All Chapters of A LOVE TOO REAL TO FAKE: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Chapter 12: Rain pressed against the train window in quiet, rhythmic patterns as Eden stared out at the blur of the French countryside. Her reflection trembled in the glass like a ghost of herself she no longer recognized.She left Athens before sunrise. No note. No goodbye. Just silence.Her phone’s SIM card lay snapped in half on the marble countertop. She paid cash for the train ticket, leaving no digital trail.Because even the kind of love that burns bright can still become a cage—and she needed air. Not escape. Liberation. She didn’t cry. But her chest ached with a grief she couldn’t name. Paris welcomed her like a secret. She found a tiny studio in the 6th arrondissement above a sleepy bookstore with ivy crawling over the windows. The woman who ran it didn’t ask questions. Eden dyed her hair near-black, bought a long grey coat, and paid in euros.Each morning, she woke to the creak of the wooden floor, the scent of old books, and a kind of quiet that felt like a second ch

Chapter 14: The days that followed were a whirlwind of headlines, lawsuits, and whispered apologies. Eden's name trended globally—not as Cassian Wolfe's fiancée or a pawn in a corporate scandal, but as a woman who’d stood at the center of a storm and refused to break. Cassian watched the world shift from the shadows. He had never been one for spectacle. But Eden—Eden stood tall in it. Not as a product of his empire, but as a force in her own right. And that, he realized, was what scared the board the most. Verena resigned two days after Eden’s press statement went viral. She left behind a single note on Cassian’s desk: “I built an empire to survive. You burned it to be loved. Maybe you were braver than me.” Cassian folded it and placed it in his drawer beside Eden’s first letter—the one she left when she disappeared. The past, now stacked side by side. But Malik wasn’t gone. Not yet.He turned up in Dubai. A leaked email revealed he'd funneled millions from Wolfe Global’s i

Chapter 16: The silence in Cassian Wolfe’s office was deceiving. It wasn’t peace—it was pressure. Heavy, weighted, the kind that pressed against your ribs and made breathing feel like betrayal. Eden stood at the window, staring out at the skyline of the city that had once felt so distant, so cold. Now, it pulsed with secrets. Her secrets. His. Behind her, Cassian poured a glass of scotch—his second since she walked in. “You knew,” she said quietly, not turning around. Cassian paused mid-pour. “About what, exactly?” She turned then, eyes sharp. “About my mother. The Foundation. The hush money. You knew she died protecting something, didn’t you?” His jaw tightened. The liquid in his glass sloshed slightly as he set the bottle down. “I knew... pieces.” “That’s not good enough.” "You really think I just sat back and watched her die?" Cassian's voice cracked like thunder—low, raw, barely restrained. Eden’s chest tightened, but she didn’t flinch. “No,” she said quietly. “I thin

Chapter 18: The wind howled through the broken trees that lined the mountain pass, carrying with it the faint scent of fire and blood. Eden stood still at the edge of the cliff, her eyes scanning the land below. The world had changed since Paris. Since Cassian's betrayal. Since she realized that her life had been manipulated by forces far older, darker, and more brutal than she’d ever imagined. Now, she was no longer just a woman with a broken past. She was the Mate of an Alpha—and not just any Alpha, but one at the center of a war that threatened to burn down everything. But Eden was no longer afraid of fire. She had learned how to walk through it and survive. The convoy that trailed behind them was small—just three armored SUVs, a scout bike, and a medical van. The remnants of Cassian’s inner circle, those still loyal, those still breathing. The others? Gone. Killed in the chaos of the Vire attack or turned by the bloodlust of betrayal. Cassian stood beside her, arms folded, s

Chapter 20: The silence after Cassian’s outburst was more suffocating than any scream Eden had ever endured. It wasn't just the words he'd thrown at her—it was the way his voice cracked on them, as if he hated himself for feeling this much. Eden stood frozen, her heart thundering like a war drum in her chest. Behind her, the once-lively corridors of the Pyrelight estate were empty. The chandeliers above cast flickering shadows across the marble floors, glinting off the shards of their unraveling trust. She whispered, “Say it again.” Cassian turned his back, running a hand through his hair like it might hold him together. “Don’t make me.” “Say it again, Cassian.” He exhaled slowly, his voice breaking. “I’m in love with you, Eden. I have been for a long time.” Her knees almost buckled. There it was. The truth that neither of them had dared speak until now, after fire had touched everything they’d tried to protect. But love—love didn’t fix what they’d broken. Not the lie