บททั้งหมดของ The Woman I Became After You: บทที่ 1 - บทที่ 10

I stood in front of the mirror, adjusting the sleeves of my dark blue dress while trying to hide the smile tugging at my lips. Victor’s message had filled my heart with hope: I will be home before nine. Please dress nicely. I have something important to tell you. Those words had stayed with me all afternoon, replaying themselves over and over until I could recite them in my sleep.For six years, Victor Hale had been the man I loved, the man I trusted, and the man I believed I would spend the rest of my life with. My best friend, Nora Bennett, had been the first person to guess what I was thinking. “You sound like you are expecting a proposal,” she had said when I called her earlier that day. I laughed and denied it, but deep inside, I hoped with everything in me that she was right.Victor and I had shared difficult months together, family problems, quiet celebrations, and dreams we had built side by side. I had stood beside him when his business was struggling and encouraged him whene

I barely slept after receiving the message. All night, I kept turning the words over in my mind. You should have left Victor long before last night. Who was this person? How did they know about me and Victor? Why did they believe I needed to know why he had chosen Sophia?By morning, I had convinced myself that I should ignore the message, telling myself that whatever secret Victor was hiding was no longer my problem. I had already lost enough in one night, and I did not want to give him another piece of my peace. But every time I tried to forget about it, the same question returned. Why had a stranger contacted me?I was sitting at Nora’s kitchen table when she walked in with two cups of coffee. “You look like you did not sleep.”“I did not.”She placed the coffee in front of me and sat across from me. “Did Victor call again?”I shook my head. “No. But I received a strange message.” I handed her my phone, and Nora read it twice, her expression growing serious. “Do you know who sent t

I could not take my eyes away from the message on my phone. Because Victor is not the person you should be afraid of. I read it again, hoping I had misunderstood it, but the words remained exactly the same. Nora stood beside me, staring through the window at the black car parked across the street.“Do you think that man is still there?” she asked.“I do not know.”She moved closer to the curtains and looked outside again. “He is gone.”I slowly released the breath I had been holding. “Maybe we should leave.”Nora turned toward me. “Where would we go?”“I do not know.”I looked around my grandmother’s old house. A few minutes earlier, being there had made me feel safe, but now every room seemed to hold another secret. My father’s letter was still in my hand, and I read the line again. If Adrian Cross ever comes looking for you, listen to him before you trust anyone else. I could not understand why my father had written those words. He had died five years ago, and I had believed I knew

I did not sleep after Adrian told me that Victor had been arrested. I sat on the edge of the guest bed and stared at the wall, trying to understand how my life had changed so quickly. Two nights earlier, I had been waiting for the man I loved to come home with an engagement ring, and now that same man was sitting in a police station, accused of having something to do with my father’s death. I wanted to believe it was impossible. I wanted to believe that Victor had been many things, but never a murderer. Unfortunately, I had already learned that wanting something to be true did not make it true.There was a soft knock on my door, and I looked up to see Adrian standing outside. “You should get some rest,” he said.“I cannot.”“I know.” He remained near the doorway instead of entering. “You do not have to see Victor.”“I know.”“But if you decide to see him, I will take you there.”I looked at him. “Why are you allowing me to make that decision?”“Because it is your life.”His answer sur

The door shook again, and I felt my heart jump into my throat as someone tried to break into the office. I held the folder tightly against my chest while Adrian stood between me and the door. “Stay behind me,” he whispered, and I nodded.The lights were still off, and the only light in the room came from the city outside the windows. I could barely see Adrian’s face, but I could feel the tension in his body. The door shook again, and then the lock broke. Adrian grabbed my hand. “Run.”We moved toward the private entrance at the back of his office, and I tried to keep up with him even though my legs felt weak. A loud crash came from behind us as they entered the room, and when I looked back I saw two men standing in the darkness. One of them raised his arm, and I heard something hit the wall beside me. Adrian pulled me down. “Keep moving.”We ran through the private hallway, my heart pounding so hard that I could barely breathe, while Adrian kept hold of my hand the entire time. We rea