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Chapter 44: Ties of the Past
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2025-03-07 02:35:53
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THE ATTRACTION OF DOUBT Chapter 45: The Truth Unveiled
DanielI stand before my father’s house, my hands trembling. My heart pounds furiously, and the evening heat tightens around me like a suffocating embrace. Every step I’ve taken since deciding to uncover the truth has led me to this fateful moment. There is no turning back. What happens next will change my life forever.For days, I’ve been digging through documents, meeting my father’s former associates, piecing together a puzzle far more complex than I ever imagined. And tonight, as the shadow of doubt gnaws at me, I know that everything is about to change.I take a deep breath before knocking on the door. Seconds pass, and finally, it opens. My father stands before me, looking exhausted but still as imposing as ever. He hasn’t changed. Yet in his eyes, I see something I’ve never seen before. A flicker of uncertainty.— Daniel…His voice is hoarse, lower than usual. He says my name as if it’s an inevitability, as if he already knows why I’m here.— I was expecting you.Our eyes meet,
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2025-03-07THE ATTRACTION OF DOUBT Chapter 46: Shadows of the Past
(Daniel)The wind howls through the slightly open windows of my car, sending a deep chill into my bones. My hands grip the steering wheel tightly, knuckles white from the pressure. I am far from home, in a neighborhood I have never visited before, yet it feels strangely familiar. This is no coincidence. This is where my father grew up. This is where it all began. This is where the lies, the secrets, and the betrayals took root.I close my eyes for a moment, trying to steady my erratic heartbeat. What I am about to do—I never thought it would come to this. But it’s too late to turn back. The truth is calling me, and I can no longer ignore it.I turn off the engine and step out of the car. The street is silent, disturbed only by the distant hum of a city that never sleeps. The streetlights cast a pale, almost ghostly glow, enhancing the eerie atmosphere of this place, frozen in a past long gone. My footsteps echo against the pavement, each sound a reminder that I am alone in this search
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2025-03-07THE ATTRACTION OF DOUBT Chapter 47: The Border of Desire
(Daniel)I’m sitting in the office of the criminal brigade, my mind caught in a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. In front of me, files pile up, their dog-eared pages bearing the marks of my frantic research. Hours. Weeks. Months spent dissecting every detail, trying to understand, chasing the truth like a wild animal that refuses to be caught. But the more I dig, the more the ground crumbles beneath my feet.The investigation should have been clear. The evidence is piling up, the testimonies all point in one direction. And yet, a persistent doubt clings to my mind like a shadow. A doubt that has a name.Aurélie.I stand up abruptly, unable to stay still. I pace the room, hands in my pockets, nerves on edge. Every detail of the case brings me back to her. Every piece of evidence pushes me to consider her guilty. But every instinct in me screams otherwise.I walk over to the window. Outside, the city is bathed in a dim, uncertain light, the glow of weary streetlights struggling to pie
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2025-03-07THE ATTRACTION OF DOUBT Chapter 48: The Inevitable Confrontation
DanielI stand in front of Aurélie’s apartment, my gaze fixed on the door. The time has come. The moment when my convictions, my desires, and my fears will collide in a whirlwind beyond my control. My hands tremble slightly, but I clench them into fists, as if grasping onto a semblance of control over my own fragility.For weeks, I’ve hesitated, imagining this moment in a thousand different ways. But now that I’m here, I feel more lost than ever. Every inch of ground I’ve crossed to get here weighs on my shoulders. I may be a policeman, but the clarity of a crime is fading, and my sense of justice dissolves with every second I spend staring at the place where Aurélie lives.I lean in slightly, listening for any sound from inside. Nothing. Only silence, a heavy silence that crushes me. I didn’t come here just for the investigation. No. My reasons are far more complicated. I’m under her spell, and I know it. That’s what I fear the most.Aurélie is not just a suspect in a criminal case.
