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Chapter 35 - Makayla
Terakhir Diperbarui:
2025-04-19 18:44:18
BryantStacey ought to know that any tech people she has would never and could never beat Makayla.
Bab terkait
Troubled Heart Chapter 36 - Lilac
We'd gone into town for lunch to have lunch with Makayla’s cousins. Or at least the ones still in town. Her cousins Darius and Elijah had taken earlier flights home to Boston, which left Reese, Clay, and Forrest behind. Given the triplets and their wife, I'm still wrapping my head around that poly reverse harem marriage, four young kids it made sense that two of them would head back to help her. The café was warm, filled with rosemary and fresh bread scents, creating a cozy atmosphere. Before we arrived, they combined two large tables in the back to fit us all—Clay took up nearly an entire side, cradling a small cider in his bulky hands. Reese sat next to him with her laptop open and a grain bowl, looked polished, and genuinely happy to see us. “Took you long enough. I was about to order for you both.” She greeted Clay grinned and nodded to two mugs. “House-made ciders with cinnamon sticks. You’re welcome.” Makayla slipped in beside me, sandwiching me between her and Forrest, who
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-21Troubled Heart Chapter 37 - Makayla
I should’ve been sleeping. Lilac was already curled up beneath the hotel blanket, one arm draped over Pockets like she’d always belonged there, like she was woven into the quiet of this room. The folder her father had given her—the deed to their cabin, to the land that started everything—rested on the nightstand beside the laptop, where the screen glowed faintly in the dark. But I couldn’t close it yet. Not until I was sure there wasn’t one more trap waiting to be sprung. A paranoid instinct had kept me alive in systems most people never even realized they were walking into. And that instinct now told me something didn’t add up. The financial patterns in Stacey’s shell companies were too clean. Too rehearsed. And nothing about Stacey Sherbourn was ever that tidy—unless she wanted it to be seen. So, I went digging. Again. I tunneled back into the encrypted backups I’d mirrored weeks ago—deep code packets stored from a corrupted cloud system linked to a Sherbourn asset overseas. Be
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-22Troubled Heart Chapter 38 - Pockets
The humans smelled different this morning. Not scared. Not sharp with adrenaline like they’d been the last few days. There was still tension—always was, when Makayla paced or typed or made her voice extra serious—but now it hummed lower. Deeper. Like thunder far away. I stretched on the hotel bed, paws splayed, tail flicking once before curling tighter beside Lilac’s thigh. She was warm, still in Makayla’s hoodie, sipping coffee from the white mug. I don't understand why humans like that. It has such a bitter smell. Yet it makes them smile. Makayla stood by the television, remote in hand, eyes on the screen. I didn’t understand all the words, but I understood other things, like looks of anger and relief, words like justice, and I recognized handcuffs. I'm 3 months old. I probably shouldn't know what those are. It did confuse me to see them being used on the news. I had only seen them when I was little, okay I'm still little, and I still lived with my parents and their humans.
