Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Perfect Revenge : Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

SKYLA The contract sat on my nightstand untouched, it’s presence looming over me like a storm cloud. I had been avoiding it for days, the weight of my decision pressing down on me like a vice. Every single day, I kept on telling myself that I needed more time_ more time, for what exactly?More time for myself before whatever this thing with the Andersons pulled me in, before they sucked me into their bleak dark world.But who was I kidding?Signing this contract wasn’t just about a job, it meant surrendering, not just to Xavier’s demands, but to the past. To the pain, the betrayal, and the tangled emotions I had spent years trying to bury. Signing it meant giving Xavier total control over my life again. If I signed this darned contract, I would be tied to Xavier once again. But this time, not as his lover, or the woman he once loved, but his employee, bound by the cold calculating terms of a business deal.But

SKYLAThe city hadn’t changed. Same concrete jungles, same impatient horns blaring in the distance, same glass towers looming over like silent jungles.One would have thought that the entire time I stayed cooped up in Ed's little apartment, the whole world would have changed, maybe a new technology that would have cured all forms of heartaches would have been created.The world hadn’t changed, but something in me had shifted.I had barely slept, barely had the time to think this through. The weight of the ring, the invitation - it had all settled into my bones like lead. Even now, as I stood in front of the Andersons enterprise. A business that focused on bringing life into people’s home with their self-made furniture pieces. Even then, when I stood at the entrance of the building, all glass and steel, I realised I was still breathing. Still standing. Still ready to fight.The receptionist barely glanced at me, her stoic gaz

SKYLAI couldn’t sleep.I tried – God, I tried to. But my thoughts were too loud, my fears too sharp. The moment I closed my eyes, I saw Xavier’s face, unreadable behind that glass wall of pain and ambition. I saw the ring. The eagle. The cold glint of legacy forged in blood and secrets. I saw my mother, fragile and fading, teetering on the edge of destruction. I saw my father, broken into several pieces, and six feet under. More importantly, I saw myself – the scared broken girl I used to be – staring back at me in the mirror, begging me not to walk back into hell.But I wasn’t that girl anymore, I was no longer that girl who would cower, hiding away from her problems.And what was worse were the images of what happened earlier today that tore through my mind like lightning. The pain that Xavier had worn on his face like an armour gutted me. The silent accusation in his eyes that tore through me like a thousand splinters – memories that I ha

SKYLAThe cool night air kissed my skin, chasing away the lingering heat of the ballroom. I wrapped my arms tightly around myself, not because I was cold, but because everything inside me was starting to shake. The music had faded behind closed doors, but I could still feel it’s rhythm pulsing in my chest, like an echo I couldn’t escape.This balcony was the only place in the entire estate that didn’t feel like it was trying to swallow me whole. Out here, there were no eyes watching my every move. No whispers trailing behind me like daggers. No fake smiles plaguing my mind.It was just me.Just the stars – distant and disinterested – and the steady hum of power coiling beneath everything tonight. I traced the edge of the ring on my finger. It’s iciness biting into my skin.The eagle.Carl Andersons MarkA symbol of belonging – or branding. I hadn’t decided it yet.It didn’t matter how beautiful this setting was

SKYLAThe silence felt too heavy.Even the steady hum of the distant city did little to soothe raging my heart. The city felt far away, distant even the world was her breath, waiting eagerly, patiently for the storm to break.The air I took in seemed forced, like it wasn’t mine to take. I stared down at the stone bench beneath me, barely noticing the way my fingers curled into smooth, cool surface. My mind was miles away, spinning with all the questions I didn’t have the answers to – questions that even I didn’t have the courage to ask.I thought I had everything under control – thought that at the end of the night, I’d at least come out victorious. I didn’t know what I was thinking, playing dress up. Now I just felt so stupid and dumb because I had willingly walked into their trap, I walked into the lions den reeking of fresh raw meat 0and didn’t even have the decency to at least act like them.Instead, I had made myself a pr