their soft mechanical rhythms blinking in green and amber against dimmed lights, maintaining the
The Night Before Christmas Chapter 21: Crown Veil
Aria’s POV“Aria, what are you doing out here so late?” Ms Caroline asked.Her voice was calm, but the tightness beneath it gave her away. Fear, carefully contained.I stood frozen in the corridor, bare feet inches from the shattered glass glittering on the floor like fallen ice.“Ms Caroline,” I s
Last Updated : 2026-03-20The Night Before Christmas Chapter 22: Fault Lines
Aria’s POVIt was late, and exhaustion clung to me like a second skin.The day had stretched too long, too many emotions, too much movement, too many things left unsaid. I showered quickly, the hot water loosening knots I hadn’t realised my body was holding, then slipped into bed.The mattress crad
Last Updated : 2026-03-20The Night Before Christmas Chapter 19: Blood Debt
Aria’s POVThe waiter set our plates down with practised precision, the soft clink of porcelain echoing louder than it should have in the tense silence between us. Steam curled lazily from Evans’ plate, fragrant and rich. He picked up his cutlery without hesitation, as though we were just another c
Last Updated : 2026-03-19The Night Before Christmas Chapter 17: Extraction - Part 1
Aria’s POV“We can’t talk here,” I said quietly, though every muscle in my body was taut. My gaze flicked from Evans to Hailey, then back again. “And I want those two hawks of yours in shades out of this room.”The ward smelled of antiseptic and warm plastic, a sterile calm that now felt obscene. H
Last Updated : 2026-03-19
You may also like
HEATHER REVERSE
Akarin_Rishna9.5K viewsThe Photo Collector
Hercule Exposito18.8K viewsHis Doll
Artemisia115.1K viewsZombie zone
Ajiboye loveth13.0K viewsTo Protect the Crown
Dee Gleem12.9K viewsRUMMAGE
Kavya Bodhi5.2K viewsSarah Killian: The Marching Tides
Crystal Lake Publishing2.1K viewsThe Monster Within
Mholden7.6K views