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-23Troubled Heart Chapter 39 - Makayla
I didn’t cry when I booked the ticket, I sure the FUCK wasn’t driving back. I thought maybe I would that it might come with some cinematic swell of relief or catharsis. I felt relief, felt like I could breathe easy again. To breathe in a way I hadn’t since before the blizzard. Before the betrayal. Outside the hotel window, Aspen was no longer blanketed in threat. The snow had softened to slush at the curb. The streets weren’t hostile anymore. The mountains didn’t loom. Everything felt like an exhale. We were going home. I rolled the word around in my head again: home. Not D.C., with its sterile buildings and buried truths. Not the political chessboard I’d grown up on, where every move was either weapon or weakness. No. I meant New York to my penthouse in Manhattan near Central Park. Not perfect. Never soft. But honest. It had been the first place I carved out for myself—where I built something not wrapped in the Hopkins name or the Frost legacy. It was my pulse, my grit, my skyli
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-24Troubled Heart Chapter 40 - Lilac
The airplane’s hum enveloped me in a soft cocoon, quieter than I had anticipated. Down below, Colorado’s breathtaking landscape melted into an expanse of thick, downy clouds and snowy-ridged peaks whose white tops reflected what was left of light. My forehead was against the cold glass on the oval window, and I watched the familiar landscape drop away, with my breath tracing ephemeral clouds on frost-nipped glass. I didn’t cry. Nor did I feel the restless urge to flee or look back. This was not an escape; it was a bold beginning. Beside me, Makayla slumbered peacefully, arms crossed like a guard, a stray lock of hair spilling across her cheek in a soft curl. Pockets, our diminutive travel companion, was rolled tight between us in his cozy carrier, snoring with all the force of a small beast fighting off the silence of the plane. Across from us, Clay was already asleep, noise-canceling headphones askew and a half-full bag of pretzels clutched in his palm. I pulled my sketchbook out o
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-25Troubled Heart Chapter 41 - Makayla
By the time we pulled up in front of the building on East 83rd, the city had shaken off winter like it never happened. Sure, it was still cold, it’s fucking January, after all, but it’s not like winter in Colorado. It was bright, loud, alive—everything Aspen wasn’t. My doorman greeted us before we even made it through the revolving doors, and I felt Lilac’s hand tighten in mine. She didn’t say anything, but I could read it in how her gaze swept upward, eyes tracing the limestone façade with equal parts awe and apprehension. It was a world away from the cabin, Colorado, and Four Pines. It was also home. Inside the elevator, I leaned into her shoulder and whispered, “Don’t let the marble floors fool you. I still eat instant noodles barefoot in the kitchen.” Lilac laughed softly, nerves unraveling just a little as the elevator ascended. I felt the shift when the doors opened to the penthouse floor. The air up here was still but not sterile. “Okay,” I said, typing in my keycode and s
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-26Troubled Heart Chapter 42 - Lilac
The apartment smelled like cardboard and shipping tape a week after moving in. Boxes were stacked in the hallway, the dining room, and beside the front door, and one particularly stubborn box served as a makeshift coffee table. Fabric bolts leaned like sleepy giants against the wall in my studio space, and my sketchbooks were scattered across the couch. And somehow, it still felt like home. Pockets trotted past me with a sock he stole— Makayla’s sock, of course — and disappeared upstairs like he was on a top-secret mission. I smiled and let him go. We had all fallen into our roles around there. He was the guardian of snack time and chaos. I was the hurricane in leggings and paint-splattered sweatshirts. And Makayla was the gravity holding the whole thing together. She was in the kitchen, half-dressed in one of her favorite hoodies — her rainbow curls tied up in a bun as she typed one-handed on her laptop and drank coffee with the other. I could tell by the set of her jaw she was
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-27Troubled Heart Epilogue - Makayla
