Semua Bab Lovely Little Liar : Bab 91 - Bab 100

THIRD PERSON PovThe gates swallowed the convoy and the compound went quiet.Staff moved back from the entrance as the SUVs came to a stop. The rear door opened and Arianna stepped out.She looked for Nikolai's car.It had not stopped. It was already moving again, going past the entrance, back through the gates, disappearing into the street without pause. She stood and watched its taillights go and some expression crossed her face that was not quite relief.Two female attendants appeared at her side. A bodyguard was behind them."If you'll come with us, Miss Costa." The older woman said "Where?"Nobody answered, they simply waited patiently. She followed them.The hallway they took was one she hadn't walked before. It was deeper into the east wing, and quieter with every turn. The rooms thinned. The art on the walls became less frequent. At the end of a corridor that felt like the end of something, one of the attendants opened a door.The room was beautiful.The cream walls, the gard

ARIANNA POVThe sheets were still warm for a while. I sat on the edge of the bed with my knees drawn up and looked at the empty space beside me and tried to remember the last time I had felt this kind of quiet. He had left without a word.He didn't glance back, no pause at the door, nothing that acknowledged what had just happened between us beyond the fact of his departure.I exhaled slowly. Then I got up and found my clothes and dressed, and went to find my son.Noah's door was slightly open.I pushed it wider, slipped inside and stood for a moment just looking at him on his side, with one arm tucked under the pillow. He always looked like this when he slept.I crossed the room, sat on the edge of his mattress, leaned down and pressed my lips to his forehead."I'm sorry," I whispered. The words were barely sound. "One day everything will be fine. I promise."I stayed bent over him for longer than made sense. Then I sat back and let my fingers move through his hair and thought about

Third Person POV The morning at Noah’s kindergarten was bright and full of noise. Sunlight poured across the playground and the front steps. Parents dropped off children in a steady stream of cars and hand-holding. Teachers moved between groups with clipboards and warm voices. Children laughed, chased each other, and showed off new shoes or drawings they had made at home. It was picture day. The school had put up small signs near the entrance and the air felt lighter than usual, full of the cheerful fuss that came with special occasions. Noah was already inside. He had arrived early with the driver and the two bodyguards who usually waited at a distance. He hung his bag on his hook and went straight to the low tables where his class sat. No one paid special attention to him beyond the usual care the staff gave every child. He laughed with another little boy over a shared set of building blocks, the sound easy and free. No one knew that someone had entered the school with a purpose t

THIRD PERSON The Volkov Group building was the kind of place that had been designed to make everyone inside it feel the weight of who owned it. The revolving doors turned continuously. In the reception area, assistants moved, busy with their various works. The private elevator opened and Nikolai walked out. He nodded at the greetings and kept moving. For three seconds on the walk to the boardroom, his thoughts went back to the mansion. Arianna on the floor. The maid's face. Noah in the corridor with that terrible expression. He had left because the nurse said to leave, that there was no immediate danger. Suddenly, he remembered her word on the street the other day: *Punish me instead*. Every word she had produced in Rafael's defense. His jaw tightened. He pushed both thoughts aside and walked into the boardroom. The meeting ran two hours and twelve minutes. Figures were on screens, reports on paper. Nikolai asked them things. He was thorough but left no ambiguity about the sta

THIRD PERSON The hospital was a private, and quiet one, the reception area was large, the lighting was warm. Everything about it said your person is being taken care of. Nikolai had not spoken on the drive over. He had sat in the back of the car and looked at the city going past and tried to be honest with himself about what he felt, which was more difficult than it should have been. He had filed the divorce papers in his head months before he had said the words out loud. He had known that needed to be made, that the marriage was not something he intended to continue. None of that had made the phone call easier to receive. She was still legally his wife. And there was the human part of it, and the five years of a marriage that had never been what either of them needed. He walked into the hospital and followed the signs to the emergency ward. Konstantin was already outside the door. Beside him stood a woman Nikolai recognized as Arande's mother. She looked elegant even in distres