جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 58

Elara’s POV I didn’t sleep well, not because of fear, or regret, or even anger but because staying had begun to feel heavier than leaving. That realization followed me into the morning like a shadow I couldn’t shake. I dressed without thinking too much about it, choosing comfort over intention, simplicity over statement. When I stepped into the kitchen, Adrian was already there, quiet, focused, the kind of stillness that suggested he’d been awake longer than he admitted. We didn’t greet each other immediately. That was new. The silence wasn’t awkward. It was cautious like both of us understood that whatever came next would shift things again. “I’ve been thinking about what you said,” he began. I poured myself water, needing the pause. “Which part?” “All of it.” I leaned against the counter. “Thinking isn’t the same as acting.” “I know.” That was encouraging. Also dangerous. “I spoke to my legal team,” he continued. “Not about Lydia. About boundaries.” I looked up. “What

I didn’t expect peace to feel so fragile.After drawing that line with Adrian, I thought I’d feel lighter—like someone who had finally set down a burden that wasn’t hers to begin with. Instead, the calm that followed felt thin, stretched tight over something restless and waiting.I went back to my routine deliberately.Work. Calls. Familiar streets. Familiar faces.I needed the reminder that I had a life that existed outside contracts, legacies, and unfinished histories. A life that didn’t revolve around whose name trended in which circle or who sent what extravagant message wrapped in silence.Still, even as I arranged flowers in the shop that afternoon, my thoughts wandered back to the same question I hadn’t voiced aloud.How long can a boundary hold when someone keeps testing it?The answer arrived sooner than I wanted.It started subtly.A glance held a second too long at a café near my shop. A pause in conversation when I walked past a familiar social group. Whispers that stopped

I had never felt the weight of silence like this before.It wasn’t the kind of quiet that meant peace. It was the kind that screamed consequence. The kind that comes after the storm has passed but leaves debris scattered in places you can’t yet see.I arrived home later than usual, the evening streets buzzing faintly with lights and cars, a city unaware of the battles that had taken place in a boardroom, in a social post, in whispered messages. Yet I could feel it pressing on me, like an invisible hand tracing along my spine.Adrian was in the study, pacing slowly, phone in hand, his expression unreadable. The moment he saw me, he straightened, as if the mere act of my presence anchored him.“Sit down,” he said. His tone was low, almost dangerous. “We need to talk.”I did. Carefully. Not knowing what this was about, but knowing it would be significant.“Lydia’s gone further,” he said immediately. “She’s escalating beyond what I expected. The post yesterday—her connections, her network

The tension didn’t explode the way I expected.It crept in quietly, wrapping itself around the day until everything felt slightly off—like a room where the air had thinned without warning.I woke with that feeling already settled in my chest.Not dread. Not fear.Awareness.Adrian was already up, moving through the apartment with purposeful calm. He wasn’t avoiding me, but he wasn’t lingering either. The quiet between us felt intentional, as if we were both conserving energy for something we hadn’t yet named.“She’s planning something today,” he said over breakfast, voice even.I looked up from my coffee. “How do you know?”“She’s too quiet,” he replied. “After pushing this far, silence means timing.”I nodded. Lydia had never been impulsive. She preferred precision—moves that looked harmless until the impact landed.I went to work anyway.Normalcy mattered. Or at least the appearance of it did.But by late morning, the first crack appeared.My phone buzzed with a message from a frien