There’s chaos, and then there’s Frost-family-holiday chaos. And honestly? I loved every second of it. Eduardo Alfonso Nikolaidis, all eleven pounds of one-and-a-half-month-old chubby cheeked cuteness, had already stolen every heart in the room. Clay cradled his son with more care than I think he's ever held anything, while Xenia kept brushing her fingers through his dark curls like she couldn’t believe he was real. Between her and Clay, their son would grow up with the wildest stories, the best genetics, and more love than he’d know what to do with. Reese and Don were wrangling their almost-three-year-old twins—Nik and Leo—who were tag-teaming a mission to dismantle the Frost Christmas tree ornament by ornament. The triplets were trying, and failing, to keep a straight face while scolding their twins, the mischievous duo Saki and Akio, who kept sticking bows on everyone’s backs like walking presents. Hikari was reading peacefully in the corner, while little Ryū, at four, was already
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-28
Bab terbaru
Troubled Heart Epilogue - Pockets
It started with boxes. So many boxes. And tape. And that loud, evil screeching sound the tape makes when Makayla yanks it across a box. I hated it. I barked at it. She didn’t stop.Lilac kept saying things like “fresh start,” “more space,” and “better for the baby.” What baby? I’m the baby! Meanwhile, Makayla grumbled about how the penthouse echo messed with her audio setup. I didn’t understand any of it. The apartment in the sky was our home. My home. The only one I’d ever known in all my two glorious years of life.I had a routine here—a rhythm. I knew which floorboards creaked, which elevator made a weird noise, and which neighbors gave me treats. I also knew exactly where the sun hit the rug every morning, so I could stretch dramatically and ensure everyone noticed.And Central Park? It was right there. Just a few blocks away. Prime walking territory. Squirrel central. I’d marked every important tree, bush, and trash can between our building and there. That was my kingdom. My pee
Troubled Heart Epilogue - Lilac
Spring in New York didn’t smell like the mountains, but it felt just as sacred that morning.The rooftop air was soft and full of life—honeyed light filtering through string and flowering vines overhead. Laughter drifted from somewhere behind me, punctuated by the unmistakable sound of a corgi barking in protest—probably Pockets voicing his opinion about something.My hands trembled, but not from nerves. Not really. It was unfiltered, unapologetic wonder at how far we’d come. From a firelit cabin in the Rockies to this rooftop, where the skyline bowed slightly to make space for love.I stood in front of a full-length mirror in a quiet corner of the venue, taking in the dress I had designed and stitched with my hands—ivory silk, scattered with embroidered lavender and wildflowers, delicate vines curling up the hem like memory. A dress meant to root me here, in this moment, in this forever.I stood just inside the floral archway leading to the aisle, my hand resting on my father’s. He l
Troubled Heart Epilogue - Makayla
There’s chaos, and then there’s Frost-family-holiday chaos. And honestly? I loved every second of it. Eduardo Alfonso Nikolaidis, all eleven pounds of one-and-a-half-month-old chubby cheeked cuteness, had already stolen every heart in the room. Clay cradled his son with more care than I think he's ever held anything, while Xenia kept brushing her fingers through his dark curls like she couldn’t believe he was real. Between her and Clay, their son would grow up with the wildest stories, the best genetics, and more love than he’d know what to do with. Reese and Don were wrangling their almost-three-year-old twins—Nik and Leo—who were tag-teaming a mission to dismantle the Frost Christmas tree ornament by ornament. The triplets were trying, and failing, to keep a straight face while scolding their twins, the mischievous duo Saki and Akio, who kept sticking bows on everyone’s backs like walking presents. Hikari was reading peacefully in the corner, while little Ryū, at four, was already
Troubled Heart Chapter 42 - Lilac
The apartment smelled like cardboard and shipping tape a week after moving in. Boxes were stacked in the hallway, the dining room, and beside the front door, and one particularly stubborn box served as a makeshift coffee table. Fabric bolts leaned like sleepy giants against the wall in my studio space, and my sketchbooks were scattered across the couch. And somehow, it still felt like home. Pockets trotted past me with a sock he stole— Makayla’s sock, of course — and disappeared upstairs like he was on a top-secret mission. I smiled and let him go. We had all fallen into our roles around there. He was the guardian of snack time and chaos. I was the hurricane in leggings and paint-splattered sweatshirts. And Makayla was the gravity holding the whole thing together. She was in the kitchen, half-dressed in one of her favorite hoodies — her rainbow curls tied up in a bun as she typed one-handed on her laptop and drank coffee with the other. I could tell by the set of her jaw she was
Troubled Heart Chapter 41 - Makayla
