CHAPTER 39 [ False Innocence ]~TRAVIS~ I wasn’t shocked that I had been drugged. Heck, the drug test was right before my eyes. What threw me off was the person making the confession. The shy, fragile woman who had barely been able to meet my eyes at dinner had waltzed into my office and confessed
CHAPTER 40 [ A Facade] ~TRAVIS~ I was almost certain that if I just as much as grazed those scars with my fingers, they would open up and begin bleeding again. That was how mortifying they looked. But what was even more scary was how clear it was they were acquired over the years, as if the pers
CHAPTER 41 [ Travis’ Good Girl ]~SOPHIE~Waiting was not my thing. Scratch that—patience and I were mortal enemies. Yet, it’s all I have been doing since that day. I’d been a slave to my phone two days into Travis’ promise to call, checking it every few minutes without fail. Two days.Forty-Eigh
CHAPTER 42 [One Hell Of A Trip ]~TRAVIS~From the moment the words I and Elaine finalized our agreement, we were swept up in unending preparations, without a single pause to rethink the choices we were making. First, I got her a ring within hours of agreeing to the engagement. The gesture was noth
CHAPTER 43 [ A Woman On A Mission ]~SOPHIE~I was insane. Absolutely out of my mind.How else could I explain getting on a plane to a city I barely knew, with a guy who irritated me to no bounds, to attend a ceremony I wasn’t properly invited to? All because of a man who didn’t give a flying fuck a
CHAPTER 44 [ My Heart Hurts ] ~TRAVIS~ *MOMENTS EARLIER* I have never been the type to use alcohol as a coping mechanism but the moment we booked our rooms, my first thought was that I needed a drink. And fast. I left that room, craving the physical burn of a drink. I needed it to replace the e
CHAPTER 45 [ A Confession and a Warning ]~SOPHIE~One second, I was mad that Travis had the audacity to ask me what I was doing out here after ignoring my very existence all day. And the next, I was luring him like a prey because I saw a small crack in the walls he shields his emotions with. I sa
CHAPTER 46 [ On Snack Duty ]~SOPHIE~I only realized the next morning, after I was sober, that my confession was downright cringey—courtesy of all that alcohol swimming in my bloodstream. It was similar to the childish declaration to make him mine all those years ago, but I meant every word. Opera
CHAPTER 106 [A Rebound] ~SOPHIE~ I stared at my reflection in the mirror, tilting my head to the left, then the right. My dress fit like a second skin—black, sleeveless, simple but elegant. It wasn’t over-the-top, but it hugged me in all the right places. Still, I felt uncertain. “Do I look l
CHAPTER 106 [A Rebound] ~SOPHIE~ I stared at my reflection in the mirror, tilting my head to the left, then the right. My dress fit like a second skin—black, sleeveless, simple but elegant. It wasn’t over-the-top, but it hugged me in all the right places. Still, I felt uncertain. “Do I look like
CHAPTER 105 [Erasing Him] ~SOPHIE~ I’d made up my mind to erase Travis totally. In my thoughts, in my future and even in my memories if I could help it. I had decided, and now, I was beginning the painful process of erasing him. The first conversation I had that morning was with my father. I’d ti
CHAPTER 104 [ Another lost kid] ~ELAINE~ (8) I kept my gaze locked on the food, my hands gripping the edge of the blanket wrapped around me. My stomach twisted painfully, but the fear in my chest held my body in place. I didn't trust it. I didn’t trust him. He didn’t look like he was trying to
CHAPTER 103 [The Lesser Evil ] ~ELAINE~ (7) I curled up tighter on my bed, pulling the covers around my frail body even though I wasn’t cold. It wasn’t the temperature that made me tremble—it was the growling in my stomach and the pounding in my head. Hunger had a way of distorting everything, e
CHAPTER 102 [No String and a Billionaire’s Name] ~SEBASTIAN~ (3) The moment I stepped into the house, silence greeted me like a sneer to the face. No voices, no footsteps, no Sophie playing the dutiful daughter as I ordered her to do. Just silence and the faint creak of floorboards as I shut the
CHAPTER 101 ~TRAVIS~ I didn’t know what it was or what to call it exactly; that feeling that curled in my chest the moment Sophie looked at me like a stranger and walked away with an actual one. But whatever it was, it was familiar. I’d felt it before on the very night she ended things. That
CHAPTER 99 [You Heard The Lady ] ~SOPHIE~ The can of juice in my hand was already warm. I hadn’t taken more than two sips, but I tossed it into the nearest trash can like it had personally offended me. Coming here was a mistake—again. I shouldn’t have let my father’s excited words or Travis’ i
AUTHOR’S NOTE 📝 Hi, everyone. I know. I have done the unforgivable—leaving without a word and not updating for a long period of time. I sincerely apologize to everyone of you who has dedicated your time to reading my book. I didn’t intend to but I was in a terrible place last month—mentally—