Third-Person POVDarcy barely registered her own hurried steps as she followed Dr. Adrian Bellavance down the quiet hospital corridor. The weight of everything, Aelia missing, Sola’s public stunt, the reporters swarming her was making her head pound, but she needed answers.And Adrian was the only person who could give them to her.The moment he pulled her into his office and shut the door, she turned on him.“Where is she?”Adrian sighed, removing his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose. “You’re welcome, by the way.”Darcy clenched her fists. “Don’t play with me, Doc. Where. Is. Aelia?”His expression remained unreadable, but the sharp glint in his eyes told her he was not in the mood for games either. “Even if I knew, what makes you think I’d tell you?”“Because you clearly work for Pedro,” she spat. “You and Derrick, hell! Probably everyone around him, you’re all just his little puppets, aren’t you?”Adrian raised an unimpressed brow. “You seem to forget that I saved your a
Third-person POVDarcy barely made it inside her apartment before the weight of last night came crashing down on her. The door clicked shut, but the suffocating tightness in her chest only grew. Her trembling fingers fumbled for the light switch, illuminating the small but cozy space she called home.The reflection in the hallway mirror stopped her in her tracks. Red-rimmed eyes, smudged mascara, disheveled hair, it was clear she hadn’t just had a bad night. She had made mistakes.Stupid, reckless and selfish kinds.She pressed her fingers against her temples, inhaling sharply. “What the hell did I do?”The memories were hazy but sharp where they counted. The bothersome encounter with Sola, the flashing cameras, the bitter taste of regret. The way she’d let herself get swept away in the moment, drinking, flirting, pretending that for just one night, she didn’t have responsibilities. And while she had been busy indulging in recklessness…Aelia.Darcy’s stomach lurched. She had forg
Aelia’s POVMy pulse won’t settle. No matter how many breaths I take, no matter how much I try to steady my hands, my body knows the truth.I’m trapped.I dig my nails into my palms, fighting the storm building inside me. Every second in this villa, every breath in this suffocating space, is another reminder that my control over my own life is slipping away.Louisa left moments ago, her voice smooth, and professional, too calm for someone holding another person hostage. She had gone to inform the stationed chef about lunch and promised to return with something for me to wear.Lunch.With Pedro.My stomach coils. The thought of sitting across from him, pretending everything is fine, letting him feed me like I’m some treasured possession he plucked from a store shelf— I’d rather choke.I can’t do this.I won’t do this.The second I hear footsteps outside the door, I force my body to relax, schooling my face into blank obedience. Louisa wasn’t an ally so I had to be wary. The door swin
Pedro’s POVI stepped out of the car, adjusting my cuff as Derrick fell into step beside me. The cool afternoon breeze did little to temper the irritation simmering beneath my skin.“Sir,” Derrick started, his voice measured. “Valeria showed up at the office. She requested to have lunch with you.”I cast him a slow glance. “There are things you shouldn’t report to me.”Derrick gave a slight nod of understanding.As I made my way through the entrance, a strange silence filled the villa. Something was off. Her presence was missing. I didn’t need to ask. I already knew.Aelia had tried to run.A smirk played on my lips as I changed direction, heading straight for the back garden.And there she was.Clinging to the stone wall like a desperate little squirrel. Her arms stretched upward, her body shaking from exertion as she struggled to climb over. Ridiculous.I took a few unhurried steps forward and leaned casually against a nearby column. Amused, intrigued and possessive.“Do you need he
Third Person POVThe heavy summer heat lingered outside, but inside Corale Prime towering skyscraper, the air was crisp and cold. Pedro Montonio strode through the marble-floored hallways of his empire, his patience already wearing thin.Derrick walked beside him, his voice low and even.“Valeria has been waiting in your office for twenty minutes,” he reported.Pedro didn’t even glance at him.Pedro pushed open the frosted glass doors to his office and, as expected, there she was, Valeria Moretti.She sat comfortably on the plush couch, her silk dress hugging her frame perfectly, her dark curls cascading effortlessly over one shoulder. A bento lunchbox sat elegantly on the coffee table, along with a bottle of sparkling water.Pedro barely spared it a glance.She smiled at him. “Finally.”He moved to his desk without greeting her, unbuttoning his suit jacket and sinking into his chair.“You should have called before coming.”Valeria pouted. “Where’s the fun in that?”Pedro leaned back,
