Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 11 - Chapitre 17

NOORIA The deep, dangerous voice comes from the shadows beside the bed.Valentino is sitting in the armchair, fully dressed, one leg crossed over the other, watching me with storm-gray eyes that see straight through every lie I’m about to tell.My heart slams against my ribs so hard I’m sure he can hear it. The bedroom lights I just turned on cast long shadows across his face, sharpening the scar through his left eyebrow and turning his gray eyes almost black. He doesn’t move. He doesn’t raise his voice. He just sits there like a king who already knows every secret I’m carrying.A closer look at him shows me the scar is fainter and smaller. What the fuck! “Where were you?” he asks again, softer this time. Almost gentle. That gentleness shocks me more than any shout ever could.I swallow hard, fingers twisting in the hem of the oversized black dress shirt I’m still wearing. “I… I went to see my family. My father called. He summoned me home. I didn’t think…”“You didn’t think.” He cut

NOORIA.White.Everything is fucking white.The ceiling above me is blindingly white, smooth and sterile, with a single recessed light that hums softly like it’s mocking me. My eyelids feel heavy, glued shut, but I force them open wider. Am I dead? Is this what death looks like, an endless white room with no edges and no escape?My chest aches. My throat is dry. Something beeps steadily to my left, rhythmic and annoying. I try to turn my head, but the movement sends a dull throb through my skull. I blink again, slower this time, and the world starts to sharpen.Voices.I hear voices; soft, worried, familiar.Fi and Mikky.If I’m dead, does that mean they’re dead too? Did Valentino come for them after he shot me? The image flashes behind my eyes again — his gun pointed straight at my face, the cold click of the trigger. My stomach lurches. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to push the nightmare away, but it only makes the beeping louder.“Nooria? Hey, she’s waking up.”Fi’s voice is clos

NOORIA “I am sorry, but I couldn't find anything regarding the number," the man I'm assuming to be Carlos says, shaking his head. “It's an encrypted address and no matter how hard I dig in, I meet a dead end." I wrap my arms tighter around me and curl up further into the sofa. I couldn't go to bed alone knowing someone wants to kill me so I pleaded with Valentino if I could stay in his office while he works. Surprise, surprise, he actually said yes. Now I'm curled up in a scared little ball on his sofa watching him work. This is my first time in his office and I must say, I'm a little impressed. I expected his office to be all bland and boring like his heart. But it's rather fascinating to look at. There's a medium sized bookshelf with rows and rows of books I doubt he even reads. The sofa I'm sitting on is placed at the left side of the office, pushed to lean against the wall, directly opposite the bookshelf.His large mahogany bed is placed in the middle of the room, filled w

NOORIA The sound of my mother's voice opens the door of panic that I've been trying to keep shut since I stepped out of the car. I claw at Hussain's hands, my eyes silently pleading with him to let me go. “Nooria?" Mama's knock came again, louder this time and more urgent. “Your husband is here! You didn't tell us he will be coming and Assad is seconds away from killing him." Valentino is…here? Oh fuck! “Le…t…me go…y…you mons…ter!” I manage to speak trying to get his hands off me. The freak doesn't move, he barely chuckles and leans in so close that his lips almost touch mine. I try to shift my head away, but his grip on my neck makes it impossible to move and I'm stuck with the horrible possibility of kissing him. " Don't you think this is fun?” He asks, darting out his lips to lick the corner of my lips thesame way he did years ago. " Your mother walks in and sees her all so righteous and holy daughter in the arms of another man, her sister's fiance at that.* He laughs lowky li