Semua Bab BILLIONAIRE'S DEAD WIFE RETURNS : Bab 81 - Bab 90

JakeThe clinking of cutlery filled the silence, awkward and heavy. The air smelled of roasted herbs and wine, but it might as well have been smoke. I couldn’t taste a thing.Alex was playing with his glass, tilting it between his fingers like he had all the time in the world. He hadn’t stopped smirking since he walked through the door. Every now and then his eyes would flick to me deliberate, needling, waiting for the right moment to strike.And for a moment we all ate in silence, but that moment did not last long before Alex was back at his shenanigans. “So,” he began casually, his tone light but his words sharp enough to draw blood, “where is your lovely wife tonight? Amina, right?”The fork in my hand froze mid air.My mother smiled, oblivious. “Amina couldn’t make it tonight?”I set the fork down carefully. “She is with Ethan. They went to visit her mo

KylaThe night air was cool, laced with the scent of wet grass and lilacs that grew along the edge of the garden. I sat in the old gazebo, the one tucked beneath the oak trees at the far end of the yard. The same one I used to hide in as a teenager whenever the house felt too loud, too full of expectations I didn’t know how to meet.The wooden bench creaked beneath me as I folded my hands together. From here, the faint chatter from the house drifted out in broken fragments, raised voices, then silence. Then nothing.Typical, I thought bitterly.Wherever Alex went, peace never lasted long, he always wrecked havoc and then disappeared. I rubbed my arms, trying to shake off the unease still clinging to me from dinner. The memory of Alex’s questions, the way he had looked at me, like he was peeling away every layer I had built to survive, it made my stomach twist.I was so lost in thought I didn’

JakeThe silence in the car was heavy, too heavy for my liking, a little suffocating even. It wasn’t the kind that came from comfort or peace, but the kind that grew out of things unsaid, too many thoughts pressing against the walls of my chest.I knew that dinner was going to overwhelm everyone before we even stepped there. Alex always had a way of doing that. And tonight just like always, he did it perfectly. You would think him being away for over five years would make him value family a bit more, but he was still the same person he was, when he left five years ago. Often times, times like today I always wondered how we could be so different from each other. I am only a few years older than him, we were raised the same but yet we are so different. But it wasn't always like this, I do remember a time when we were close, we used to be two peas in a pod and then one day we woke up and we were on different sides, fighting each other. Alex was my closest confidant, he was my best f

JakeThe steady hum of machines filled the room rhythmic, clinical, far too calm for the chaos in my head.I hadn’t slept. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw fire. I saw Kyla’s face illuminated by the flames, her hand slipping from mine.My mother had stepped out an hour ago to speak with the doctor. The nurse had come in twice to check my vitals, and both times I asked the same question. Both times, she gave the same empty answer: “She is stable.”Stable. That word was starting to sound like a lie and was pissing me off so much. I turned my head toward the window. The sky outside was bruised with morning soft streaks of pale pink trying to break through the gray. It was too quiet. Hospitals had a way of making you feel small, powerless, like time had decided to crawl just to see you suffer.The door creaked open. I turned, expecting my mother, but the sight that met me knocked the air out of my chest.“Amina?” the last person I expected to see in my hospital room. She froze at th

AminaThe bathroom door swung shut behind me, muffling the sounds of the hospital hallway.For a second, I just stood there frozen, staring at my own reflection in the cracked mirror.My eyes were red, my mascara smeared into black streaks down my cheeks. My hair clung to my temples, damp with sweat and tears.I barely recognized the woman looking back at me.If someone could have told me a few months ago, this would be my life I never would have believed them. I pressed my palms against the cold edge of the sink and let out a shuddering breath.Everything hurt my chest, my head, my heart.Jake almost died.Kyla was somewhere in this hospital, broken and unconscious.And Alex, Alex was here too to taunt me and make my life more painful and difficult than it already was.Tears welled up again before I could stop them, hot and heavy. They fell into the sink, each drop echoing louder than it should have. My whole body trembled as I tried to hold in the sob building in my throat, but it