Todos los capítulos de This Time I Keep the Keys : Capítulo 1 - Capítulo 10

Sixty days before the apocalypseNessa had woken up from what she couldn't quite explain—was it a dream or not? But a chilling warning had flashed through her mind and echoed in her ears: APOCALYPSE IN 60 DAYS. She had panicked, rushing to find Adrian to tell him what was about to happen, only to be met with a reality she never expected in all her life. They deserved each other anyway.Sixty days before the apocalypse.Her fiancé was kissing Celia when Nessa's phone asked her to pay for their dinner.She stood across the street beneath a pharmacy sign, watching the restaurant's glass wall. Adrian had chosen the table behind the indoor olive tree. Private from the dining room. Perfectly visible from outside.On her screen, the payment request waited for approval.Business expense, his message said. Card limit issue. Help me out?Celia laughed against his mouth.Nessa raised her head and saw the disgusting romance between Adrian, her fiancé, and her best friend, Celia. Such a shame, bei

Fifty-nine days before the apocalypseDalia Kerr answered the video call with her glasses in her hand and no interest in Adrian's explanation.“Did you authorize a change?”“No.”“Then that is the answer we start with.”On the hotel desk, Nessa had arranged her identity documents, the signed share-sale agreement, and the email requesting new settlement instructions. The arrangement looked like a workday. It helped her think like herself.She had cofounded the delivery business before Adrian began advising its expansion. He could sell a room on almost any idea. Nessa had made the promised deliveries actually arrive cold. When a larger operator offered to buy her shares, she had accepted because she wanted a different life, not because she couldn't run the work anymore.She had thought that different life would include a wedding.Now it would include clean water.“The payment is due to me personally,” she said. “Not to the venture he wants me to fund.”Dalia checked the signed instructi

Fifty-seven days before the apocalypseThe house above the floodline would be held until noon tomorrow. Her money might not arrive until somebody finished believing Adrian.Nessa looked at the two messages side by side, then closed Adrian's newest voice note without playing it.“What did he actually submit?” she asked Dalia.“A draft investment agreement. He says the buyout proceeds were committed to his venture.”“I never signed it.”“I know. I want the version he sent you.”Nessa searched her emails. There it was, beneath a subject line containing three heart emojis: Our next chapter. Adrian had attached a document and written that she could sign after the honeymoon.She had replied with questions. Who owned the equipment? Why was his contribution listed as professional expertise while hers was almost a million dollars? What happened if the venture failed?He had called her unromantic.For once, her habit of asking inconvenient questions was going to save her money.She forwarded th

Fifty-five days before the apocalypseThe most expensive house on Nessa's shortlist had a glass lift, an infinity pool, and one road down the hill.She chose the less expensive one with two exits.Highwater Eight stood at the end of a short row of modern townhouses, built around a disused quarry's upper slope. It had pale walls, narrow windows on the street, and a garage opening onto a service lane behind it. The front road connected to the city. The rear lane climbed toward the old reservoir road.Neither route looked heroic. Both looked useful.The agent unlocked the front door with his phone.“Everything's integrated,” he said. “Lights, locks, heating.”“Show me the physical keys.”He blinked, then found them in the handover envelope.Nessa tested the doors herself.The building surveyor she had hired was already checking the lower utility area. She joined him with the floor plan, asking where water could safely be stored and which spaces needed to remain clear. A large empty floor

Fifty-three days before the apocalypseCelia was inside Nessa's apartment when she arrived for the viewing.For one appalling second, Nessa thought the new lock had failed.Then the estate agent emerged behind her, holding his tablet.“Ms. Calder? Your colleague said she'd help prepare the rooms.”“She isn't my colleague.”Celia's smile tightened. She wore pale trousers, a silk blouse, and the expression she used when somebody else's anger threatened to inconvenience her.“I told him I knew you. We should talk before you make a mistake.”Nessa set her bag on the kitchen counter.The agent looked from one woman to the other. “I'll wait in the hall.”“Please stay,” Nessa said. “This will be brief.”Celia lowered her voice. “Adrian's investors saw this address. Selling now will embarrass him.”“He can correct the address.”“He was relying on you.”“Did he tell you this apartment belonged to both of us?”Celia's fingers tightened around her bag.There it was. Adrian's favorite trick: spea