All Chapters of GUILTY DEVOTION: Chapter 121 - Chapter 130

The bowling alley was alive with neon lights and the thrum of early 2000s pop hits blasting from overhead speakers. Lanes stretched in glowing blues and pinks, the air thick with the smell of popcorn and fried nachos.Cassie could hardly stand still, bouncing on her toes in her spotless white sneakers, two drinks in and glowing with that particular mix of adrenaline and giddiness.Nicholas, meanwhile, stood at the lane with his usual seriousness. His sleeves were rolled up, and the ball was cradled like it was a million-dollar deal. Which, Cassie decided, only made it funnier when he missed his third pin in a row.She doubled over laughing. “Oh my God, that’s tragic.”Nicholas exhaled slowly, setting the ball down with dramatic gravity. “Should I call HR? This feels like emotional abuse.”Mia snorted from two lanes over, where she sat cross-legged with Jonah, the tall, easy-smiling nurse she’d brought along. “Oh no, Mr. CEO can’t handle a curveball?”Chloe clapped, half-teasing, half-

|Cassie|The threats came like clockwork that day. It was so intense and disturbing. Every hour, my phone buzzed with a message from the same number. It was another picture accompanied by another line of text.At first, I’d just trash them but they came pouring in over and over. Sometimes it was just an image of me in the office, bent over paperwork. Other times it was the same chilling phrase on repeat:“Step away or lose what you love most. I don’t play with my words.”By midafternoon, I couldn’t feel my hands anymore. They trembled too much to even hold a pen. I laughed at jokes in the meeting I didn’t hear. I nodded at interns I didn’t see and every time my screen lit up, I felt eyes on the back of my neck.Nicholas noticed, of course. He always noticed whenever something was wrong with me. “You look pale,” he said when the others filed out. “Are you okay? Are you feeling sick? Do you want to go to the hospital?”“I’m just tired. Stop overacting,” I lied, shoving my phone into my

Nicholas woke up with a start, though the morning was quiet, golden light filtering across his bedroom. He hadn’t truly slept. His body had lain down, yes, but his mind had circled Genevieve like a hawk all night. The way her shadow had crept into his life again, the way Cassie’s laughter seemed more fragile lately, the unspoken danger in the air—it was all piling in his chest.He swung his legs over the bed and reached for his phone, scrolling to a number he hadn’t dialed in months.“Reed,” the voice answered after two rings, gruff and alert, like a man who never wasted words.Nicholas pinched the bridge of his nose. “I need a full background check and tail.”“Target?”“Genevieve.” He didn’t bother with her maiden name. “Everywhere she’s been in the last six months. Who she talks to, where she spends her nights, and where she gets her money. I want names, faces, and receipts. Nothing should or must be omitted.”There was a pause, then a faint whistle. “Ex-wife?”“Don’t editorialize.

The office felt different that morning and it was lighter somehow, like everyone had collectively agreed not to pile on one more deadline. Maybe it was because we all knew this was it. The last day of our internship was finally here.I hugged my folder of notes to my chest, heading down the hallway, when I almost collided with Zara at the archive room door. Papers nearly slipped from her hand, and for a second, we both froze.It was awkward. You know the kind of silence that makes your stomach flip because of everything unsaid. She shifted first, adjusting the file she was carrying. “Submitting my last one.”I nodded. “Me too.”We lingered like that for a breath too long before Zara inhaled, straightened her back, and said quietly, “Cassie… I’m sorry. For everything that had happened. For crossing lines I shouldn’t have and for letting my fears about losing control push me to hurt you. I thought I was helping, but really, I was projecting. I didn’t want you to make the same mistakes I

The moment she said, “I don’t love you,” I felt the heart that was previously happy inside of me crack.It didn’t give a dramatic sound like the shatter of glass, but the quiet, brutal kind of break you only feel in your chest when the air suddenly refuses to move through your lungs due to external forces caused by an unpalatable situation.She’d stepped out of the car like she was fleeing a fire, her small frame stiff with resolve, and her bag clutched like a shield to her chest tightly. And me? I just sat there, watching her silhouette vanish behind the gate, her shadow swallowed by the streetlamp glow. I couldn’t do anything at that moment.I didn’t move, even when the engine hummed beneath me and the street emptiness and silence engulfed my brain and thoughts. I gripped the steering wheel, my knuckles white, and my chest tight from insufficient air.Cassie had broken up with me.No, not just broken up. She’d gutted me with words I knew weren’t true. I’d seen it in her eyes, in the