Lahat ng Kabanata ng THE ATTRACTION OF DOUBT: Kabanata 71 - Kabanata 78

DanielDarkness wraps around me. Not just the darkness of night, but of everything I’ve become, everything I’ve allowed to happen. Sofia is standing there, frozen in a kind of silent terror. I see her, but I can’t stop feeling the abyss growing between us. She saw the violence that took over me, saw what I’m capable of when anger and fear take control. And I know there’s no way back, that the image I built—of a man worthy of her trust—has collapsed, reduced to nothing under the weight of my actions.The men joining me are no more than shadows, ghosts in the night. Gabriel, still on the ground, gets up slowly, but he seems less certain now, less sure of himself. Reality is setting in. He’s understood this wasn’t just a fight. It wasn’t just revenge. It was survival. A battle for everything at stake.Sofia takes a step back, and I see the fear in her eyes, her trembling lips. She wants to run, but she’s trapped here, in this devastated room. The flames of rage that had guided me begin t

Daniel The smell of blood seeps into my nostrils. Not mine. The others'. The one I made flow.I am on my knees. My hands are red. My eyes are empty. She is gone. And it’s my fault.The silence around me is deafening. Not a breath. Not a step. Only the echo of my mistakes, beating against my temples like war drums. I see her footsteps in the dust. Her eyes. That void in her eyes, as if I were nothing more than another monster in her story.I would have liked to scream. Call her. Go back. But my vocal cords are dead strings. My throat, a grave. It’s over. She saw me as I truly am. And I am not the man she hoped for.I reach out towards the farthest bloodstain. Maybe it’s hers. Maybe not. But it burns my fingers as if it were my own heart, shattered there on the ground, too late.Gabriel Somewhere in the manor, I scream. I don’t even know what I'm shouting. Orders. Names. Insults. Memories.My voice, shattered by rage and pain, vibrates the walls. The window

GabrielI descend the manor stairs as one leaves a tomb. Each step creaks beneath my feet, as if the house itself protests my return. The corridors smell of dust, of endings, of memories. The walls are heavy with silence, the portraits stare at me like judges. But outside… Outside, there is something else.The wind is sharper. The air heavier. As if it carries a message that no one dares to read. Something has changed. Or maybe it is me. Perhaps it is this mourning that I still bear in silence. The one I buried with my orders and my silences.They are here. My men. Aligned like at a funeral. Silent. Frozen. Caps in hand. Eyes fixed to the ground. Soldiers without a war. Men without a leader. Or perhaps a leader without a soul.No one speaks. But I feel it. The whisper. The announcement. Something is coming. Or returning.— Sir, Matteo finally says, the oldest among them. He has seen death. He has dug graves. He has never faltered. But here, he hesitates. His voice trembles. As if he h

IsadoraThe manor seems to breathe with me. Every step I take stirs up ancient dust, a repressed memory. The walls whisper. The portraits watch us. The floorboards groan as if they know that tonight, something is going to break.Helena walks to my left, her hands clenched around her gloves. Sofia follows me without a word. We are three women that the Empire would have wanted to silence. Three specters who refuse to be forgotten. Three beating hearts in a room full of ghosts.I move towards the grand gallery. Where it all began. Where decisions were made in the comfort of embroidered chairs, while the world bled. Where politics had lost all humanity. Only numbers remained. Acceptable losses. Imposed silences.— Are you sure? whispers Helena.I nod my head slowly. My fingers barely tremble.— They must hear. They must see. It’s not a question of choice. It’s a necessity.A necessity that burns inside me. I haven’t slept in three nights. Not really. I relive the scene over and over. The