Semua Bab Hate Me Till You Love Me: Bab 11 - Bab 17

The mansion was too quiet. It was the kind of quietness that presses against the skin, making the heartbeat sound like thunder in the ears. Evelyn stood in the hallway, her hands trembling as she clutched the strap of a small leather bag, the one she had packed in secret over the last few hours.Every step she took felt like a betrayal, and yet every breath reminded her why she had to go.The woman in that bed upstairs, the original Evelyn was a ghost she could never compete with. And Alexander, he was a man who had loved that ghost so deeply he’d built another just to keep her near. No amount of affection, no whispered apologies, no broken confessions could change that truth.Evelyn wasn’t leaving because she hated him. She was leaving because she couldn’t afford to lose herself trying to be someone else. The clock in the corridor struck midnight.Each chime echoed through the marble halls, counting down to the moment her courage would either save or destroy her.Mrs. Alvarez’s room

The rain hadn’t stopped for hours. It fell in sheets, a relentless downpour that swallowed the world in silver and shadow. Evelyn stumbled through the forest, the mud dragging at her boots, her breath tearing through the cold air in ragged bursts.Branches clawed at her arms and hair, their wet leaves slick against her skin. She didn’t dare look back. She didn’t dare think about Marcus or what had happened to him. The gunshots still echoed in her ears like phantom thunder.She had to keep moving, going North and to follow the creek. That’s what he’d said.The flash drive in her hand felt like it was burning through her palm. Hours later, her legs gave out. She collapsed onto a moss-covered rock beside the narrow stream, chest heaving, soaked to the bone.The woods were silent now except for the soft rush of water and the hiss of rain.Evelyn pressed her forehead against her knees, shivering. Every muscle in her body ached. The cold gnawed at her bones.And beneath the physical pain, s

The forest swallowed them whole.Branches clawed at Evelyn’s clothes as she stumbled through the darkness, her lungs burning. Alexander’s grip on her hand was unrelenting, his pace relentless, part soldier, part machine. Behind them, the distant hum of drones pulsed like a heartbeat in the air, too close, too precise.The ground was slick from rain. Twice she slipped, and each time he pulled her back to her feet before she hit the mud.“Keep moving,” he ordered, voice low and urgent.“I’m...” she gasped, “trying.”“Try harder.” He said.She wanted to yell at him. To tell him she wasn’t one of his soldiers, that she was exhausted, terrified, and barely keeping up. But then the red glow of another drone sliced through the treetops, and she bit back every protest.After what felt like an eternity, Alexander stopped beside a rocky outcrop. His hand pressed against a section of moss-covered stone, searching for something unseen. Evelyn bent over, gasping, the cold air biting her lungs. The