All Chapters of BEHIND THE MASK (DARK ROMANCE): Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

121 Chapters

LOST IN PLEASURE

I told myself the dating profile was just for revenge. A petty swipe at James.But now, every night, I found myself staring at my phone, waiting for him to write.His username was common, nothing flashy like the men in my life that were all about control. Ping, it was a text from this username again.Caden_88: You look like a woman who knows what she wants.I texted back, “What makes you think I'll give it to you?” Caden_88: Because I would rather not own you. I want to see who you really are.Every word from him felt like a hook sliding deeper. He didn’t ask for nudes. He asked about my childhood, my first heartbreak, and my favorite smell. He made me feel seen in a way James never did.I typed with trembling fingers, “Why do you sound like you already know me?”No reply.James stirred beside me, asleep, oblivious. I rolled onto my back, staring at the ceiling. I’d promised myself no more secrets, yet here I was texting a stranger in the dark while my husband breathed next to me. I

BOUNDED BY MY BLACKMAILER

I woke up the next day not knowing what it held for me. My marriage was on the verge of collapsing; the perfect life was an illusion. How would I even tell my family? By the time I was finally single, now my sexuality was to be questioned too.James has left the house today. I was going to check the building James gave me and start furnishing my apartment; it felt like a dream to me.When you arrived at the villa, it was so fine and lovely an elderly woman was already cleaning, and some workers kept on whispering things. “Madam looks so fine, yet she can't keep a man,” one said. “Didn't you hear he took another lady to the hospital, and she seems pregnant for him?” the other one added.“Hmmmm…” I coughed; hearing my voice, they all looked frightened. “So what were you saying? Continue,” I said. “Sorry, Ma,” they apologized. I hissed and walked away. I was going to drive every one of them when the villa had been put in order.On my way back, just then, my car stopped, making me panic

BETRAYING MY HUSBAND

The fourth night blurred into the fifth, and then, suddenly, I was back in my clothes, standing outside like nothing had happened. My phone buzzed with James’s messages, but I felt nothing.He had finally filed for divorce. Good for him.That afternoon a driver came to fetch me. James had “reported” me to his parents. I almost laughed; the man who’d been running around impregnating strangers was suddenly the victim, reminding me that this was a man's world. I went anyway, wanting to see the performance and what his parents had to say.Their house smelled of money and old perfume. James’s mother sat stiff and regal, pearls at her throat, a look of polite disgust in her eyes. His father didn’t bother hiding his contempt. James lounged in a corner like the wronged saint he was pretending to be.“Mariam,” his mother began, voices slightly raised the moment I entered. “Mother, I hope you're doing okay,” I greeted her, which she ignored. “We think it’s time you stopped this… behavior.” Jam

REGRETS AND BETRAYAL

“No. I’m not going home.” The words slurred a little on my tongue, but I said them loud enough for half the bar to hear. “You’re always watching me. Why are you so obsessed with me?” My voice rose higher than I intended. Heads turned. Glasses paused halfway to mouths. A low ripple of curiosity spread across the room.He didn’t answer. He just stood there in the black mask, calm and silent, while the music thumped in the background. My pulse beat harder.“Don’t you dare drag me out like some toy.” I tried to back away, but his hand held my wrist firmly. Heat rolled up my arm from his grip. My heart jumped into my throat.“Enough,” he said softly. The softness was worse than a shout.Before I could pull free, he moved. In one smooth motion he lifted me off the chair as if I weighed nothing. A startled gasp broke from my lips. Someone at a nearby table muttered, but nobody stepped in. His shoulder pressed into my stomach as he hoisted me up, my hair spilling over my face, the hem of my d

THE WITNESS

The door gave way with the faintest whisper, a sound swallowed instantly by the room beyond.James slipped through the gap, his pulse roaring a frantic counterpoint to the silence. The air was thick, heavy with the amber light of scattered candles and the hazy, intoxicating scent of frankincense, wine, and sweat.His eyes adjusted, and what he saw hollowed the breath from his chest.Mariam.What he saw wasn’t chaos; it was absolute control. Hers.The same woman who had once trembled under his authority now ruled the space like a queen on her throne. Her chin was tilted, her voice a low whisper that still carried through the room like smoke rising to a vaulted ceiling. She touched Darius, not with affection, but with a claim that left no doubt who held the leash between them.James couldn’t look away. It was more than lust; there was a frightening power in her gestures, a deliberate rhythm that made the very air vibrate. Every movement spoke of everything she’d hidden from him:

