جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 9

Chapter 1Krista povThe screech of tires ripped through the afternoon air, but I didn't turn fast enough.Something slammed me hard, suddenly the world was spinning, concrete rushing up to meet my face. Pain exploded through every nerve ending as my body crashed onto the asphalt, skidding to a stop in the middle of the intersection.Blood pooled beneath me, warm and sticky, spreading like spilled wine across the gray pavement. I tried to move, tried to scream, but my lungs wouldn't work and my limbs felt like they belonged to someone else.The taste of copper flooded my mouth, thick and metallic. My vision blurred, but I could see shapes moving around me, I could hear voices shouting in the distance.Through the haze of agony, I heard footsteps running toward me."Krista!" Alex's voice cut through the fog, and for one desperate moment, hope fluttered in my chest.Maybe this would finally make him see me. Maybe nearly dying would remind him that I was his wife, that I mattered, that

Chapter 3The words hung in the air like poison, but I felt nothing.No rage, no heartbreak, no desperate need to scream at the injustice of it all. Just a strange, hollow emptiness where those feelings should have been.I stood in the doorway of my own home, watching my husband grope another woman while my son looked at me with pure disgust, and all I could think was how quiet everything had become inside my head.The silence was almost peaceful, like standing in the eye of a hurricane while everything around me spun into chaos.Without a word, I walked past them, my footsteps steady despite the pain radiating through my ribs. I headed toward the stairs, each step deliberate and measured."Hey!" Alex's voice cracked like a whip behind me. "Where do you think you're going?"I didn't answer. Didn't turn around. Just kept climbing, one hand gripping the bannister for support.The wood was smooth under my palm, worn from years of use. I focused on that sensation, on the familiar texture,

The morning light hurt my eyes when I opened them, streaming through unfamiliar curtains in a room that wasn't mine.Sophia's guest bedroom was small and cramped, nothing like the spacious master suite I'd left behind. But it felt like a cocoon where nothing could reach me.I tried to sit up and immediately regretted it. Pain shot through my ribs, reminding me that I was still broken in more ways than one."Stay down." Sophia appeared in the doorway carrying a tray with pills and water. "Doctor's orders, remember? Complete rest for at least two weeks."I took the medication she offered, swallowing the bitter pills with lukewarm water. Everything tasted like ash anyway, so what did it matter?"How long have I been asleep?" My voice came out rough and scratchy."Fourteen hours." She sat on the edge of the bed, her expression a mixture of relief and concern. "Your body needed it. You've been through hell, Krista."Hell. That was one word for it.I looked around the small room, taking in

The letter shook in my hands as I read it again, trying to make sense of words that didn't make sense.My mother was alive. She had been alive for twelve years while I mourned her death, while I grew up motherless."Krista?" Sophia's voice pulled me back to the present. "What is it? You look like you've seen a ghost.""My mother." The words came out strangled. "She's alive."Sophia crossed the room in three strides and took the letter from my trembling hands. I watched her face change as she read, shock giving way to confusion and then anger."Your father told you she died in a car accident when you were twelve," she said slowly."That's what he said." I pulled the shoebox closer, dumping its contents onto the coffee table. "But if there's one letter, there might be more."There were. Seven letters total, spanning six years, all from Elena Laurent in Milan. All unopened, hidden away by a father who'd lied to me my entire adult life.I tore through them with shaking hands, reading frag

Sophia was already dialing before I could stop her."Don't," I said."Too late." She pressed the phone to her ear, jaw set like concrete.I watched her pace the length of the living room. Three steps to the wall, three steps back. Her free hand curled into a fist at her side.Alex picked up on the second ring.Even from across the room, I could hear his voice. Smooth. Unbothered. The voice he used when he already knew how a conversation would end."Sophia." Just her name. Like she was mildly inconvenient."You sent men to break into my apartment." Her voice was ice. "You had them steal a laptop. We have you on security footage, Alex. Marcus Chen's face is right there on camera."A pause.Then he laughed.Not a nervous laugh. Not a caught laugh. A real one, low and easy, like she'd told a joke that wasn't quite funny enough to be impressive."Security footage of two men in dark clothing," he said. "That's what you have. Marcus Chen is a common name, Sophia. Good luck proving anything."