By the time we pulled up in front of the building on East 83rd, the city had shaken off winter like it never happened. Sure, it was still cold, it’s fucking January, after all, but it’s not like winter in Colorado. It was bright, loud, alive—everything Aspen wasn’t. My doorman greeted us before we even made it through the revolving doors, and I felt Lilac’s hand tighten in mine. She didn’t say anything, but I could read it in how her gaze swept upward, eyes tracing the limestone façade with equal parts awe and apprehension. It was a world away from the cabin, Colorado, and Four Pines. It was also home. Inside the elevator, I leaned into her shoulder and whispered, “Don’t let the marble floors fool you. I still eat instant noodles barefoot in the kitchen.” Lilac laughed softly, nerves unraveling just a little as the elevator ascended. I felt the shift when the doors opened to the penthouse floor. The air up here was still but not sterile. “Okay,” I said, typing in my keycode and s
Troubled Heart Chapter 40 - Lilac
The airplane’s hum enveloped me in a soft cocoon, quieter than I had anticipated. Down below, Colorado’s breathtaking landscape melted into an expanse of thick, downy clouds and snowy-ridged peaks whose white tops reflected what was left of light. My forehead was against the cold glass on the oval window, and I watched the familiar landscape drop away, with my breath tracing ephemeral clouds on frost-nipped glass. I didn’t cry. Nor did I feel the restless urge to flee or look back. This was not an escape; it was a bold beginning. Beside me, Makayla slumbered peacefully, arms crossed like a guard, a stray lock of hair spilling across her cheek in a soft curl. Pockets, our diminutive travel companion, was rolled tight between us in his cozy carrier, snoring with all the force of a small beast fighting off the silence of the plane. Across from us, Clay was already asleep, noise-canceling headphones askew and a half-full bag of pretzels clutched in his palm. I pulled my sketchbook out o
Troubled Heart Chapter 39 - Makayla
I didn’t cry when I booked the ticket, I sure the FUCK wasn’t driving back. I thought maybe I would that it might come with some cinematic swell of relief or catharsis. I felt relief, felt like I could breathe easy again. To breathe in a way I hadn’t since before the blizzard. Before the betrayal. Outside the hotel window, Aspen was no longer blanketed in threat. The snow had softened to slush at the curb. The streets weren’t hostile anymore. The mountains didn’t loom. Everything felt like an exhale. We were going home. I rolled the word around in my head again: home. Not D.C., with its sterile buildings and buried truths. Not the political chessboard I’d grown up on, where every move was either weapon or weakness. No. I meant New York to my penthouse in Manhattan near Central Park. Not perfect. Never soft. But honest. It had been the first place I carved out for myself—where I built something not wrapped in the Hopkins name or the Frost legacy. It was my pulse, my grit, my skyli
Troubled Heart Chapter 38 - Pockets
The humans smelled different this morning. Not scared. Not sharp with adrenaline like they’d been the last few days. There was still tension—always was, when Makayla paced or typed or made her voice extra serious—but now it hummed lower. Deeper. Like thunder far away. I stretched on the hotel bed, paws splayed, tail flicking once before curling tighter beside Lilac’s thigh. She was warm, still in Makayla’s hoodie, sipping coffee from the white mug. I don't understand why humans like that. It has such a bitter smell. Yet it makes them smile. Makayla stood by the television, remote in hand, eyes on the screen. I didn’t understand all the words, but I understood other things, like looks of anger and relief, words like justice, and I recognized handcuffs. I'm 3 months old. I probably shouldn't know what those are. It did confuse me to see them being used on the news. I had only seen them when I was little, okay I'm still little, and I still lived with my parents and their humans.
Troubled Heart Chapter 37 - Makayla
I should’ve been sleeping. Lilac was already curled up beneath the hotel blanket, one arm draped over Pockets like she’d always belonged there, like she was woven into the quiet of this room. The folder her father had given her—the deed to their cabin, to the land that started everything—rested on the nightstand beside the laptop, where the screen glowed faintly in the dark. But I couldn’t close it yet. Not until I was sure there wasn’t one more trap waiting to be sprung. A paranoid instinct had kept me alive in systems most people never even realized they were walking into. And that instinct now told me something didn’t add up. The financial patterns in Stacey’s shell companies were too clean. Too rehearsed. And nothing about Stacey Sherbourn was ever that tidy—unless she wanted it to be seen. So, I went digging. Again. I tunneled back into the encrypted backups I’d mirrored weeks ago—deep code packets stored from a corrupted cloud system linked to a Sherbourn asset overseas. Be