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2025-03-07THE ATTRACTION OF DOUBT Chapter 49: The Trial of the Heart
DanielI rise abruptly, my hands trembling as I try to regain control. The atmosphere in Aurélie’s apartment is heavy, almost unreal. She has placed her words like stones in a calm stream, disrupting everything I thought I knew. Doubt grows within me, instilling an uncertainty I haven’t felt in a long time. But deep down, I know that it’s not just the truth I’m trying to uncover. No, I’m also on a far more personal, more intimate quest.Aurélie, however, doesn’t move. She watches me with that same look—both fascinating and unsettling—as if she knows everything about me, everything that has brought me here, to this crossroads where I must choose between my responsibilities and my feelings."You say you’re no longer who you thought you were," she says calmly, "but you’re deluding yourself, Daniel. The truth is, you never really saw me. Not for who I am. You saw me through your eyes, your prejudices, your position as a policeman, but never as a woman."Her words resonate in the room, lin
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2025-03-07THE ATTRACTION OF DOUBT Chapter 50: The Weight of Choice
DanielI stand there, frozen, just inches away from Aurélie. Time holds its breath. Every beat of my heart echoes through the space, like a drum announcing the imminence of a crucial decision. Aurélie hasn’t moved, and yet everything about her seems to vibrate with a palpable tension. We are standing at the peak of an emotional mountain, each word, each breath bringing us closer to an abyss we never anticipated.I close my eyes, trying to push back the waves of confusion crashing over me. Everything feels blurred now—my investigation, my certainties, my role as a police officer. I was so sure in the beginning, so determined to untangle the threads of an apparently clear mystery. But Aurélie… she has shattered everything I thought I knew. She does not fit the image I had created of her. The guilty woman, the manipulator, hiding her truth behind a mask of sweetness. No, she is not that. Not only that.And me—who am I, really? A man guided by justice or a man broken by his emotions? A po
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2025-03-07THE ATTRACTION OF DOUBT Chapter 51: The Weight of the Secret
DanielThe sun rises slowly over the city, casting a soft light on the streets. Through the bay window of my apartment, the first rays brush against the rooftops, painting the landscape in a golden hue. Yet, this morning beauty does nothing to calm the storm raging inside me.I stand in the kitchen, a cup of burning coffee in my hands, but I don't drink it. I merely stare at the black liquid, as if it could reveal the answers to the questions haunting me. The conversation with Aurélie from the night before keeps replaying in my mind. Every word, every nuance of her gaze, every hesitation... Everything comes back with painful clarity.I wanted to believe in her. I wanted to see her as a victim, a woman caught in a web beyond her control. But reality is crueler. My instincts scream at me to stay on guard. Not to let my feelings blind me. Yet, there's a part of me that refuses to let go, that clings to the hope that she told me the truth.But what if she lied?I close my eyes for a momen
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2025-03-07THE ATTRACTION OF DOUBT Chapter 52: The Weight of Truth
DanielI stand at the entrance of the café where I asked Aurélie to meet me. The place is nearly deserted, the usual patrons nowhere to be seen, as if the city itself is holding its breath. The soft afternoon light filters through the curtains, casting gentle shadows on the walls. Everything is calm—too calm—but inside my mind, it’s pure chaos.I still don’t know what I’m going to say to her. Or even how I’ll feel when I see her. Since my call with Marc, my thoughts have been spiraling between anger, confusion, and a dull ache gnawing at me from within. That file… that damn file changed everything. The harsh light it cast on Aurélie left me shattered. And yet, despite what I’ve learned, despite the evidence, despite everything I should think about her at this moment, part of me refuses to let go of the image I had of her. The woman I thought was sincere. The woman I loved.A metallic chime pulls me from my thoughts. The door opens. I lift my head.She’s here.Aurélie stands in the doo
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2025-03-07
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THE ATTRACTION OF DOUBT Chapter 67: The Final Gear Daniel
