Lahat ng Kabanata ng My Love; You Were Never Meant To Be A Substitute : Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

Vanessa’s POV The stem of the glass brushed against my fingertips before Charles gently pressed it into my hand. I didn’t have to see it to know the wine inside swirled with a richness I hadn’t tasted in years. The faint scent of aged oak and ripe berries rose to me, mingling with the sharp salt of the sea air. I brought the glass close to my lips, tracing its rim for a moment. “Mmm,” I murmured under my breath, not for Charles, but for myself. The sound of the waves against the hull below was like music. Every ripple, every crash told me I was far from land, far from anyone who could hear Nina’s pitiful cries. How beautiful it all was, how perfectly it had worked. In my mind, I replayed the chain of events. The way I orchestrated everything. Kidnapping Nina hadn’t been the hard part; breaking her was. Drugging her, making her weak, helpless. Feeding her the perfect lie… that Elijah arranged it all, that the man she clung to for strength had abandoned her. I could almost t

VANESSA’S POV Two Days After Surgery The lights were too bright. Even with layers of gauze stitched over my eyes, I could feel the glare slicing into my skin. It burned. But I liked the burn. It reminded me I was alive. Reminded me that somewhere out there , she was still breathing. White walls. White sheets. White air. It all smelled like metal and cheap soap… and her absence. Nina. I exhaled slowly, my chest ached. Not from the surgery , that was nothing. The real pain sat deeper, in places medicine couldn’t reach. The kind of pain that builds slowly, like rot. The kind you grow used to. The kind that makes you dangerous. They told me not to move. Not to rush recovery. But what did they know about pain? Real pain wasn’t blood or scalpels or swollen tissue. Real pain was knowing she was still out there. Still alive. Still untouched by the full weight of what she deserved. That was pain. I tilted my head, careful of the pull on my stitches, and smiled through cracked lip

NINA’S POV …How does it feel… waking up in total darkness? Her voice was poison. Every word dripped into my ears, thick and heavy, until I could barely breathe. “Now,” she whispered, “you’re going to see my pain.My hurt, my loneliness.” I felt her move closer towards me. I could almost feel her breath on my skin. “You think you know what it’s like to be alone, Nina?” she said, her tone low and steady. “No. You don’t. You’ve never lived in a world where light doesn’t exist. Where every step is a guess, every sound a threat. Well, I lived there. And every day, I hated you for it.” Her voice cracked through the darkness, raw and shaking. “You… heartless witch!” I screamed, my throat burning. “You.. you took my life… my eyes! You…” A sharp laugh cut me in half. “Your eyes?” she hissed. “They were never yours, Nina.” My breath hitched. “They were mine,” she went on, her tone colder than ice. “Eyes I was born with. Eyes stolen from me before I could even wake up from coma. An

Vanessa’s POV Charles called the moment Elijah’s plane touched down. I knew because I told him to. He didn’t go home. He went straight to the Grayson’s towers. Straight into a meeting, full of men in suits and fake smiles, all thinking they could keep him from me with their glass walls and endless talking. But then his secretary walked in, pale and tight lipped, and whispered in his ear. Charles was outside. He said it was Urgent, an emergency. That was Perfect. I’d chosen Charles for this because his voice carried a certain weight deep, deliberate, the kind of voice that made people believe even the worst news without question. We’d rehearsed this in the quiet hours, when the city slept and my mind was alive with so much plans. And his Role in the Grayson’s was unquestionable, and trusted. When Elijah stepped out of the boardroom, Charles didn’t rush. He stood there like a man dragging a coffin behind him. I could hear him through the tiny receiver tucked in my ear, every bre

Nina’s POV ‎ ‎The sea punched the breath from my lungs. And the cold wasn’t just around me but it was inside me, biting me deep, tearing through my skin. My mouth opened in shock and the ocean rushed in, the water was salty, so burning, and choking. I couldn’t stop it. and I couldn’t fight it or do anything to save myself. My arms flailed helplessly, but there was nothing to hold on to, only water, so endless and so heavy. ‎ ‎“Elijah!” I tried to scream, but only bubbles rose from my mouth, spiraling away. ‎ ‎The current caught me, twisting me, flipping me over and over until I didn’t know which way was up. The roar in my ears drowned every thought right that moment. My chest ached so badly, my body begged for air, but there was none. ‎ ‎The water was crushing me, as I kicked hard, but my legs felt like stone, heavy that I could do nothing. My clothes pulled me lower. My lungs convulsed, water still forcing its way deeper inside. ‎ ‎Somewhere far, far above, I head shouts br