Lahat ng Kabanata ng Healing The Devil I Once Loved: Kabanata 171 - Kabanata 180

ZARIA 171:*Continuation of flashback*The first sound of a bullet piercing into the closet behind me didn’t make sense at first. It had blended quietly into the store so easily that no one reacted right away. “Renzo, did you hear that?”Immediately it came again, and that was when people started to turn.“Everyone get down!” The shout came from somewhere ahead, and before I could even figure out where it was coming from gunshots rang out in the store.“Zaria!” Renzo yelled, pushing Hawk away to get to me. I blinked and then he had a gun in his hands, firing into the distance. “Get down!”What the fuck?Some people dropped to the ground screaming, while others were too shocked to even make a sound. “Get out of my way!” Someone knocked into a display behind me, and I barely managed to keep my balance before I dropped.My hands hit the floor first, then my knees. “Renzo—” I didn’t finish the sentence because Renzo was already beside me. His hand gripped my arm and pulled me lower, pre

MAY 173:Shit.Why was Noreo acting like that?I leaned back a little, watching him from the corner of my eye while trying not to make it obvious. He usually saw things before you even noticed them yourself and that was why I picked him for this job. If anyone could blend in and still keep track of everything, it was him.So why was he acting like he wanted to jump out of his own skin?Jesus. Just calm down, May.Maybe I was overthinking things again and making a problem out of nothing. It had happened before and it would not be the first time my mind ran ahead of me. I sighed softly and rubbed my temple, then let my gaze drift away from him. I already had too much going on in my head.Before I brought them in, I had gone through the records of every single one of them. They were fucking good. They had handled jobs before, different kinds, messy ones, quiet ones, and they had all come out of it… alive.That was why I chose them.But then again, knowing what people had done before

WANGHer lips parted in shock.That look alone almost made me stop.Almost.Zaria wasn’t the type to beg with words, but with expressions. If anything, she was stubborn to a fault. So when she did something like this, it meant she had already calculated the outcome and decided it wasn’t worth it.But standing there, with him right in front of me, looking as composed and untouchable as ever… I couldn’t bring myself to listen.I gently removed her hand from my shirt, “It’ll be fine,” I murmured, though I wasn’t sure if I was saying it to her or to myself.Then I turned back.Renzo didn’t look bothered. If anything, he looked amused. That alone pissed me off more than anything else.“You talk a lot for someone who doesn’t understand where he’s standing,” he said calmly, adjusting his cuff like this was just another casual encounter.“And you don’t talk enough for someone who keeps showing up where he’s not wanted,” I replied.Beside him, the woman scoffed loudly. “Do you hear this?” she

RENZO Grace’s voice carried through the house before I even stepped out of my room.“May is here!” Jesus. That woman was fucking loud when she wanted to be. And that wasn't the problem. The commotion started when my staff decided to scatter the entire… fuck!They moved almost immediately, like they had been waiting for that moment. I could hear footsteps downstairs, quiet greetings, the soft shift in energy that always came when an outsider walked into this house.I leaned against the railing upstairs for a second, watching from above.May stepped inside slowly, her posture weary and her eyes moving across the space like she was trying to take everything in without looking too obvious. Damn, she had grown. Not just in height, but in the way she carried herself.Still… she looked small in this house.The staff greeted her politely, one after the other, and she responded with a soft smile each time. She was trying to appear calm amidst the situation. Then the kitchen door opened.E

RENZO 179May stepped in fully, closing the door behind her.For a moment, she stood there like she wasn’t sure what to do next. Her eyes moved around the room, taking in the shelves, the table, the chessboard that sat untouched between the chairs.I didn’t say anything at first.I just watched her.Then I turned and picked up my jacket from the chair.“Come with me.”She hesitated, but only for a second, then she followed.We stepped out of the study and walked down the hallway. The house was quiet at this hour, with only the soft sounds from the kitchen below. The guards at the far end straightened when they saw me, then stepped aside without a word.May stayed close behind me.Too close.Like she didn’t want to lose sight of me.We took the stairs down, and by the time we reached the lower floor, Hawk was already waiting near the back entrance.He leaned against the wall with his arms folded, looking as bored as usual.But the moment he saw May, his expression changed.A slight fro