Semua Bab Rich Love : Bab 61 - Bab 70

CAROLYN'S POVThe silence in the car was suffocating. I stared out the window, watching the trees blur past like watercolor tears. My heart felt like it had been wrung out and left in the sun to dry—raw, brittle, and close to cracking. I kept replaying Emma's smug face, J.J's father's cold eyes, and that moment when they found the bracelet in my bag. How had things spiraled so far?By the time I got to the house, my stomach had tied itself into knots. The moment I stepped in through the door, I froze.There they were.My aunt and her husband sat stiffly on the couches in the sitting room. Emma was curled dramatically against her mother’s side, her face buried in her shoulder, sniffling as if she were the victim of a Shakespearean tragedy. Julius stood at the far end, his arms crossed tightly over his chest, jaw clenched, his gaze fixed on the floor.My aunt’s husband looked up first, his eyes sharp. "Carolyn. Come here."My feet didn’t want to move, but I forced them forward one by on

J.J.’s POVThe school lounge was unusually quiet for break time. The buzz of students laughing and chattering outside in the corridors felt miles away, like distant static.I sat alone on the leather couch, hunched forward, elbows on my knees, staring into my barely touched bottle of soda.Everything felt wrong.Carolyn wouldn’t even look at me. Tina was back with a smile too wide and too sweet to trust. And my head was a fog of thoughts I couldn’t untangle.I took a sip of the soda. It was warm now. Tasteless.I leaned back and exhaled slowly, my mind drifting toward the same question that haunted me every day since the party:"Why does it all feel like it's falling apart?"The lounge door creaked open, and I didn’t bother looking up—until I heard a familiar voice.“Yo.”Julius.I raised my eyes slowly, blinking like I wasn’t sure he was real.He stepped in, tall and calm as always, his hands in his pockets. Right behind him—George.My heart sank. I straightened, unsure if I should

J.J.’s POVFor the first time in weeks, I didn’t wake up with the weight of dread sinking in my chest. The moment my eyes blinked open, I remembered: She’s mine.Carolyn.My girlfriend.Even thinking the words made my heart hammer like a lunatic in my chest. I lay there in bed, staring at the ceiling with the stupidest grin on my face. I couldn’t stop it. Couldn’t tone it down. The world might be burning outside, but I didn’t care.We were together.Secretly, of course. But still.Every time she smiled at me in class—just a brief flicker of her lips before she’d quickly look away to avoid suspicion—I felt like I could float. When our hands brushed by accident in the hallway and she’d shoot me a tiny glance that only I was meant to notice, it felt more thrilling than anything I’d ever done. And I’d done a lot.Being with her was like holding a spark in my hands—dangerous, electric, and impossible to let go of.At school, no one suspected a thing. To them, Carolyn was still the quiet, r

J.J.'s POVI never thought I'd be the guy sneaking around school for a girl—let alone Carolyn. But here I was, grinning like an idiot as I texted her under the table during history class.Me: Meet me behind the science block. Ten mins. Bring that shy smile I like.I watched from the corner of my eye as she read the message. Her lips twitched—almost a smile—and she didn't look my way. But I knew she would come.The thing about being with Carolyn—really being with her—was that it didn’t feel like I had to pretend. I didn’t have to perform, didn’t have to impress. She saw me. The version of me no one else knew existed. Not J.J., the heir. Not J.J., the golden boy. Just... me.As I turned around to see if anyone else noticed us, my eyes rested on Tiona, who, as always, was sitting behind me. She had a frown on her face, but immediately, I smiled at he.r She smiled back. I turned back and wondered why she had been weird these few days. She was clinging to me so much these days that one wou

J.J.’s POVI sank into the leather sofa in the sitting room inside my room. It's familiar creak doing nothing to soothe the tumult inside me. My feet were still in my school shoes, and I felt the scratchy weight of the uniform—no longer a shield, just another reminder that EVERYTHING had changed. My phone lay on the glass table in front of me, messages unread. One from Carolyn, another from Julius, and a dozen from Tina—each nagging at me, each demanding I respond. I couldn’t do it. Not yet. the events that happened in school was still very fresh in my head and mind, I don't know what exactly Tina wanted from me bjut she was beginning to piss me off, and Carolyn having dots in her mind because of Tina, because Tina caught us today has me on the edge. i felt like I would snap, but I desperately did not want to be that person, Mom and Dad were gone—probably out networking or philanthropy-ing, maybe boarding a plane for another conference—you know, the usual. The house was empty except