MasukHi author's here! I'm soooo busy, I had a big, like BIG test that I was looking forward my whole life so that I couldn't focus on writing for a couple of months. But now I'm back! I'm sorry for disappearing for a few weeks. And thank you so much for waiting :) Love ya! i'll update more today don't worry ;)
Elena sighed as she looked at the beautiful shimmering ocean.The wind blew her hair. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. The sea breeze that once cleared her thoughts, the waves that once soothed her, now made her feel suffocated.Not without reason, but these days, she couldn’t even step out of the villa like she used to.Zachary forbid her to go out without him.She couldn’t even go to the beach, the private beach just under the cliff.He tightened the security. More and more big men in suits guarded the place, until Elena felt like she was trapped in a prison.A luxury prison.It had been two months since they stayed here. Not that Elena had started to hate this place. The villa, the island, everything was beautiful.But what was the point when she couldn’t enjoy it?And Zachary was absent most of the time. She barely saw him. Even these days, at night, she couldn’t feel his presence beside her on the bed.Elena knew.He was keeping his words.He had promised to build a sa
The sun on the island rose slow and heavy, spilling gold across the sea like melted metal. Zachary’s villa, his private fortress carved into the cliff, was wrapped in the quiet hush of early morning. The world outside was waking, but inside their bedroom, time felt suspended.Elena blinked awake first.Her cheek rested on Zachary’s bare chest, her fingers curled lightly at the place where his heartbeat thumped, slow and steady, like the pulse of the earth. He had fallen asleep holding her, practically wrapped around her, one arm over her waist, the other beneath her pillow, his leg thrown protectively across hers.She had nowhere to go, and he made sure of it.Slowly, she lifted her head, noticing the faint lines on his face. He looked… peaceful. Softer. Younger. But even asleep, he held her like someone terrified of losing her.She brushed her fingers lightly along his jaw and Zachary’s eyes opened immediately.Not groggy. Not confused. Just awake, alert, and solely focused on her.“
The doctor’s footsteps faded down the corridor, swallowed slowly by the vast silence of the villa.A silence that didn’t feel empty anymore.It felt alive, vibrating, shifting.Elena’s breath trembled in her chest as Zachary stayed kneeling before her, his forehead still hovering against her stomach as if he were afraid to lift his eyes and wake from a fragile dream.Or a nightmare. She couldn’t tell which.“Zachary…” she whispered.His hands tightened on her hips, not painfully, just enough to still her breath.“Say it again,” he murmured, voice barely holding itself together. “Please.”Her heart fluttered painfully. She'd never heard him ask for anything so sincerely. Never heard him plead in that weak tone. “I’m… pregnant.”His breath ripped out of him in one violent exhale. A sound too raw, too broken, too full. He didn’t move for several seconds.Not a word. Not a breath.Just silence strangling him and the tremor under his palms.Then...He kissed her stomach.Not softly.Not s
Elena had never heard silence roar before, she even let out the air from her little by little, afraid that her own breath bothered the silence. But in the master bedroom in the villa on the edge of the cliff, the quiet was deafening. It pressed against her ribs, crawled up her throat, and settled like a stone behind her heartbeat.The villa was too quiet.Too… empty.Elena’s eyes drifted to the hallway beyond the open door. “Zachary… the workers. Why is the house so...”“Don’t,” he said softly, but with that dangerous finality she knew well.She swallowed. Her voice came thin. “Are they…?”He didn’t look away. “Yes.”A cold ripple ran through her spine.All the villa workers. Gone. Because Henry reached her. Because Zachary failed once... once, to predict a threat.She gripped her arms. “They didn’t deserve it...”“They allowed a breach.” His tone was low, controlled. “Their lives were paid by the wrong hands, not mine. Henry killed them. I ended Henry.”She stared at him.It wasn’t
The villa had never felt so quiet.Not even the silence after Zachary’s violent nights matched this one. A silence that wrapped the walls like a held breath, heavy and trembling. The moment they crossed the threshold, Elena felt the weight of everything she hadn’t processed pressing in on her.Zachary didn’t let her walk.Not inside.Not even across the creamy marble floors.He held her as if she would disappear the moment he loosened his grip.“Elena, careful,” he murmured, guiding her closer to his chest when she shifted. “Lean on me. Don’t try to move.”Her voice was small, raw. “I’m okay… really.” Her cheeks went red. “No,” he whispered, tightening his hold. “Not after what happened. Not after what almost happened.”His words cracked on the edges, but his steps stayed steady as he carried her straight to the master bedroom, the one he’d never allowed anyone else to enter. Not even servants.He laid her on the bed carefully, like she was something sacred. Or breakable.Elena’s fi
The world didn’t fall silent.It collapsed.One moment Elena was bracing for the gunshot from Henry’s shaking hands. She felt the burn of the cold muzzle against her skin, and heard Zachary’s voice low enough to freeze the world.It happened in a flash. The sound of a loud crack followed by a body hitting the floor.Henry slid down like a puppet with its strings cut, eyes still wide with the last fragment of obsession he’d ever feel.Blood pooled beneath him, blooming slowly like a dark, wilting flower.Elena froze on her feet, eyes widened stared at him.Her heartbeat thudded once, twice, then stopped. She didn’t scream, didn’t move, didn’t breathe. Something inside her simply… went still.Henry was dead.The boy who gave her ice cream.The boy who held her hand behind the chapel.The boy who promised to protect her.The boy who destroyed every home she ever tried to belong to.The one and only person she thought was her only 'best-friend'. Gone.Her knees buckled. But Zachary caugh







