Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 11 - Chapitre 20

Lilith POVThe day moved like molasses, each hour stretching impossibly long while I tried to distract myself from the anticipation building in my chest. I avoided Aunt Isabella completely, skipping breakfast and leaving the house early to wander Bellmare's streets with no real destination in mind, just needing to be anywhere that wasn't under her judgmental gaze.The town looked different in morning light, less mysterious and more ordinary, with shopkeepers opening their doors and old women carrying baskets to market. A few of them stared as I passed but I'd stopped caring about their whispers and pointed looks, stopped letting their opinions dictate how I felt about myself or what I chose to do.I found myself at a small cafe near the edge of town, ordering coffee in broken Italian that made the owner smile with something close to pity before switching to English. She was probably in her sixties with kind eyes and hands weathered from years of work, the type of woman who reminded me

Lilith POVMorning came with rain again, steady and gray, turning Bellmare's cobblestones slick and filling the air with that clean smell of water washing away dust. I woke to find a text from Damien sent at dawn saying he'd been up all night thinking about me, about us, about what today would bring, and my stomach flipped reading those words because they felt more intimate than anything physical we'd done so far.I texted back saying I'd been thinking about him too, then spent the next hour trying to decide what to wear because everything felt too intentional, too much like I was trying to look good for him when really I just wanted to feel confident in whatever was about to happen between us.Aunt Isabella was already gone when I came downstairs, probably at the market or maybe at church lighting candles and praying for my soul or Damien's or both. Her absence felt like relief and guilt mixed together because part of me was grateful not to face her knowing eyes while another part wi

Damien POVI watched Lilith disappear into the rain from my window, her silhouette growing smaller until the darkness swallowed her completely, and only then did I let myself collapse into the chair by my desk with my head in my hands. The scent of her perfume still clung to my clothes, my skin, the small room upstairs where we'd crossed every line I'd sworn never to cross again.Guilt should have been crushing me by now, should have been driving me to my knees in prayer begging for forgiveness, but all I felt was this strange combination of peace and terror that made my chest tight and my hands shake. Three years I'd spent building walls around the worst parts of myself, three years of prayers and penance and pretending I could be something better than what I was, and she'd walked into my church wearing a white dress and demolished every brick without even trying.I should have sent her away that first day in the confessional, should have recognized the danger in those dark eyes and

Lilith POV The next two weeks fell into a pattern that felt both dangerous and comforting, stolen moments in Damien's small room after evening mass while rain continued its endless drumming against the roof. We'd meet in his office first, talk about our days like normal people before the tension became too much and we'd climb those narrow stairs to lose ourselves in each other until the outside world faded to nothing.But tonight felt different somehow, charged with an energy I couldn't quite name as I made my way through the empty chapel toward his office. The door was open and I found him standing by the window with his back to me, his shoulders tense in a way that made my stomach drop."What's wrong?" I asked, closing the door behind me.He turned to face me and the conflict in his eyes nearly stopped my heart because I'd seen that look before, seen it the night he'd tried to tell me all the reasons why this couldn't work. "Father Marco cornered me after mass today. He asked if th

Lilith POVThe park was empty when I arrived just before nine, street lamps casting pools of yellow light across damp grass while the fountain burbled softly in the darkness. I sat on a bench facing the main path where I'd see Damien approaching, my phone clutched in my hand with those threatening messages still burning holes in my mind.Forty eight hours felt like nothing and forever at the same time, not enough to figure out who was behind this but too long to sit with the fear of what would happen when time ran out. I'd spent the afternoon going through every interaction I'd had since arriving in Bellmare, trying to figure out who would care enough about me and Damien to threaten us, but nothing made sense.Footsteps on the path made me look up and there he was, still in his black shirt and pants but without the collar, looking as exhausted as I felt. He sat beside me but kept enough distance that we weren't touching, both of us aware that even in this empty park we could be watche