Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 31 - Chapitre 40

Robbin didn't open the message.She stared at the notification until the screen dimmed, until her phone slipped into sleep as though it, too, had decided this was something better left untouched. She told herself that was strength, that was growth, that was proof that she had changed. But in reality it was just her anger at work.The archived message sat quietly in her phone, unread, untouched, but not unfelt. She could feel it anyway, like an itch under her skin, she refused to scratch, like the echo of a voice she knew too well. It pulsed there in the background of her consciousness, a notification that never quite disappeared even when silenced.It unsettled her how something so small, mere words on a screen, could disturb the carefully rebuilt balance of her life.She hadn’t thought of him in months… Not really, not in the way she used to, where his presence bled into every thought, every decision. She had learned to live without that constant ache… or at least, she had learned t

After the event, Lex became a shadow Robbin couldn't shake. At first, she tried to rationalize it, told herself it was paranoia, that her mind was playing tricks on her. But the encounters were too deliberate, too frequent to be coincidental. He was everywhere she turned, a ghost materialized in flesh and blood, haunting her waking hours with the same persistence that plagued her dreams.It started small, but soon, the sightings became more frequent, too precise, until denial became impossible.One evening, as dusk was setting, Robbin was returning from work. The day had been exhausting, filled with meetings that stretched too long and emails that demanded immediate attention. All she wanted was to get home, pour herself a drink, and relax. She took her usual route, the one that skirted the edge of the city before opening up to the quieter outskirts that led to the forest.As she turned the corner, her headlights swept across the intersection. That's when she saw it, a pale red Honda

The door creaked open, moonlight streaming through it, the silhouette walked in; each step deliberate and crouched in front of the unconscious man, gloved fingers lightly tapped his tear streaked face. “Hello Lex” the voice was calm almost soothing. His eyes fluttered open, he groaned as pain shot through him, reminding him that a dagger was still lodged in his shoulder. The abductor watched him silently, then turned and walked back out leaving Lex to his thoughts.The silence after the door slammed shut was worse than the pain he was feeling.He pressed his head back against the cold wall, breathing in shallow gasps as the dagger remained embedded in his shoulder, a constant reminder of how thoroughly he'd miscalculated. The blood had stopped flowing freely but still oozed around the blade, warm and sticky against his skin. Every slight movement sent fresh waves of agony radiating through his arm.Time became meaningless in that windowless room. Minutes could have been hours and hour

The day Robbin returned to work felt like any normal day, but to her, a completely new person was returning. Robbin stepped out of the vehicle, a different, confident and rejuvenated person. A year ago, the click of a car door closing might have made her flinch, a reflex leftover from the stalking, the gang life, and the ghosts of her aunt and uncle. Today, she didn't even blink. As she walked toward the private elevator, her stride was a silent correction to the lies she had believed. She didn't look at the floor. She looked straight ahead, her eyes like polished flint.The air in the city felt different now. To anyone else, the smog and the scent of damp pavement were a nuisance; to Robbin, they were merely data points. When she reached the top floor, the doors slid open to reveal Elnora. Her best friend, her partner in crime, and now her co-CEO. Elnora looked different, too—stressed, perhaps, from running a multi-billion-dollar empire solo for a year, but her face lit up with a r

It was a cold Sunday morning, the kind that seeped into bones and lingered there, refusing to be shaken off. The sky hung low and grey, heavy with unshed rain, and a thin mist clung stubbornly to the empty streets. Liam woke earlier than usual, his mind restless, his thoughts already racing long before his body caught up. He lay still for a while, staring at the ceiling, replaying fragments of memories and conversations, listening to the steady rhythm of his own breathing and the faint hum of the city awakening beyond his windows.Eventually, he exhaled sharply and swung his legs over the edge of the bed and rose. He dressed quickly, tugging on a thick jacket, sturdy boots, and a woollen scarf. Today, he told himself, he would take a long drive to the other side of the city, the untamed stretch of forest that most people avoided. He needed the open road, the stretch of quiet, the illusion of freedom that came with distance. He convinced himself that he only wanted to clear his head. H