All Chapters of Ten Years of Make-Believe: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

When I opened my eyes again, the sky had gone completely dark.Outside the abandoned factory, there was nothing but the wind howling off the ocean. No doctor, no security team, just a phone buzzing nonstop beside me. Leah was gone.I lunged for the phone and answered it, practically shouting, "Adrian, where is Leah?"There was a pause on the other end before he said, "Security already took her back to Maple Ridge. There wasn't enough room in the car, so they took the child first. I had to go save Vera. I was planning to come back for you once everything was over."The tightness in my chest eased slightly. As long as Leah was safe, I didn't even want to ask why he'd left me here alone, battered and bleeding."Send a car for me. I need to see Leah right now."A woman's muffled groan came through the phone. Adrian's tone softened immediately. "Vera's hurt. I'm with her at the hospital. Get yourself a ride back."My knuckles whitened around the phone. "For that show you two staged, Leah an

Chapter 2

"Be back by eight. If you're late, don't expect to see Leah."The line went dead.I didn't dare waste a second. I dragged my injured leg out of the factory. My phone had no signal, and I couldn't get a ride that far out. I walked along the coastal highway for what felt like forever before I managed to flag down a delivery truck.By the time I reached Maple Ridge, it was nearly eight.Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the rooms blazed with light. A band played in the corner of the living room while the Cole family's friends, board members, and foundation donors mingled with champagne glasses in hand. Adrian stood at the center of the crowd holding four-year-old Mia, and Vera had changed into a flowing evening gown, with only a single thin bandage around her arm.My mother, Margaret, was there too.She took a small silver tiara from a jewelry box and placed it on Mia's head. It was a Walker family heirloom meant to be passed down to her granddaughter, one she had promised to give Lea

Chapter 3

When the slap landed on the child's face, the entire room went silent.Leah held her cheek, staring in disbelief at the grandmother who had always doted on her.Mom clearly regretted it. Her fingers trembled, but she turned all her guilt against me. "Look what you've taught this child to become!"Adrian had already helped Vera up, his eyes cold. "You grew up spoiled by the Walker family, used to everyone revolving around you. You have the family trust, your research career, your reputation. Why can't you make room for a woman who has nothing and a child?"He gripped my arm and dragged me toward the door. "You can leave. There's no place for you here anymore."I looked at this man who once waited for me outside the lab building on snowy nights, who once promised to protect me forever, and felt the very last trace of attachment drain away."Vera, you win." I took Leah's hand. "You can have Adrian. You can have my mother, too. I don't want either of them anymore."I turned to leave, but A

Chapter 4

Late at night, the estate finally fell quiet.I twisted the bedsheets into a rope and climbed out through the second-floor bathroom window. When I landed, my injured knee slammed against the stone steps, and I had to bite down on my sleeve to keep from crying out.After Adrian took Leah away, Vera had security lock down the guest wing. But I had grown up at Maple Ridge and knew about the service passage behind the old greenhouse.I dragged my leg, barely able to bend it, from room to room. The nursery was empty. So was the living room, even the nanny's room. I finally found Leah in the attic storage room.She was wrapped in a thin blanket, her cheeks burning red. She didn't respond no matter how many times I called her name."Leah, Mommy's here." I picked her up. When my hand touched her scorching forehead, my heart nearly shattered. "Don't be scared. I'm taking you to the hospital right now."I didn't care anymore whether I'd alert security. I carried her downstairs and rushed toward

Chapter 5

Adrian knelt at the railing, staring blankly into the empty valley.There was no sound of a fall or an impact, and no sign of Elena or Leah. The light had ripped through the darkness and vanished completely in a single second."Impossible," he murmured. "It must be a hallucination."But the sudden, splitting pain in his chest made it hard to breathe. He collapsed into the pooling rainwater, and for the first time, it truly hit him that Elena might not have been threatening him or using Leah to win him back.The kidnappers at the mountaintop had seen it too. They scrambled down the slope in terror, screaming, "She vanished!" and "She's not human!"Adrian lurched to his feet, grabbed the leader by the collar, and slammed his fist into the man's face. "Where is Elena? Where did you take her?""Tell me how much she paid you. I'll give you ten times, twenty times that. Just hand her over!"The man, his mouth full of blood, shook his head desperately. "Miss Walker didn't hire us. It was Vera

Chapter 6

In the beginning, what Adrian loved about Elena was her brightness and her warmth.She was born into the Walker family but never lived off her trust fund. After finishing her education, she joined the Grayport Biomedical Research Center and led a team studying a rare neurological disease in children.She often traveled for clinical collaborations, sometimes gone for weeks at a time. As Adrian's company expanded, he grew more and more accustomed to controlling everything, and less and less able to stand that she would not give him all her time.Once, the moment she returned from a trip, he asked with a cold expression, "Can't you just put the project on hold and stay home with me for a while? I can support this family on my own."Elena held his hand and explained patiently. "Your career is on track now, and I want to do something that's truly my own. Those children can't wait. I can't abandon research I've already started just because I'm married."He agreed out loud, but deep down he t

Chapter 7

I tried to open my eyes, but I couldn't.My body felt encased in heavy ice. I couldn't move even my fingertips. The steady beeping of medical equipment filled my ears, and the air smelled of disinfectant mingled with flowers.But I couldn't catch Leah's familiar milky scent.Fear nearly dragged me under again. It wasn't until much later that I finally heard her tearful voice. "Mommy, wake up. You promised you wouldn't leave me."I wanted to tell her that Mommy was right here, but my throat wouldn't make a sound.Gradually, my awareness grew sharper with each passing day. I knew I was back in my original world.Ten years ago, I had vanished near the old train station in St. Elm Bay. When the system brought Leah and me back, we appeared in the same spot. A clerk at a nearby store called 911, and the police confirmed my identity through a decade-old missing-person file.Leah was only five, with no birth records in this world. The hospital social workers couldn't explain where she came fro

Chapter 8

After regaining consciousness, I went through a long period of rehabilitation.At first, I needed help just to sit up. Then I could walk downstairs with a cane. Eventually, I began helping Noah organize orders and wrap bouquets at the shop, and I reconnected with nearby research institutes.Leah quickly adapted to life in St. Elm Bay. Every day after school, she'd run around between the flower buckets and ribbons, claiming she wanted to help but always leaving the counter in complete disarray.On her sixth birthday, we held a small party in the backyard of the flower shop.That night, after Leah finally fell asleep, Noah and I went back downstairs to clean up. As I turned off the last display light, he pulled a worn velvet box from his pocket.Inside was a small diamond ring. The stone was modest, but engraved on the inner band were two dates: the day I disappeared and the day I woke up.Noah dropped to one knee, his eyes glistening. "Elena, I've been in love with you for years, and I'

Chapter 9

I looked at him coldly. "We don't have a home to go back to."At the cannery, you knew Leah and I could get hurt, and you still let those men finish the show. On Black Pine Mountain, you saw your child unconscious and carried Vera away. Adrian, what happened between us wasn't a misunderstanding. You chose to hurt me, again and again, with your eyes wide open."I will not forgive you, and I will not let Leah go back to you."The pleading in Adrian's eyes slowly hardened into resentment. "You won't come back because of him, is that it? You planned all along to return to this world and be with Noah, didn't you?"Noah pushed the door open and placed himself between us and Adrian. "She doesn't owe you an explanation. The police are on their way. You should leave."A shrill cry suddenly cut through the rain."Adrian!"A hunched, frail woman stumbled to the flower shop entrance. Severe scars covered her face, and her arms were layered with old and fresh wounds. It took me a long time to recog

SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP