Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 1 - Chapitre 10

ELLIE'S POVI did not want a party.I said it clearly.More than once. But my twins, Maya and Ethan, looked at me the way children do when they have already made up their minds. The party would happen.So I stood in my living room.I held a glass of champagne I did not ask for. I smiled at people who thought my life was a success story.“Mom.”Maya’s voice pulled me back.She walked toward me. She looked perfect. Her smile was bright. Her dress was beautiful. She still believed in good things.“You are doing it again,”she said softly.“What?”I asked.“That smile,”she said. “The one you use when you are not happy.”“I am fine.”She did not argue.She sighed. It was the sigh of a daughter who has watched her mother be strong for too long. “Please. Just for tonight. It is your fiftieth birthday.”“I know how old I am.”“That is not what I mean,”she said.Ethan appeared next to her. He had a drink in his hand. “You look great, Mom.”“I paid a lot to look this calm,”I said.He laughed.“See? Yo

ELLIE'S POV He stood in my office. The man from the party. The liar. Leo. My body went cold, then hot. “Get out,” I said. My voice was weak. He did not move. He looked terrible. His face was pale. His hands shook. “I said get out!” “I can’t,” he said. “Not yet. I have to say this.” A dark curiosity held me still. I did not call for help. I just waited. He took a sharp breath. He pulled his phone from his pocket. His hands fumbled. He turned the screen toward me. A photo of a girl. She was young. Maybe sixteen. She had Leo’s eyes. She sat on a sofa, holding a pillow. She was not smiling. “My sister, Cara,” he said. His voice broke. “The men I owe… they have her. They call it a ‘visit.’ To make sure I pay. I have two days.” The room felt small. I stared at the girl’s face. It looked real. The fear in his voice felt real. But he was a liar. “This could be anyone,” I said. The words were empty. “It is not,” he said. He put the phone away. “I swear on her life. I never wanted t

ELLIE'S POVThe television was a black mirror now, reflecting a woman frozen in a nightmare. For hours, I didn’t move from the edge of my bed. The plush carpet under my bare feet, the silk of my rumpled dress from last night, the stale air of my sealed bedroom—it was all a distant reality. The only reality was the loop playing behind my eyes: the grainy video, the smug reporter, the words intellectual property theft superimposed over my face.I was a thief. I was a bad mother. The narrative was set, the cement already drying. Tulsa had its morning coffee with a side of my disgrace.And beneath the cold shock, a hotter, more violent feeling churned: a fury so pure it was almost clean. Leo. He had the money. He had the proof. And he had sold me out. Again. The video had to be from him. Who else had that footage? Who else stood to gain by destroying me completely after getting what he wanted? He’d taken my cash, my fragile, stupid moment of mercy, and he’d handed a knife to my enemies. T

ELLIE'S POV The air in the foyer thickened, choked with the dust of my shattered lie. I looked from the damning image on Maya’s phone to her shattered face, and for a moment, I was not a CEO under siege, but just a mother who had failed her child. “I’m sorry I lied to you,” I said, the words hollow but necessary. “But I want you to know it was just a mistake I’m presently facing the consequences of now.” My apology seemed to break a dam inside her. The flat calm shattered, and her face crumpled. Tears streamed down her cheeks, silent and fast. “Mum, I still loved him. I still don’t believe you did this to me.” The raw confession was a fresh wound. “Jesus, I didn’t know you both dated. How are you expecting me to know?” The defense was weak, and we both knew it. I was scrambling in the ruins of my own choices. “You might not have met him in person since we were dating, but you’ve heard me say his name so many times to you, right?” Her voice was thick with tears and accusation. “Le

LEO'S POVI was not expecting that question. But if I wanted to get out of here, if I wanted to get to Ellie, I had to answer her. I could not lie anymore. The lies were what started this fire. So I would tell the truth.I took a slow breath. It hurt my ribs."Maya, I loved you from the beginning. I really did. But along the line, I got involved in some bad stuff. It made me see I was using you. I was using you to get information about your mother. And now, your mother is in a big problem because of me."I said it all in a flat, tired voice. I waited for her anger, for her tears, for her to throw something at me.Instead, she smiled. It was a strange smile. It did not look happy. It looked like a person finding a simple answer to a hard problem. A smile of relief."If that is the issue," she said, her voice bright and clear, "we can still be together. We can start all over again. You are not working for them anymore, right? So it is over. We can just forget it."She reached out and to