Lahat ng Kabanata ng Reborn! Princess Leila's Second Chance: Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

LeilaDarren's voice cut through the din. It hit me like a lifeline.He came. I knew he would. He'd drag me out of this gilded cage, away from Lucas and his leash. My cheeks burned at the thought, a flush I couldn't hide.There he was, slouched in that leather jacket he never shed, like it was stitched to his soul. But something was off. The light maybe, or the way he carried himself - his usual swagger dulled, like a wolf with its fangs filed down. I stared, trying to pin it down, but it slipped away.Lucas' eyes were on me then. Heavy. I felt them scrape over my face, peeling back the joy I couldn't mask when I saw Darren. His lips curved up, a smile sharp as a blade, but beneath it, I smelled the rot of his anger. Once, I'd have bent over backwards to soothe him, to knead that rage into something softer. Not anymore. I was done choking on his moods."Since everyone's so cheerful tonight," I said, my voice loud enough to sting, "wouldn't it be a shame if I didn't play?" I flashed a

Leila's POVI pressed my cheek against the cold car window, staring at the blurred outline of my face in the tinted glass. The dress Lucas had forced me into earlier that evening cinched too tight at the waist, a gilded cage for a bird already half-dead. The night outside swallowed the world, leaving only the hum of the engine and the weight of two men I barely trusted."Where are we going?" Cassius snapped, his voice a blade slicing through the silence. His eyes, sharp and unyielding, caught Darren's in the rearview mirror."Let me take you home," Darren said, and before I could blink, he shifted, his body pressing into mine. My heart slammed against my ribs, a frantic, caged thing. What was he doing? I braced myself, expecting something raw, something violent - but then his hands found the seatbelt. The buckle clicked, a metallic snap that echoed in my skull. He pulled back, that damned mischievous smile curling his lips, the one that made me want to slap him and kiss him in equal m

DarrenI slouched in the passenger seat, staring through the tinted window at the skeletal remains of Nulford City's Sullepoint Avenue project house. The night swallowed it whole, leaving beams and crumbling concrete to claw at the sky. This place was a festering wound - abandoned by one bankrupt fool, then another, passed around a dozen times like a cheap whore no one could afford to keep. A mess too tangled to fix, it suited filth like Zion perfectly.Cassius' fingers tightened on the wheel, his voice a low growl. "That coward Zion actually dared to stand us up?! He's really asking for it!"I squinted into the dark, the emptiness pressing against my skull. I shook my head. Zion was a rat - squeaking, scurrying, but toothless unless you let him bite.Cassius shot me a glance, his eyes glinting like wet blades. "Could he have left without us?"I shook my head, slow and deliberate. "He doesn't have the guts." The silence stretched, thick and suffocating, until the faint rumble of an en

LeilaThe floor beneath my feet trembled. A faint shiver at first, like a whisper of something wrong, then a roar that clawed up through the soles of my boots. Lucas and Darren grabbed my arms, their fingers digging into my flesh - Lucas's grip iron, Darren's desperate. We ran. The stairs buckled under us, steps cracking like dry bones, splintering into dust. A monstrous rumble chased me, a sound so deep it rattled my teeth.I didn't look back. Couldn't. Fear stitched my eyes forward, my breath ragged in my throat.They dragged me out as the building gave up its ghost. The crash was deafening - stone and steel screaming as they collapsed into a heap of ruin. Dust exploded around us, a choking fog that clawed at my lungs. I coughed, doubled over, hands braced on my knees. My chest burned.Before I could steady myself, Lucas' arm hooked around my waist, hard and possessive, and he threw me into the car. My body hit the seat with a thud. The leather smelled

LeilaThe restaurant, Fori di Cesare, sprawled along the Waterfront of Nulford City like a gilded beast, its opulence a claw around my throat. Crystal chandeliers dripped from the vaulted ceilings, scattering light across marble floors so polished they reflected the glitterati of the Kingdom—men in suits sharp as knives, women draped in silks that whispered wealth.The air reeked of truffle oil and old money, thick with the hum of cultured voices and the clink of crystal glasses. I sat in the most coveted viewing seat, a throne of velvet that overlooked the shimmering expanse of water, a bread stick crumbling between my fingers. My phone glowed in my lap, an endless scroll of meaningless faces and hollow updates - distractions from the itch of impatience crawling up my spine.Lucas was late again. Josephine, that leech with her painted lips and grasping hands, had probably sunk her talons into him. He'd invited me to this lunch, dragged me into this circus