บททั้งหมดของ The Bait, The Ruin: บทที่ 21 - บทที่ 30

DAHLIA'S POV “Hey, baby, how does it taste?” I ask softly as I hand Cleo one of the cakes.“It’s tasty,” she says slowly, chewing with care before taking another big bite. “And yummy. Dad would love it. Can we keep some for him and Robert?”The smile on my face starts to fade.I don’t know how long I can keep doing this, playing along and pretending everything is okay. When will she remember…“They’ll enjoy it,” I whisper, leaning forward to peck her cheek. I wipe a little frosting from the corner of her lips with my thumb.Daddy.The word repeats again in my head, louder this time.My eyes drift to the phone sitting on the counter near the wine cellar. I stare at it for a moment, then quickly look away, shaking my head as if I can physically throw the thought out of my mind.What am I even thinking?He doesn’t have my number. And even if he did… Why would he call me? Why would he care?It would just be another useless contact in his phone, something he would never open, or think abo

DAHLIA’S POVNani knows the password to the main entrance, but not that of his private underground garage door, it seems.She enters the house sweating profusely, making me wonder for a second if the AC in her car has issues. But no… that’s far from it. I don’t think twice before pulling her into a hug, wrapping my arms around her tightly. I tell myself I am giving her support, but if I’m being honest, I am helping myself more than her.“He’s not back yet? What could be keeping him? And his line has never been unavailable before,” she says anxiously as soon as she pulls away, already pacing the sitting room like she can’t stay still.“Hey, calm down. He might just be caught up with something…” I try to reassure her, even though I don’t fully believe my own words.“You don’t understand. He…” she suddenly stops, like she almost said something she shouldn’t have. She exhales and walks to the wine shelf instead, pulling out a glass from behind the counter.“Do you care for some?” she ask

DAHLIA'S POVI couldn’t sleep. Everything keeps replaying in my head.What happened… What almost happened. Our argument. The way he looked at me. The things he said about my mother.It keeps going round and round, like a broken record that refuses to stop no matter how much I try to shut it off.I want to make sense of it. I really do. I want to sit down and piece everything together, find logic in the madness, understand why my chest feels so tight whenever I think of him.But I’ve learned not to do that.Not anymore.Overthinking is dangerous. It drags you into places you can’t escape from. It makes you see things that might not even be there. It breaks you slowly, piece by piece, until there’s nothing left.That’s how I survived.From the moment everything changed in my family… when I was still just a little girl who didn’t understand why adults screamed at each other behind closed doors, why smiles became forced, why love suddenly felt like a lie.I chose a side.I chose to hate m

DAHLIA'S POVI hate him as much as he hates me. I know this the moment he makes that remark, looking me straight in the eyes without a single slip of emotion, like I am nothing more than a problem he is forced to deal with. I already knew this from the very first time our eyes met, from the way his gaze cut through me like I was something he didn’t want near him, but I don’t know why it hurts like this now. It feels like something sharp poking at an open wound, like pressing your finger too hard against a bruise you pretend doesn’t exist. The pain shoots straight to the back of your head, then spreads through your entire body, curling your toes and making your eyes sting with tears you'll refuse to let fall. It is stupid, completely stupid, because I shouldn’t care what he thinks of me. I shouldn’t care how he looks at me. But I do, and that is the worst part.“I didn’t tell him where I am.” The words leave my mouth in an incoherent whisper, like I am trying to defend myself even w

DAHLIA'S POV“If you knew how much I’m trying to stand still and not take you right now, you’d leave me alone.”Nothing, absolutely nothing could have prepared me for that kind of declaration from Wellington Chane.The words sink deep, echoing inside my chest, stirring something I thought had died a long time ago. And even though every instinct in me screams that this is the moment to turn around, to run, to put as much distance between us as possible…My legs refuse to move.They stay rooted to the smooth tiled floor of the rooftop, as if something invisible is holding me in place.Not just that, my eyes betray me too.They search his face first, as if looking for proof that he didn’t just say that. Then they move to his eyes… dark, intense, burning with something I don’t fully understand.And then… his mouth and my breath catches.Because he’s looking at me the same way.His gaze drops to my lips, slow, deliberate, like he’s fighting himself. Like every second is a battle he’s losin