Todos los capítulos de TIME TO FALL IN LOVE: Capítulo 181 - Capítulo 187

[The Shadow of the Boardroom]The dawn over Lake Geneva was a cruel, crystalline blue. The glass of the grand pavilion lay in millions of diamonds across the marble floor, reflecting a victory that felt more like a burial. Panni stood shivering in the Alpine chill, her hand pressed hard against the side of her neck. Beneath her palm, a deep, charcoal-grey pulse throbbed—not with the rhythm of her heart, but with the cold, mechanical precision of a ticking watch.Jinyan’s hands were on her shoulders, his grip tight enough to bruise, but his touch was trembling. He stared at the grey vein beneath her skin, his face a mask of primal agony."Panni," he whispered, his voice cracking. "What is he doing to you?"Panni couldn’t look at him. Every time she closed her eyes, she didn't see the mountains; she saw spreadsheets. She saw the iron-clad legal terms of the Lu-Sheng/Panni Merger. And she heard him—Jian. Not the brother who had sacrificed himself, but the CEO who had overwritten his soul

"Panni! Shut down the emotional centers!" Jian’s voice was frantic now, losing its synthesized calm. "The heartbreak is causing a neural cascade! The ledger is being corrupted by 'Traumatic Dissonance'! You must remain... Executive... Calm...""He... he’s leaving me," Panni sobbed. The pain was so intense it bypassed her motor cortex. She wasn't just a ledger; she was a woman whose world had just collapsed.In that moment of absolute, soul-shattering agony, the "CEO" lost his grip. The logical pathways Jian had built were flooded with a tidal wave of grief—a biological surge that no corporate algorithm could index.Panni let out a scream that wasn't a note or a frequency—it was a raw, human sound of loss. She lunged forward, not toward the door, but toward Jinyan, her hands grabbing his coat."LOOK AT ME!" she shrieked. "You can't do this! You can't leave us!"Jinyan didn't turn. He remained a statue of ice.The charcoal pulse on Panni’s neck suddenly surged, then turned grey and dull

"Mama?" Grace’s voice was small, but it carried that bell-like clarity. Her eyes opened—they were sapphire again, but they were filled with a terrifying wisdom. "The man in the clock is hungry. He wants to eat the minutes of our lives."Jinyan turned to Panni, his expression one of desperate resolve. "We have no choice. If we stay, he kills everyone to get to us. If we go to this 'New World,' we fight him on his own ground.""I'm not going anywhere with you as my 'protector' after what you did today," Panni said, her voice cold and sharp. "If we go, we go as partners in a Contract of Necessity. No more 'Sweet Love.' No more lies. You are my guard, Jinyan. Nothing more."The words cut Jinyan deeper than any iron staff could. He flinched, his obsidian eyes shimmering with an unspeakable pain, but he nodded. "If that is the price to keep you and Grace alive, I will pay it. I will be your shield. I will be your shadow. I will never ask for your heart again."A low, subterranean roar shook

Jinyan looked at Panni. She was staring at the pendulum, her face a mask of exhaustion. The "Contract of Necessity" was failing her. Without the anchor of her love for Jinyan, the subsonic hum of the mansion was beginning to pull at her, enticing her to let go, to stop the pain, to become a quiet note in the Chorus."Panni, don't listen to him," Jinyan pleaded, his voice breaking. "Stay with me. Stay loud.""Loud hurts, Jinyan," Panni whispered, her eyes fixed on the silver blade. "The silence... it’s so much easier. You told me I was a liability. Maybe the Archive is the only place where I’m not a burden."The clock began to strike eleven. The chorus outside began to hum, a sound so pure and terrifying it made the windows rattle.Annie moved to the control panel behind the pendulum, her fingers flying over the brass keys. "Jinyan! The pendulum isn't just a clock—it’s a Biometric Scalpel! It’s going to strip the emotional layers from your DNA until only the 'Contract' remains! If you