Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 31 - Chapitre 40

I stood barefoot in the kitchen, silk robe slipping off one shoulder, staring at the city lights that refused to care. My mother’s words from yesterday kept looping in my head like a broken record. Stage four. Not much time left. The way she tried to smile through it, like cancer was just another secret we could bury with the rest of them. My chest felt hollow, like someone had scooped everything out and left only this heavy, aching void.I gripped the marble counter until my knuckles turned white. Tears slipped down my cheeks again, hot and silent. I thought I had cried them all out in the hospital, but apparently my body had an endless supply.*Why her? After everything she sacrificed, after all the lies and the blackmail and the Vegas mess… this is how it ends?*I didn’t hear Damian come in. One second I was alone with my thoughts, the next his bare chest was pressed against my back, warm and solid, his arms sliding around my waist like he could hold the pieces of me together.“I k

The hospital corridor smelled like bleach and lilies. I clutched the tiny USB drive in my fist so hard the plastic edges dug into my palm. My mother’s words kept echoing: 'Watch it alone first.' I could still feel the weight of her hand in mine, the way her fingers had trembled when she pressed the drive into my palm.I stepped into the elevator alone. The doors slid shut and I leaned against the mirrored wall, staring at my own reflection. Eyes red. Lips pressed tight. The woman looking back at me looked like she was one breath away from breaking.'What the hell is on this thing?'When I stepped outside, Damian was waiting exactly where he said he would be, leaning against the car, arms crossed, eyes scanning every face that left the building until they landed on me. The second he saw me he straightened, opening the passenger door before I even reached him.I slid in without a word. He got behind the wheel, started the engine, but didn’t pull away. Instead he turned to me, one hand r

I woke up with Damian’s arm locked around my waist like he was afraid I’d disappear in the night. The USB drive still sat on the nightstand, a small black rectangle that now felt heavier than the entire city outside our windows. Sunlight cut across the bed in sharp lines, but nothing felt bright. Everything felt burned.I turned slowly so I could see his face. His eyes were already open, staring at the ceiling like it owed him answers. The man who usually looked like he owned the world looked stripped raw this morning.“You watched it with me,” I whispered. “You saw what she did.”He didn’t speak right away. His fingers traced a slow line down my spine, not sexual, just… grounding. “I saw my own sister stand over us while we slept. I heard her call me her little brother and then try to erase you from my life like you were nothing.”His voice cracked on the last word. I pressed my palm to his chest, feeling his heart slam against my hand.“She didn’t just want the company,” I said soft

The elevator doors opened on the agency’s top floor and we stepped out like we were walking into a war zone. Damian’s hand stayed locked on the small of my back, guiding me straight to the private conference room at the end of the hall. My pulse was still racing from the car chase, from the photo Victoria had sent, from the way she had called me “little sister” like it was a promise and a threat at the same time.I locked the door behind us the second we were inside. Damian already had the USB plugged into the large screen on the wall. The room was dim, the blinds drawn, the only light coming from the glow of the monitor.“Play it,” I said, voice steadier than I felt. “All of it. No more secrets.”He hit play.The footage continued exactly where we had stopped last night. Victoria standing over the sleeping Damian, her fingers brushing his hair with a tenderness that made my skin crawl. But this time the camera kept rolling.She turned to the lens, smiled straight into it, and spoke c

The conference room felt smaller the second Damian’s father spoke.“I was wondering when you’d finally find out.”The old man’s voice was calm, almost tired, like he had been carrying this secret for years and was relieved it was finally out. Damian’s hand tightened around mine until I felt the bones press together.“Find out what, exactly?” Damian asked, voice dangerously low. “That my own sister drugged me in Vegas? That she erased an entire night of my life so she could keep me like some twisted prize? Or that she’s been poisoning my daughter’s medical records for four years just to control me?”There was a long pause on the other end.Then the old man sighed. “All of it. And more.”I felt the floor tilt under my feet. Damian’s entire body went rigid beside me.“Explain,” Damian said. It wasn’t a request.His father’s voice dropped, heavy with regret. “Victoria has been obsessed with you since she was a teenager. Not as a sister. As something… else. Your mother and I saw the signs