All Chapters of After He Let Me Fall : Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

NYLAThe Leclair house had never tried to intimidate anyone.It wasn’t a palace perched on a hill, nor was it one of those grotesque displays of wealth that screamed for validation. It sat quietly behind wrought-iron gates and trimmed hedges. Two floors of cream stone, tall windows framed by dark shutters, a wraparound balcony on the second level where my mother used to grow white roses. The fountain in the front garden still worked, though the water pressure was weaker than it used to be. I noticed that immediately.The house looked smaller. Or maybe I’d grown.The gates slid open when the guard saw the car. As we pulled into the driveway, I saw movement through the front windows. Curtains shifted. A door opened before the driver even came around to help me out.“Miss Nyla!”Marie was the first to reach me. She was older now, streaks of gray threading through her tight bun, but her embrace was just as warm. “You’re home,” she said, her voice thick with relief.Behind her, Thomas the

NYLA“Come in,” I said without looking up.The door opened slowly. I knew who it was before I lifted my head. Some instincts never dulled.Marisol stepped inside like she had every right to be there.The overhead lights caught the smooth curve of her stomach beneath a fitted cream dress. It was unmistakable now. No clever tailoring could hide it anymore.So this was the new reality. She closed the door behind her gently, almost politely. “You look busy,” she said.“I am.”Her gaze swept the office. She took a few steps forward, “Congratulations CEO. That’s impressive.” she continued.“State your purpose.”A flicker of irritation crossed her face. She hadn’t expected that.“I came to see you, woman to woman. We used to be inseparable remember?” she said. I leaned back in my chair. “Yeah, then you ruined it by killing me.”Her lips curved, but her eyes didn’t. “You don’t have to be cold.”“I am just being clear.”Her hand drifted over her stomach, almost theatrically. The gesture was i

NYLAThe words barely left his lips when his fingers wrapped around my wrists. It happened so fast I barely registered the movement until I felt the warmth of his palms and the force of his pull. My body moved forward, heels scraping lightly against the floor as he drew me closer.“Just listen to me, you don't have to claim to be tough. You're still that girl I decided to marry. Let's start over,” he said, his voice low.The proximity stole the air from my lungs. I could smell his cologne, that suffocating cologne. A bitter memory tried to surface. I crushed it before it had a chance.“Let go,” I said, my voice steady despite the confusing feeling brewing in my chest.“Nyla,”The slap landed painfully on his cheeks. The sound echoed through the entrance. My palm burned instantly, a sting spreading across my skin, but the sensation that followed wasn’t pain. It was relief. I had wanted to do that for so long. It was the weight of years of agony and being treated worse than garbage sli

KAELThe house felt empty the moment I walked in. It felt very hollow, because she left. I never expected her to leave. Like something living had been pulled out of the house. I stood just inside the entrance, longer than necessary, keys still in my hand, listening without any meaning or reason to. Usually there was something that welcomed me, footsteps upstairs, a door closing somewhere down the hall, the faint rustle of movement that meant she was here even if I couldn’t see her.There was nothing. The silence pressed in from every corner, and my chest stiffened.I closed the door behind me and walked further inside, my footsteps sounding louder than usual against the floors. The lights had been left exactly as they always were in the evenings.She really left. I walked upstairs without taking off my jacket, already knowing what I was going to find but needing to see it anyway. The hallway stretched longer than normal, the distance stretching out with every step until I reached the

NYLAThe words caught me off guard. My pulse kicked up, I simply stared at him, unsure whether the exhaustion had started playing tricks on me.Of all the places I had imagined seeing him again, the hospital had never crossed my mind.I tried to ignore him. I kept walking like I hadn’t heard anything at all. I crossed the stretch of driveway leading toward the parking area. I had nothing left to give anyone.I reached my car and pulled open the door with fingers that weren’t as firm as I wanted them to be, but before I could step inside, the door pushed shut again.His hand pressed flat against the metal.“I’m talking to you,” Kael said.I turned slowly, already feeling the frustration rise in my chest. He stood close enough that I could see the faint tension in his jaw, after he had run after me and wasn’t even trying to hide it.“I heard you,” I said. “I just didn’t think you deserved an answer.”He studied me for a moment before saying quietly, “Then give me one anyway.”I straigh