บททั้งหมดของ Apocalypse Reborn: My Family Begged But I Shut The Gates: บทที่ 41 - บทที่ 50

"I must destroy her." Katie's voice was flat. Susan stared at her daughter. Horror flickered in her eyes. "Katie, that's not—" "Don't tell me what's right." Katie slammed her hand on the table. "She killed my daughter. Now I'm going to kill everything she loves." Their apartment was small and dark. The curtains were pulled shut. The lights were off. The only glow came from her laptop screen. It cast pale shadows across the walls. Across Katie's face. She sat at the kitchen table. Her hands were folded in front of her. Her eyes were fixed on the photographs her investigator sent her, spread across the surface. Amanda and Raymond at a café. Amanda and Raymond at the construction site. Amanda and Raymond walking together. Laughing together. Katie stared at the photos. Her jaw was tight. Her hands were steady. She picked up a photograph from the funeral. Amanda's face. Calm, blank and cold—the way she had looked after the slap. After Katie had hit her first. After Amanda had

"You deceived me and sent her my half naked pictures?" Raymond's voice was thunder. He stood in the doorway of Katie's apartment. His chest was heaving. His hands were clenched into fists at his sides.Katie looked up from the couch. She was holding Ivy's blanket. Her eyes were red from crying but when she saw Raymond's face, something shifted. Something cold."What are you talking about?""Don't play dumb with me." Raymond stepped inside. He didn't close the door. He didn't care who heard. "The pictures. The ones you sent to Amanda. What nonsense is that?"Katie set the blanket down slowly. She stood up. Her movements were calm and deliberate."I don't know what you mean.""You know exactly what I mean." Raymond's voice cracked. "You sent her pictures of us. In a hotel room. What are you trying to achieve? What are you trying to prove?"Katie tilted her head. "Us?""Yes. Us. You and me. In that room.""I didn't just send pictures, Raymond." Katie's voice was soft and innocent. "You w

"I was drugged. I was set up and I need your help."Raymond's voice cracked on the last word. The desk sergeant looked up from his computer. He was a large man with tired eyes and a bored expression that suggested he had heard everything."What kind of help?""I need to report a crime. Assault and drugging. Maybe false imprisonment."The sergeant's eyebrows rose. He set down his pen. "That's serious. Take a seat. Someone will be with you."Raymond nodded. He walked to the waiting area. The chairs were hard plastic and uncomfortable. He sat down and stared at the wall.The lobby was bright and cold. Fluorescent lights hummed overhead. The kind of lights that made everything look gray and lifeless. People came and went through the heavy glass doors.A woman crying, a man in handcuffs. A teenager arguing with his mother. Nobody looked at Raymond. Nobody asked if he was okay.He pulled out his phone. No messages. No calls from Amanda—she still hadn't responded.He put the phone away. An h

Amanda sat at the dining table and stared at the documents her lawyer had given her that afternoon. The papers marked another step toward ending her marriage to Eric. But she knew the real battle was only beginning. He would fight. He would delay. He would make her life miserable. She had spent too many years allowing that man to dictate how she lived. He had controlled her decisions. He had dismissed her opinions. He had made her feel guilty whenever she tried to stand up for herself. Now, she wanted her freedom. However, freedom came with responsibilities she could no longer ignore. Without Eric, she would have to make every decision herself. From managing her finances to protecting the property she had worked so hard to maintain. Every choice was hers now. She picked up her phone and opened her banking application. The balance staring back at her reminded her that she could not afford to be careless. Every expense needed to serve a purpose. Every decision had to be made carefu

Katie’s breathing grew shallow. “Oh my God, Eric are you threatening me?” she asked, because his calmness frightened her more than his shouting ever could.Eric paused deliberately before answering. “If you refuse to help, I might stop protecting you,” he said. “Amanda could learn exactly how long we’ve been together.”Katie’s face went pale. “Oh well she already suspects something,” she whispered, remembering the questions she had avoided and the looks Amanda had given her recently.“She doesn’t know everything,” Eric replied. “She doesn’t know about Ivy, either. Imagine what happens when she discovers that you and I were together and the child whom she thought was your ex boyfriend's is actually mine, while she trusted us.”Katie closed her eyes, grief and panic colliding inside her. “Don’t bring Ivy into this,” she said, her voice breaking because their daughter’s memory made the threat feel especially cruel.“Then help me,” Eric answered impatiently. “Make the call, arrange the me