The drive to the orphanage was a blur. Aelia barely remembered how she got there, only that her hands were shaking the entire way. The moment she stepped inside, the heavy scent of antiseptic and worry thickened the air.“Where is she?” Aelia’s voice came out breathless as she spotted Mary standing outside Penelope’s room.Mary’s face was tired, but she managed a small, reassuring nod. “She’s stable for now. The doctor is with her.”Aelia pushed past her into the dimly lit room. Penelope lay on the small cot, her tiny frame barely covered by a blanket. Her chest rose and fell in shallow breaths. The sight sent a sharp pain through Aelia’s heart.“She suddenly developed a high fever,” Mary explained quietly. “We tried everything, but nothing was working. So I called the doctor…”Aelia turned, ready to thank whoever had helped, only for her breath to catch in her throat.Adrian.He stood by Penelope’s bedside, adjusting the IV drip with practiced ease. His presence was so unexpected tha
Aelia’s POV“I shouldn’t have answered the call… now here I was.” The café smelled of coffee beans and fresh pastries, but nothing about the cozy atmosphere eased the weight in my chest. I had barely sat down when Jamie arrived, dressed in his usual polished way, as if his crisp white shirt and tailored blazer could smooth over the mess between us.I wasn’t in the mood for small talk. He didn’t deserve that from me.“Aelia…” He exhaled, sitting across from me, his hands clasped together on the table. “I know I messed up that night.”I scoffed, looking away. Messed up? That was an understatement.“I should’ve chosen you. I wanted to—”I raised my hand, stopping him mid-sentence. “Then why didn’t you?”His jaw clenched. “I was overwhelmed. I was blindsided, and I—”“Those sound like excuses, Jamie” I shook my head. “If you wanted to choose me, you would have.”His silence was answer enough. What was I expecting? Ah, how foolish of me.I grabbed my purse, ready to leave. There was nothi
Aelia’s POVThe orphanage was filled with laughter and shrieks of joy, the kind that made my chest swell with warmth despite the storm raging inside me.The sun was high, blazing down on the playground where the kids ran wild, their tiny hands gripping the new toys I’d bought for them earlier. Some clutched stuffed animals, others ran in circles waving their new bubble wands, leaving trails of shimmering bubbles in the summer air. The scent of freshly baked treats drifted from the kitchen, where Mary had prepared an afternoon snack for them.I should’ve been happy.I should’ve let myself smile.But I wasn’t. And I couldn’t.Because the moment a small girl tugged at my sleeve and said, “That handsome uncle buys us treats like this too!” my body went stiff as stone.My heart gave a violent lurch. Handsome uncle?I turned to her slowly, my fingers tightening around the edge of my dress. “What did you just say, sweetheart?” I kept my voice calm, but my insides were twisting.She beamed, t
Louisa’s words haunted him.“I have a boyfriend now.”She’d said it so easily, so carelessly, as if it didn’t mean anything, as if he didn’t mean anything. But Derrick knew better. He felt better. That night they spent together wasn’t just lust, wasn’t just two people falling into old habits.It meant something.He saw it in the way her fingers trembled when she touched him, the way her breath hitched when he whispered her name.And now she was telling him she’d moved on? That she was settling down?Bullshit.But it wasn’t until later that day, when he saw it with his own eyes, that the words really started to sink in.He hadn’t been looking for her. Not intentionally, at least. But as he stepped out of the hospital, irritation already simmering beneath his skin, he caught a glimpse of her.Louisa.Standing by a sleek black car, dressed sharply in one of her tailored outfits that hugged her body just enough to be professional but tempting.And she wasn’t alone.A man, tall, broad-shou
Darcy Never Liked Hospitals.They smelled like loneliness and disinfectant, like whispered prayers and silent cries. They were places of endings and beginnings, of cold white lights and walls that had absorbed too many last goodbyes.But she was here.Standing beside Aelia’s bed, her fingers curled tightly around the metal railing as if her grip alone could anchor her friend to this world.Aelia looked small against the stark white sheets, too pale, too still. The rhythmic beeping of the machines monitoring her vitals felt both comforting and unbearable, a cruel reminder that she was alive but not awake.Darcy’s throat tightened as she studied the bruises peeking out from beneath the hospital gown, the quiet evidence of the violence Aelia had endured. It was wrong. Aelia had always been the strong one, fierce and stubborn, the kind of person who could stare down danger without flinching.Now, she looked defenseless.“She looks better than yesterday,” a voice murmured from behind her.
