Burning Desire: A Tale of Love and Betrayal のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 61 - チャプター 70

Jacqueline’s POVMonday morning tasted different.Not the bitter tang of rushed coffee or the metallic aftertaste of anxiety that had followed me for weeks. No. This morning carried something sharper, richer, authority.The heels of my pumps struck the Phoenix Group lobby like a warning bell. Conversations dipped when I passed, then resumed in hushed tones. I didn’t need to scan the floor to know every eye was following the file clutched in my hand. Its red tag, bold and almost theatrical, spelled a single word in my handwriting: Loopholes.Beside me, Clara matched my stride, a quiet shadow, her expression schooled into the kind of neutrality that demanded respect. No one dared stop me. No one dared smile too wide or offer the usual platitudes. For once, it felt like I wasn’t walking into a company collapsing under scandal, but into an empire that would answer to me.I entered my office, placed the file neatly on the desk, and sank into the chair with deliberate calm. My inbox blinked

Jacqueline’s POVThe morning of the public holiday felt like a stolen gift.No buzzing office phones drilling through my ears. No Phoenix Group corridors humming with whispered gossip about me and Blackwood. No cold glares from colleagues pretending I didn’t exist, even while their phones lit up with scandalous blog updates.For once, it was just me. Me, my list of groceries, and the faint idea that maybe, just maybe, I could step into a version of life untouched by betrayal or judgment, if only for a day.I stood before the mirror, dragging a comb through my hair, watching how the loose waves fell around my shoulders. My reflection looked tired, there were faint shadows under my eyes, but at least today, I could breathe without feeling like the world wanted to suffocate me.My phone buzzed on the dresser. Calvin.A frown tugged at my lips before I could stop it. It wasn’t unusual for him to call, but lately, his timing had been… off.I pressed accept. “Hey, Cal.”“Jackie.” His voice

Calvin’s POVThe hospital’s corridors smelled of antiseptic and fear. Too bright, too sterile, too real.I shouldn’t have come. That was my first thought when I stepped through the sliding doors, a bouquet of fresh lilies in hand. But what was I supposed to do? Not show up? Disappeared when Jacqueline lay broken in a hospital bed? That would raise more suspicion than anything else.Besides, Derek’s voice still echoed in my head from that night in his car: “We scare her, not kill her. Don’t get sloppy.”And yet… she could have died.I rubbed a hand over my face, forcing my pulse into something resembling calm. If Jacqueline ever connected the dots, if she ever looked at me and saw guilt instead of friendship, I’d lose everything, the trust, the access, the role I’d carefully built in her life.No. I had to double down. Play the friend. The best friend.“Calvin!” Allison’s voice snapped me out of my spiral. She stood by the nurses’ station, arms crossed like a guard dog in human form. H

Jacqueline’s POVThe hospital walls felt like they had drained me. Even with Allison’s laughter and Calvin’s forced cheer lingering around, I still felt caged, reminded of the accident every time I blinked. Discharge day was supposed to feel liberating, but instead, I felt like glass, fragile, easily shattered, and aware that everyone tiptoed around me.Blackwood had been insistent. “Stay at mine. It’s safer.” He had said it with the authority of a man used to getting his way, but I couldn’t do it. Not because I didn’t want to, but because I did. And that scared me more than the accident. Allison had my back, and using her as an excuse felt safer than admitting how badly I wanted to say yes to him.So when he arrived at my apartment that evening, carrying a neatly wrapped package and a shadow of concern still etched on his face, my chest tightened. His presence filled the space immediately, quiet dominance, like he’d claimed the air itself.“You should still be in bed,” he said, eyes

Calvin’s POVHer voice had hesitated on the phone. I heard it, the falter, the uncertainty. She almost said no. For a second, my chest had tightened with rage. After everything, after all I’d done, after all the time I’d spent being there for her… she still doubted me?But then she said yes.And the tension that had coiled inside me eased, replaced by a satisfaction so deep it nearly made me smile. She was coming with me. She still listened, still obeyed.I arrived at her apartment early, because waiting wasn’t an option. She opened the door, casual clothes clinging to her in ways she didn’t even realize. Shorts. A jacket. Sneakers. God, even dressed like that, she was stunning. She always was.She didn’t see it, didn’t understand what she did to me, how hard I’d worked to protect her, to keep her from the wolves that circled her life. Derek. Blackwood. Even Allison, with her quiet suspicion, whispering poison in Jacqueline’s ear.“Not on you,” I told her when she dismissed my complim