NOLAN"Betrayal comes in waves, crashing over us when we least expect it, leaving us gasping for breath in its wake."I know Alanna is no saint, I mean the woman got to the top by trampling on competitors who stood tall for years and she made them into nothing but that wasn't enough to want her dead. Now the question that lingers in my heart was. Who hates her that much to want her dead?I sat in the hospital room, watching Alanna stir awake, I couldn't shake the gnawing question in my mind: Who could hate her enough to want her dead? The thought alone made my blood boil. Alanna was the kind of person who deserved happiness, not someone to be targeted like this. My jaw tightened as I remembered the police officer's words about the brake lines being cut. It was a deliberate act, a cold-blooded attempt to end her life. The idea that someone out there harbored such malice towards her was both infuriating and terrifying.Alanna’s eyes fluttered open, and she looked at me with a tired bu
BRADI was sitting in my office, the usual buzz of the day surrounding me, when my phone buzzed with a news alert. Alanna, involved in a serious accident, condition critical. The words blurred on the screen as my heart dropped. The shock turned into a sickening realization. This had to be Chloe. Or Lucas. Their twisted minds concocting some plan, and now Alanna was paying the price.I felt a surge of anger, my hand tightening around my phone. Without thinking, I dialed Chloe’s number. She picked up after a few rings, and before she could say anything, I exploded. "What the hell did you do, Chloe? Did you really think you could get away with this?"There was a pause, then her voice, cool and composed. "Brad, why don’t you come over and confront me in person? Let’s see if you have the guts."I hesitated. The idea of going to the Westbrook mansion made my skin crawl. But then she added, "Mrs. Westbrook is on a trip, and Nolan is at the hospital. Just you and me."I agreed, my mind racing
NOLAN"Sometimes, the truth is buried so deep that even the light of a thousand stars can't reach it."This was it. The final straw. There was no coming back from this. I stumbled down the stairs, the weight of the moment pressed down on me like a vise. Everything I thought I knew, every piece of my life, was crumbling around me. The betrayal, the lies, the sheer audacity of what I'd just seen—it all hit me like a punch to the gut. My marriage, my sanity, my very sense of self—it was all slipping through my fingers, and I had no idea what to do next.“Nolan,” Brad’s voice cut through the fog, and before I knew it, his hand was on my shoulder, gripping me with a force that only fueled the fire inside me. My fist clenched, the anger and betrayal boiling over. I was going to kill him.Without a second thought, I turned and punched him square in the face. The impact sent a shockwave up my arm, and the expression on his face was priceless—shock, pain, anger. But I didn't care. He deserved i
ALANNAThe room felt too small, the walls pressing in with a suffocating weight. My hospital bed seemed to shrink as if it were trying to contain the storm raging inside me. I stared at the white ceiling, my thoughts a tangled mess of confusion and frustration. My mind kept circling back to Nolan. Why hadn’t he come to see me? What was happening to him?Has he really given up on me? Is he back with Chloe, piecing things together like some soap opera rerun? My mind churned with a mix of anger and confusion. I couldn’t believe Nolan hadn’t come to see me. Not even a text, not a single call. “I don’t understand,” I said, my voice trembling as I spoke. “Nolan hasn’t been here since I asked him to leave. But I didn’t mean it like that. I didn’t ask him never to come back.”Angela, sitting beside me, had her eyebrows knitted together in concern. “Wait a second. Didn’t you tell him to go away for a while?”“Yes, but that’s different,” I said, throwing my hands up in frustration. “I just nee
NOLANI hate it here.It smells like piss and rotten pizza in here. I sat in the cell, the cold metal bench beneath me doing nothing to ease the chill that had settled deep in my bones. The low hum of the fluorescent lights buzzed in the background, adding to the oppressive atmosphere. My mind raced, replaying the events that had led me here, each scene flashing like a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from.How did I end up like this? The world outside these bars was already judging me, painting me as a violent husband who turned abusive after catching his wife cheating. The media would have a field day with this—headlines screaming about the angry Westbrook who couldn’t handle his wife’s betrayal. I could already see the stories plastered on every screen, the smug faces of commentators discussing my supposed fall from grace.But through all of it, there was one thought that gnawed at me more than anything else: What does Alanna think of me? Did she believe the lies? Did she think I was
NOLANHow far is one willing to go for the one they love?Stepping into the house felt like stepping into a nightmare I’d thought I’d escaped from. Everything about this place was tainted—every wall, every piece of furniture. It was all stained with memories I wished I could erase. This house had never felt like a home. It was more of a museum filled with exhibits of my past—dark, twisted exhibits that I couldn’t ignore even if I tried. I could still hear the echoes of my father’s anger in these walls, the sharpness of his voice cutting through the air like a blade. Every corner reminded me of something I wanted to forget—the constant pressure to be something, to live up to expectations that were impossible to meet. And then there was Alanna. The woman I should have loved, the woman I pushed away, and the woman I lost. Our marriage was a disaster from the start, a cold arrangement that neither of us wanted, but it wasn’t until I lost her that I realized how much I cared. That loss s
NolanI drove back home, my mind a storm of anger and betrayal. The roads blurred in front of me as I tried to make sense of everything that had happened. Brad’s smug face, his words, the years of lies—it all echoed in my head like a twisted symphony. By the time I pulled up to the house, my knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel too tight. The house loomed in front of me, a symbol of everything that had gone wrong in my life. Every corner of it held a memory—memories of my father’s abuse, the disastrous marriage to Alanna, the cold, loveless relationship with Chloe. This place had seen the worst of me, and I couldn’t stand it anymore.As I got out of the car, I saw Chloe standing in the driveway, looking as though she had been waiting for me. Her arms were crossed, her face a mix of defiance and something I couldn’t quite place. “Where the hell have you been?” she demanded, as if she had any right to ask. Ignoring her, I walked past her toward the house. I wasn’t in
ALANNAThere's something special about being back home. The familiar creak of the floorboards, the scent of lavender from the garden, and the quiet that fills the space—it all feels like a warm embrace after the chaos of the past few days. It’s a relief to be here, to find some sense of normalcy. But as I step through the door, a rush of memories flood my mind—memories of everything that has happened, everything that has changed. I wasn’t expecting anyone, so when I opened the door and saw Nolan standing there, I was completely thrown. My heart skipped a beat. He looked tired, worn out, like the weight of the world was pressing down on him. Before I could say anything, he pulled me into a hug. It was sudden, and at first, I froze. But then, something in me softened. I hadn’t realized how much I missed him until that moment. I wrapped my arms around him, and for a few seconds, everything else disappeared.“I missed you,” he whispered into my hair, his voice heavy with emotion.“I mis