جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 40

CHAPTER 032POV (FREYA)(THE WOMAN HE LOVED)I used to think heartbreak had a sound. Shattering glass, thunder, sobs against a pillow.But in that moment, it was just quiet.The woman from the pictures… the one whose lipstick stained his chest, whose voice now floated across the air like smoke… she stood in the doorway, smiling.And Alan. he froze.His eyes didn’t meet mine. His entire body tensed like a wire stretched too tight.“What... are you doing here?” he said, low and off-balance, like her presence had knocked the wind out of him.She stepped in fully, her heels clicking against the floor with a confidence I didn’t possess. Her red coat fell from her shoulders like a cape. “That’s a strange way to greet me, darling.”Darling.The word slid down my spine like ice.I didn’t wait to hear more.I turned on my heel and walked fast, my fingers shaking, vision swimming.“Freya. wait!” Alan’s voice cut through the hallway, sharp and desperate. His footsteps pounded behind me.“Please.

CHAPTER 034POV (FREYA)(SILENT WARS)I woke up with his weight still on me. his head on my lap, one arm loosely around my waist, like he was afraid I’d disappear.The light coming through the curtains was soft and gray, casting a blur over the lines between us. If I didn’t move, I could almost pretend we were something real. Something unbroken.But the burn in my palm reminded me where we were. And what this all really was.I shifted slowly, careful not to wake him. I replaced myself with a pillow and watched him breathe for a second longer.He looked younger when he slept. Less hunted.I slipped out of the room and She was already waiting.Elizaveta. By the hallway mirror. One leg crossed over the other, arms folded. Her robe was pale blue today, but the chill in her stare made it look like frost."You're up," she said, voice smooth like she hadn’t tried to stab me 10 hours ago.I didn’t stop walking."This isn’t love," I murmured as I passed her. "You don’t own him."She chuckled,

CHAPTER 036(Were they always there?)POV (FREYA)“You’re awake,” Elizaveta chirped, peeking her head into the living room like she hadn’t drugged me the day before.I raised an eyebrow, a teasing smirk forming. “So, what exactly did you slip into that glass? Cyanide or sleeping beauty serum?”She giggled, twirling a strand of her hair. “Please. If I wanted you dead, darling, I wouldn’t have used wine.”“Oh, comforting.”“It was just a pill. Nothing dangerous.” She popped a grape in her mouth like we were old girlfriends. “You needed rest. That’s all.”I didn’t believe her completely… but I wasn’t dead, so there was that.The next day, we boarded a flight to Arum Cove, a secluded island Alan apparently used for “retreats.” Rich people and their private hideaways.He didn’t ask me to come.He just said, “You need air,” and tossed a small duffel my way.I was too tired to argue. Too tired to care.I kept to myself on the trip. Headphones in. Eyes out the window. Eliza sat beside him, cu

CHAPTER 038(ANOTHER ONE?)POV (FREYA)The sound of the waves behind me dulled into a numb silence as I picked up my phone with trembling fingers, brushing off sand like it might erase what I just saw.No.No, no, no.I blinked hard, willing my eyes to have been wrong. But the message stared back at me like it was proud of what it had done.My heart thudded violently. Not from shock anymore, from dread.“Run to your little lover all you want. Let’s see what the world thinks of these.”Attached were the photos, twisted, digitally-altered, disgusting.I hadn’t taken these. I’d never...My breath hitched as I realized what he meant to do. He wanted to humiliate me. To destroy whatever piece of dignity I had managed to build for myself again.Kaiden, not Kaiden please.I turned and walked briskly back to the villa, holding my phone like it was radioactive. I barely made it to the dinner table before I excused myself with a fake smile and a mumbled, “I need to lie down.”Alan had looked up

CHAPTER 040(A LITTLE BIT OF DRAMA AND US)POV(FREYA)The beach was warm, soft underfoot, the kind of sand that clung to your toes like silk. The breeze tasted like salt and sunshine. For the first time in days, there was no tension. Just laughter.We’d spent the afternoon swimming, laying under umbrellas, and tossing shells into the tide like children.Eliza was... different today.Lighter.She wore her hair in a thick braid that swept down her shoulder, sunglasses too big for her face, and a black two-piece that made half the men on the beach turn their heads, and the other half glance nervously at Alan when they saw her with him.We’d started a game, something silly Eliza suggested. Truths and dares, but not the childish kind. The real kind. Honest, open, and raw.Alan was laying back with his arms folded under his head, half-shielded from the sun, his hair wild with wind. Eliza sat beside him, legs curled beneath her like a cat.“I once slept in a train station bathroom,” Alan con