Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 41 - Chapitre 50

The moment I stepped into the center of the living room, the atmosphere shifted from festive to suffocating.The awkwardness lingered and crawled straight down the base of my spine like a colony of freezing ants.Guilt, heavy and sharp, twisted my insides into knots the second Mr. Wade’s kids swarmed me."Jessica!"Ten-year-old Toby grabbed my hand, while the twins immediately started chattering about their school projects. And then came Kiara. Stepping up with that warm, maternal smile she had worn for me since I was knee-high, she wrapped her arms around my shoulders, pressing a soft kiss to my temple."Look at you, sweetheart," Kiara murmured, her voice dripping with genuine affection. "You're getting so thin. Are you even eating enough at college? Noah, doesn't she look a little pale to you?"Across the room, standing beside the wet bar, my father chuckled, raising his glass of scotch in a toast. "She's just stressed about finals, Kiara! Leave her be. The girl has her mother's st

"I’m... I’m sorry, I'm so sorry," Henrietta murmured.Her shaky hands were completely obvious now, trembling violently against the fabric of her silk trench coat. She slowly reached out, her fingers twitching as if she wanted to touch my bruised cheek, but the moment she saw the cold, murderous venom frozen in my expression, she froze and slowly withdrew her hand.I didn't flinch. I didn't step back. Instead, in a move that shocked even me, I lunged forward, wrapping my arms tightly around her waist in a fierce, crushing embrace.Anyone looking through the heavy glass panes of the study door from the hallway would have thought it was a tearful, heartwarming mother-daughter reunion. They would have thought we were finally making up after years of heartbreak.The reverse couldn't have been more violently true.As I buried my face against her shoulder, my lips brushed right against her ear, and I whispered the words like shards of shattered glass."If you're truly sorry, Henrietta... th

Emilian blinked sleepily against the harsh morning light of the grand foyer, lazily running a manicured hand through her tousled hair as she dangled a pair of designer heels from two fingers. She looked down at me from the staircase like I was a particularly annoying bug she had scraped off the bottom of her shoe."Oh, look," Emilian drawled, her voice dripping with a sickening, honeyed amusement that could cut glass. "The neighborhood stray finally found its way back to the porch. Did you sleep in a dumpster last night, Jessica, or is the homeless chic look a deliberate choice for your little morning walk?"Mrs. Adams didn't even blink at the sight of a half-naked girl standing on her staircase at ten in the morning; she just smoothed the lapel of her Chanel suit, looking entirely unbothered."Take your hands off her," Aaron commanded coldly, his dark eyes shifting from his mother to the two guards still gripping my arms.The guards instantly released me, stepping back into a rigid f

The massive projection screen blared, but there was no sex tape.Instead, bouncing across the ten-foot display in vibrant, high-definition color, was Spongebob Squarepants flipping a Krabby Patty with a cheerful, squeaky laugh echoing through the dead-silent lecture hall.For three agonizing seconds, nobody moved.Then, the back row erupted."Is that... is Spongebob our final thesis?!" a jock yelled out, before the entire room exploded into howling, side-splitting laughter. Students clapped their hands, pointing at the screen, tears of amusement streaming down their faces as the iconic yellow sponge danced on loop.My stomach dropped into my shoes, the initial terror instantly replaced by a scorching, blinding wave of pure humiliation.A cartoon. Someone had swapped my flash drive on purpose. Someone had meticulously arranged this exact setup to turn me into a total clown in front of the most powerful academic board in California. At the front table, the Vice Chancellor’s face turned

The heavy front door clicked shut behind me, the hollow echo bouncing off the walls of an empty house.I stood in the center of the quiet foyer, still clutching my half-million-dollar novelty check in one hand and my heavy crystal plaque in the other. My father’s car wasn't in the driveway.Casper stepped out from the hallway, looking apologetic as he adjusted his jacket. "Miss Jessica... your father called. Another emergency at the corporate office. They pulled him back in for the final promotion sign-off."I didn't say anything. I just stared at him, the weight of the day crashing down so hard my knees felt like lead."Is he coming home tonight?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.Casper winced. "He said he’ll try, miss. But... it might be late.""Right. Of course."I walked upstairs in a daze, pushed open the door to my bedroom, and let the plaque drop heavily onto my vanity desk. The room was dark, illuminated only by the faint blue glow of my posters. Burna Boy’s face star