Daniel The silence after her words is a chasm. A void that sucks me in and strangles me. Sofia looks at me for a second longer, and I read in her eyes the shadow of regret, of an impossible promise. Then she turns away, her body tense, as if ready to flee.But I can’t let her go.I’m a cop. I’m supposed to see things in black and white. Justice or crime. Innocent or guilty. But with her, there’s only gray. A damn gray that keeps me from breathing.“Sofia.”My voice is an anchor, a chain that holds her back. She stops, her back to me. The tension hums between us, electric, unbearable.“Tell me there’s another way.”She doesn’t answer right away. Her shoulders lift slightly under a sigh. When she finally turns, her gaze is an abyss I’m ready to fall into.“There isn’t.”Three words. Three stabs to the heart.I grit my teeth. Damn it, none of this makes sense. I need to think. Find a way out. But time is slipping away. The city outside continues to breathe, unaware of the chaos explodin
THE ATTRACTION OF DOUBT Chapter 66: The Emerging Truth
DanielThe office is silent, except for the steady hum of the fan pushing around the heavy, sticky air. The heat clings to my skin, oppressive, almost suffocating. I watch Sofia, every muscle in my body strung tight like a wire ready to snap. My gaze is locked on her, unable to look away. Everything is suspended. Time, breath, reason. I know this moment is crucial, that whatever comes out of her mouth next will change everything. Not just the case. Not just this damn murder. But me. Us.Yet she keeps her eyes down, lips pressed shut, unable to speak. She’s fighting. I see it in the clench of her jaw, in the way her fists tighten on her knees as if holding her heart inside her chest. She’s scared. And that fear... I feel it in my gut. It’s eating me alive.I hold my breath. She promised me the truth. She looked me straight in the eye and told me she’d tell me everything. But now... now she’s standing on the edge of the abyss. And I’ve got this damn feeling that one wrong word will push
THE ATTRACTION OF DOUBT Chapter 65: The Choice of the Heart
AurélieI stand in my father’s garden. The soft wind plays with my hair, but I can’t feel the slightest hint of peace in front of the scene laid out before me. Everything feels fake, staged—like a perfect backdrop hiding an unbearable truth. Since yesterday, since the revelations, I am no longer the same. Every stone of this house I once loved now feels foreign. As if I never truly belonged here.I turn my head toward the house, that familiar facade that used to comfort me. But today, it’s nothing more than a prison built of lies and distorted memories. Everything I believed in has cracked. My father… What he confessed still haunts me. All those years feeding me illusions, hiding his mistakes, his choices.I’m torn. Caught between anger and understanding. I know he wanted to protect me. But at what cost? The cost of my truth. The cost of who I am.“You’re here.”His voice startles me. Daniel. He approached without a sound, as always. His shadow stretches out toward me, and my heart ra
THE ATTRACTION OF DOUBT Chapter 64: The Confrontation
Daniel The rain was beating against the windows of the police station, adding to the tense atmosphere in the room. Gabriel stood there, his eyes fixed on the file in his hands. His mind was caught in a whirlwind of emotions. The truth that he had long tried to ignore had struck him with a brutality he hadn’t anticipated. He was no longer just a policeman seeking justice, he was now a man torn between his duty and his feelings.The murder from that evening was just one facet of the complex puzzle that had formed around him. But that wasn’t what troubled him the most. No, what deeply unsettled him was the figure of that young woman, Sofia. The prime suspect, a woman he barely knew, but whose presence unsettled him in a way he couldn’t explain. Every glance, every exchange with her only added to the confusion that overwhelmed him. An attraction he couldn’t ignore.He placed the file on the table, his trembling hands, and then collapsed into the chair in front of him. The wind outside wa
THE ATTRACTION OF DOUBT Chapter 63: The Truth Unveiled
AurélieI stand there, frozen in the center of this vast room with its cold walls, unable to move, unable to breathe properly. Sophie's words still echo in my head, clashing in my mind like shards of shattered glass.I always believed my father was a righteous man, a man of unwavering integrity, someone I could admire without a single doubt. I built my entire existence on that certainty. But what I just learned shatters everything.My heartbeat pounds in my temples. This can't be true. There must be a mistake. A lie. A misunderstanding.But Sophie didn't waver. She didn’t hesitate when she spoke those words, and her gaze pierced through me like a blade sinking straight into my chest.I close my eyes for a moment, trying to calm the storm raging inside me. A part of me wants to scream, to reject this truth, to refuse to believe that the man I have loved and respected all my life could have committed such acts. But another part, darker, more lucid, whispers that this was inevitable. Tha