The Spencer estate, once a symbol of untouchable power, felt like a fortress under siege. Reporters swarmed the gates, cameras flashing through the iron bars, their voices merging into an unintelligible storm. The phones inside never stopped ringing, board members demanding answers, lawyers scrambling to contain the damage, investors threatening to pull out.Regina Spencer stood in the middle of it all, perfectly composed despite the chaos. She had weathered storms before. She would weather this one, too.She adjusted the pearl necklace resting on her throat, exhaling slowly as she watched the news broadcast on the living room television.“Sola Spencer, daughter of Regina Spencer and sister to Alan Spencer, has been arrested as the prime suspect in the attempted murder of Aelia Spencer, her adopted sister. This comes after a series of threats were uncovered in the victim’s phone, allegedly sent by Sola herself. The Spencer family has yet to release an official statement.”Regina’s n
The moment Sola stepped outside, she knew something was wrong.The air felt too heavy, too watchful. The street was too quiet, save for the distant hum of traffic. Then came the sharp sound of a car door slamming.Two men in suits approached. Not just any men, law enforcement.“Sola Spencer,” the taller one said, voice clipped. “We need you to come with us for questioning.”Sola’s brows furrowed. “What?”A flash of a badge and a formal tone. “You’re a suspect in an ongoing investigation. Please come with us.”The world shifted on its axis. She felt it in the pit of her stomach, the kind of freefall sensation that came with being caught off guard. She barely had time to react before firm hands took her by the arms, guiding her toward the unmarked car.Her mind raced. Investigation? What the hell were they talking about?Then she saw them, reporters. Cameras flashing, microphones extending.(“Sola Spencer, do you have any comments about the allegations?”“Are you responsible for Aelia
The room was too quiet. The kind of quiet that made Darcy’s skin crawl.She sat beside the bed, hands clasped together as she stared at Aelia’s face. Peaceful. Unmoving. It didn’t suit her. Aelia was never still, never silent. She filled spaces with her presence, with her sharp wit, with the reckless gleam in her eye that always warned trouble was around the corner.Darcy swallowed the lump in her throat.She hated this. Hated how pale Aelia looked under the hospital lights. Hated the slow, rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor, each sound reminding her that Aelia was still here but only barely.“You idiot,” she whispered, fingers tightening in her lap. “You absolute idiot.”She exhaled, pressing her palm against her forehead. “You promised, Aelia. You promised me. And now you’re just lying here—” She sucked in a shaky breath, her chest heaving. “I can’t, I don’t know how to do this without you.”The words scraped against her throat, raw and aching.“I should be angry,” she admitted,
Something touched her, warm, damp, seeping into her skin like a silent plea. Aelia couldn’t see it, but she felt it. A drop of something, liquid, heavy, and full of sorrow breaking through the veil of unconsciousness that held her.And then, she could hear him.At first, it was just a murmur, distant and hollow, like an echo traveling through an endless void. But the more she focused, the clearer it became.Pedro.His voice cracked and raw, whispering words between ragged breaths. She couldn’t grasp all of them, but the pain in his tone tightened something in her chest. It felt tight, suffocating. He was crying. Crying because of me? The thought alone sent a ripple through the darkness. She wasn’t angry. She should be, she knew she should be. But all she felt was… grief. A terrible, gnawing grief.And then, Penelope.Aelia’s breath…if she had any in this state, hitched. The memory of her promise came crashing down. ‘I told her I would come back. I told her I’d visit every day.’ The
Pedro’s POVThe doctor stood stiffly behind his desk, fingers twitching against the clipboard he held. The room was too quiet, except for the ticking of the wall clock, slow, agonizing ticks that did nothing but fuel the storm building inside me.“She’s stable,” he said, voice careful, controlled, like he was stepping through a fucking minefield. “But… waking up is entirely up to her.”I stilled.“What?”The doctor swallowed. “We’ve done everything we can. The surgeries were successful. There’s no internal bleeding, and her vitals are steady, but—”“But?” My voice dropped, lethal.He hesitated. “But… at this point, we can only keep her stable and monitor her progress. We can’t force her to wake up.”A sharp, seething breath pushed through my teeth.The clipboard in his hands trembled slightly, his knuckles white. He wasn’t a fool. He knew who I was, knew what I was capable of. But that didn’t change the fact that I was hearing the same fucking words I had heard once before, words that
The hospital air was thick with antiseptic and despair.Pedro stood at the edge of the chaos, rigid and silent, his presence a storm contained within flesh. The emergency ward was alive with urgency, doctors barking orders, nurses rushing between rooms, the rhythmic blaring of heart monitors filling the space. People moved around him, but he remained still, watching through the glass as the team of surgeons fought to keep Aelia tethered to the world.His breath was slow, deliberate, but his mind was anything but calm.Aelia.Lifeless.The moment he had seen her car—no, what was left of it, something in him had cracked. The twisted metal, the shattered windshield, the streaks of blood smeared against the crumpled hood. It looked less like an accident and more like an execution.His phone had vibrated in his hand then, a message flashing across the screen like a blade drawn across his throat.“You should’ve said goodbye when you had the chance.”The sender was unknown. Of course, they
“What if—what if…they don’t come back?” Penelope’s muffled voice invaded Aelia’s ears like a nightmare. She lifted Penelope’s face and carefully cleaned her tear-streaked face, flashing a smile she forced to reach her eyes. “Don’t say that, they’d definitely be back, Penny. Or have you forgotten how resilient Sam is or even how Annabel can’t stay a day without Mr. Bunny? that means she would wake up soon to cuddle him so you don’t have to worry. Kimberly will never let you have all the snacks so she would certainly be back for them.”Penelope giggled, “You’re right, Kimberly would definitely be back for my snacks.” Her eyes had a rare gleam as she added “I don’t mind giving them all to her, if only she returns… I wish I had given them to her without fighting.” her voice cracked and Aelia’s heart broke. Aelia held Penelope tighter, cradling her as though she could shield her from everything. It wasn’t fair. None of this was fair. The orphanage, the only home they had, now a crime s