The Last Five Years Book Novels & Stories

My tone and voice were sharp, reflecting all the feelings I had bottled up. He fell silent. His face tensed, as if he wasn’t ready to face my firmness. "I—I don’t know where to start. In these five years... I've realized something." I held back a bitter laugh. "In these five years, I’ve realized many things, one of which is that life without you has turned out to be easier than I thought." My words bit, and I knew they were painful for him. He bit his lip, as if holding back something.

He was experiencing those five miserable years I'd suffered back then. This was the punishment he deserved.

"This isn't a hideout..." "It's a palace." Oliver's expression darkened. "No." "It's where corruption was born." Agent Ross slowly walked into the chamber. He examined one of the steel vaults. "It's government property." Oliver nodded. "Edward has spent decades stealing from governments all over the world." Emma carefully approached the round table. Resting on it... ...was a thick leather book. The cover read: THE FOUNDERS' RECORD She hesitated. Liam looked at her. "Do you think it's safe?"

Then, he came over with a smile, "You're so relaxed this time. You didn't throw any tantrums at all. Don't you miss me?" In the five years we had been together, Jason had rarely said anything that intimate. Maybe this had long since become his way of making up for things after doing something he felt guilty about. He went on about everything he had seen on this trip, about how people really should get out more and see the world. I played along and said, "You're right. People should get out more." He seemed to hear how nonchalant I sounded. After a pause, he asked if I wanted to go out for dinner the day after tomorrow and make up for our anniversary.

He had spared her because he was calculating his next move, and that frightened her more than anything. A sudden knock sounded on her apartment door. Three quick taps, a brief pause, and then two more. Elena smiled faintly. "Sophia." The door swung open with its familiar creak. "You always do that," Sophia laughed, stepping inside. "One day I'm going to change my knock just to confuse you." "You've been saying that for five years," Elena replied, tracking her friend's movement by the rustle of her jacket. "And you still don't believe me." Sophia set a heavy paper bag down on the kitchen counter. "I brought breakfast."

The stars above glittered faintly, their light scattering over the rippling waves below. He never came. I sat on the deck, my gaze vacant, fixed on the endless expanse of the ocean. Memories of the past five years swirled in my mind like fragments of a shattered mirror. His warmth, his promises, his gentle presence—they all surfaced, only to fall apart into jagged pieces. All of it had been a lie. Every tender moment, every kind word. Now, it felt like a cruel joke, hollow and mocking. Before dawn, I made one last call to him. This time, his phone was off.

Five years. That was the part that got me, sitting in that water. Five years since the factory. Five years of cities I picked off a map for no better reason than that nobody in them knew my last name, of hotels with their own kind of cleaning soap, of women whose names I made a point of using in the room and then put down at the door.

"We partied too hard last night and forgot to use protection—don't forget to buy morning-after pills for your wife." Looking at the woman's smooth bare back and the red mole on her neck in the photo, I felt absolutely nothing. Again. Five years of marriage, and this wasn't the first time. Kathy liked to test me this way. She called it her "little experiment." The first time, she "accidentally" left a receipt for condoms on the nightstand. I got angry and confronted her, but she just smiled with contempt. "Why are you so petty? My girlfriends and I bought that on purpose just to see how you'd react." The second time was on our wedding anniversary. A guy showed up at our door with a bouq

His chest is heaving against mine and right then, he pulls back just enough to cup my face in his hands. I just stare at him. So now, after all these years, he finally has the guts to tell me he loves me. This man is the same man who looked at me coldly and told me to abort my pregnancy. This man is the same man who chose Vanessa over me. Again and again and again. Five years ago, I was a fool. But five years later, I am no longer a fool. His sweet words mean nothing. “I want to go home,” I tell him, looking away from his face.

Chapter 13 : Echoes Across Time Five years had elapsed since the landscape of my life had been reshaped by Evelyn's mysterious disappearance. The once-vibrant cityscape, now familiar in its contours, bore the indelible marks of the passage of time. In the wake of her absence, the metropolis had become a silent witness to the ebb and flow of seasons, each change a reminder of the years that slipped through my fingers like grains of sand.