All Chapters of MY LONG LOST LOVE: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Chapter 19 — The Man Everyone Blamed Miyaka read the sentence again. Then again. He is not the man everyone thinks he is. Her fingers tightened around the edge of the notebook. For years, Adrian Valmont had existed in her mind as nothing more than a name attached to old stories. A businessman. A dangerous man. Someone who had been involved with both the Laurent and Reyes families before disappearing under circumstances nobody could properly explain. Now his name was written in her father's handwriting. Not beneath a warning. Not beside an accusation. But beside a sentence that sounded almost like a defense. Miyaka sat down on the floor. The house was completely silent around her. She turned the page carefully. The next few entries were dated within the same month. Most were short. Some had been crossed out. Others were written so hastily that the ink had scratched into the paper. Valmont approached me again. He says the information was never about money. Miyaka frown

Chapter 23 — The House at San AurelioThey left before sunrise.Miyaka barely slept.Every time she closed her eyes, she saw her mother's face on the security monitor.Not the face she remembered from the funeral.Not the woman frozen inside an old photograph.The woman standing beneath the porch light.Older.Alive.Or at least alive enough to make Miyaka question everything she had believed for twelve years.She sat in the passenger seat of Moises's car while Jason followed behind them.The road toward San Aurelio became quieter as the city disappeared behind them.Buildings gave way to fields.Then trees.Then long stretches of empty road.Miyaka watched the landscape through the window.“I remember coming here once.”Moises glanced at her.“To San Aurelio?”She nodded.“My father brought me when I was little.”“Do you remember why?”“No.”She frowned.“Maybe I was five.”Moises kept driving.“Your father brought you here?”“Yes.”“Do you remember the house?”“Not exactly.”She clo

Chapter 25 — The One She Was Told Not to TrustThe words seemed to glow in the darkness.If Miyaka ever discovers the truth about the three families, she must never trust the person who brings her back to the tree.Miyaka read them twice.Then a third time.She didn't look at Moises immediately.She couldn't.Her mind was moving too quickly.Every moment since he had returned began replaying itself.The first meeting.His cold expression.The way he pretended not to know her.The way he had somehow known when she was in danger.The way he had brought her back to the mango tree.The way he had kept her childhood belongings.The way he had said he never stopped remembering her.And now this.Jason broke the silence.“Maybe we shouldn't assume it means Moises.”Miyaka finally looked up.Daniel's expression remained unreadable.Moises stared at the notebook.“You knew about this?”Daniel shook his head.“I've never seen this page.”“Then how do you know it's real?”“Because that's your fa

Chapter 27 — The Door I Was Told to ForgetThe stranger was gone.Miyaka stood exactly where he had left her, staring into the dark passage as if looking hard enough could somehow bring him back.Nobody spoke.The tunnel seemed impossibly quiet now. The faint hum of the emergency lights above them was the only sound, along with the uneven rhythm of Miyaka's breathing.Her mother was alive.Or had been alive.The woman buried twelve years ago might not have been her mother.She had been five when something happened beneath the mango tree.And somehow, according to a man who seemed to know far too much about her childhood, her father had made sure she forgot it.Miyaka pressed both hands against her temples.“I can't do this.”Jason looked at her.“Miyaka…”“No.” She shook her head. “I seriously can't.”Her voice trembled.“Just—give me one minute.”Nobody moved.She closed her eyes.One minute.She needed one minute where nobody told her another secret.One minute where Moises wasn't s

CHAPTER 29The Hand I Was HoldingThe gunshot tore through the tunnel.Miyaka screamed.For one terrible second, she couldn't see anything.The lights were gone.The darkness was complete.Someone crashed into the wall.“Down!”Moises pulled her hard against him.Another shot rang out.This one sounded farther away.Miyaka's heart slammed against her ribs.She could barely breathe.“Moises?”“I'm here.”His voice was right beside her.She suddenly remembered her mother's warning.Don't trust the person holding your hand.Her fingers were still wrapped around his.She pulled away.Moises immediately released her.“Miyaka?”“I—”She couldn't explain.Not yet.Somewhere in the darkness, Jason shouted.“Daniel!”“I’m here!”“Where's the door?”“Behind you!”A scraping sound followed.Then a metallic click.Jason swore.“Everyone stay down.”Miyaka crouched instinctively.Moises stayed close without touching her.That somehow made the fear worse.Because she didn't know what to believe any