DISTANCE BETWEEN THE MASK

Morning came too soon. I woke to the absence of Darius as usual. You never tell when he arrives and when he leaves.The first thing I felt was the ache—not of pain, but of presence. My body remembered before my mind caught up. The scent of last night still clung to the sheets: smoke, sweat, and the faint trace of Darius’s cologne, like an unfinished sentence whispered against my skin.When I opened my eyes, the room was hollow. The candles had burned to puddles of wax; the curtains breathed gently with the wind. For a moment, I didn’t move. The silence pressed against me like a body of its own.James’s face flickered through my mind, his eyes when he saw me. That look. I could still feel it, like a ghost watching from the doorway. A part of me wanted to chase him, to explain something I hadn’t even admitted to myself. Another part was darker, quieter and wanted him to carry that image forever.He had left me unseen for years. Now, I wanted that vision of me to haunt him.I sat up slow

JEALOUSY BENEATH THE MASK

The message arrived just after sunset, five words, nothing more. I hadn’t gone home to James—if he was even there. I was still in that damn room where I had unlocked a part of myself I didn’t know existed.Come to me. Room 609. Dark Rose.No name. No punctuation. Only the chill that always seemed to follow Darius’s words, as though the air itself bowed to his will.I sat for several minutes staring at the text, the room around me fading to a blur. The silence felt like a dare. I should have deleted it, blocked the number, ended this descent before it swallowed me whole. But my body betrayed me first—the tiny tremor in my fingers, the hardness of my nipples standing attention, the slow, heavy tightening in my chest. I was already standing before my mind caught up.The drive to the hotel passed in a kind of trance. The road glittered in the windshield—indifferent, alive, neon veins pulsing through the city. I could almost hear my heartbeat sync with the traffic lights. By the time

THE MONSTER YOU MADE

The drive home felt endless.Every red light seemed to hold me in place, as if the city itself wanted to prolong my reckoning. I kept replaying the sound of my name from Darius’s lips, the way it broke through everything I’d built to survive. It wasn’t supposed to be possible—he shouldn’t have known it. That name belonged to a girl I buried long ago.By the time I pulled into the driveway, my pulse had settled into a dull, exhausted ache. The house loomed quiet, but one light burned in the living room—a warm, steady glow that told me James was still awake. The curtains were half-drawn, and through them I could see the glint of a whiskey bottle on the table.I wanted to turn back. But there was nowhere else to go.The door gave a soft creak as I stepped inside. The smell hit first—whiskey, sharp and burnt, mixed with the faint musk of sweat. James sat hunched forward on the couch, glass dangling from his fingers, his tie loose, his shirt half unbuttoned. His eyes were bloodshot, b

SHATTERED MOMENTS

The silence in the living room stretched like a tight thread, ready to snap. Neither of us spoke for a long time. The whiskey sat untouched between us, the amber liquid catching the soft light, glinting like trapped fire.James’s last words still rang in my head—He’s the one who put the mask on in the first place.I didn’t know what that meant, not yet, but the weight of it sat heavy between us.I should have asked more. I should have demanded answers. But exhaustion took over—the kind that seeps into your bones and numbs everything. We were two people stripped bare, not by lust this time, but by truth.I sank slowly into the couch beside him. Neither of us moved at first. The air between us trembled with something fragile and familiar.James turned his head, eyes red-rimmed, voice barely above a whisper. “When did we become this, Mariam?”I let out a small, bitter laugh. “Maybe when we stopped being honest.”His gaze searched mine, slow and unsteady, as if trying to find something he

WOLVES AT THE DOOR

The pounding grew louder, heavier.Flashbulbs cut through the blinds like lightning, every strike followed by muffled voices calling James’s name. The sound didn’t belong here—not in this quiet house that had once been a sanctuary. Now it felt like a crime scene waiting to be photographed.“James!”“Mr. James, we just need a statement!”“Is it true your wife leaked the footage and also reported you to your company?”Each question hit the air like a bullet.James stood frozen by the window, his fingers gripping the curtain edge so tight his knuckles turned white. His reflection glared back at him—sweat on his temples, collar wrinkled, eyes wide with the kind of fear that only comes when you’ve lost control of your own story.“Mariam,” he said quietly, without turning. “You did this.”His words weren’t a question. They were an accusation wrapped in disbelief.I took a step forward, then stopped. My pulse hammered against my ribs.“I didn’t tell them anything,” I whispered. “Not

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