THE ATTRACTION OF DOUBT Chapter 62: The Decisive Encounter
AurélieThe cool wind blew over the garden surrounding Sophie Devereux’s house, and I could feel my heart pounding harder with every step I took toward the door. Daniel, beside me, remained silent, understanding that words would only add to the weight of the moment. We were here, standing before the house that would reveal a truth I both dreaded and longed for.The door closed behind us with a dull thud. Inside, the dim light of an old chandelier cast shadows on the walls adorned with ancient portraits. The living room seemed frozen in time, as if someone had wanted to preserve every moment, every memory of the past. But I wasn’t here for memories; I was here for a buried truth, a truth I had to uncover for myself.Sophie Devereux was waiting for us in the living room, a glass of red wine resting on the coffee table in front of her. She stood up as soon as I entered, her cold, piercing eyes scrutinizing me, but there was no surprise in her gaze. She had probably known for a long time
THE ATTRACTION OF DOUBT Chapter 61: The Weight of the Past
Aurélie Silence surrounds me, heavy and suffocating. I feel as though I’m suspended in time, as if everything around me has stopped moving, leaving me alone in front of the unknown. The weight of the revelations contained in my father’s letter crushes my chest. Each word, each sentence seems to imprint itself deeply in my memory, looping over and over in my head, overwhelming me, dragging me into a reality I never imagined. The truth I am discovering is a kind of slow poison, a venom eating me from the inside, but I can’t erase it. It’s there, etched into me, indelible.I turn the letter over and over in my hands, as if with one fleeting glance, I could find an explanation that would lighten this burden. But the more I try to understand, the more everything seems to slip away. My eyes fall one last time on the final lines, the ones that echo in my head like a distant, incomprehensible, and threatening echo. My father… the man I’ve always seen as a reassuring, stable, loving figure, i
THE ATTRACTION OF DOUBT Chapter 60: The Last Secrets
Aurélie The cool night wind blew through the empty streets as Daniel and I made our way toward the house of my childhood. The information I had gathered from Sophie Devereux's manor swirled in my mind like a whirlwind. The connection between my father and this woman, the unsolved mysteries, and the riddle of my past were becoming harder and harder to ignore. A part of me still hesitated, dreading what I was about to uncover, but deep down I knew there was no other choice.The lights from the house glowed in the dimness. The place seemed bigger and more menacing as I approached. The façade, which had once appeared warm to me, now seemed strangely cold, as if the house itself held the secrets I was about to reveal.I stopped in front of the door, my hands trembling on the doorknob. "Are you ready?" Daniel asked, his voice soft yet marked by anxiety.I nodded silently. Our gazes met, and a shiver ran down my spine. That look, full of empathy, support, and also a shared fear, strengthene
THE ATTRACTION OF DOUBT Chapter 59: The Shadows of the Past
AurélieThe heavy silence of the hospital room seemed to suffocate me with every breath. The truth that my mother had just barely touched upon, barely sketched out, twisted in my mind like a knot of unresolved pain. Every word she had spoken, weak and interrupted by tears, had only added uncertainty to my torment. There was something more, something I wasn’t ready to face, but I now knew it was inevitably tied to my search for answers.I glanced at Daniel, who remained in the shadow of the door, silently observing the scene. His eyes were filled with understanding, but also concern. He knew that the confrontation with my mother had only just begun, and he wasn’t sure I had the strength to go any further without breaking down. But he also knew that I had no choice anymore. The truth, whether I wanted it or not, was going to change everything."What did she mean by… another truth?" I whispered in a broken voice. My trembling hands rested on the smooth surface of the bedside table, searc
