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Chapter 50: The Weight of Choice
Last Updated:
2025-03-07 02:40:13
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THE 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
Last Updated : 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
Last Updated : 2025-03-07THE ATTRACTION OF DOUBT Chapter 53: The Choice of the Heart
DanielThe wind blows gently through the open windows, carrying with it the scent of imminent rain. The air is thick with humidity, almost electric. Aurélie is still sitting across from me, her back straight, hands clasped in front of her. Her eyes search for mine, but I avoid them.I get up and walk to the window, unable to stay still. I need air, space. The rain begins to fall, softly tapping against the windowsill, and I watch the droplets slowly slide down the glass, tracing fleeting paths.Everything she just told me keeps replaying in my mind. My perception of her, the image I had built, is crumbling little by little. She is not who I thought she was. She never was.And yet… Despite everything, despite the lies, despite the betrayal, one truth remains undeniable: I still love her. It’s a physical pain, a crushing weight on my chest. It’s not just the passion that consumed us in the beginning. It’s something else, something deeper, something rooted in me. An undeniable fact that
Last Updated : 2025-03-07THE ATTRACTION OF DOUBT Chapter 54: Shadows of the Past
AurélieThe days following our decisive conversation are filled with heavy silences and restrained gestures. Daniel and I see each other regularly, but a lingering tension remains between us. Trust cannot be rebuilt in a day. Every exchanged glance, every spoken word carries more weight than before, as if we are walking a fragile tightrope, ready to fall at any moment. And yet, now more than ever, I know I must prove to him that I am not the stranger he sees in me now, but the woman he once loved, the one he believed in.This morning, I wake up early, my heart clenched by a silent anxiety. Despite the apparent calm of the past few days, I cannot ignore the ghosts of the past that return to haunt me. This choice, this silent pact we made, is not enough to soothe my fears. The truth does not disappear just because Daniel has given me a chance. It lingers, lurking in the shadows, ready to resurface at the slightest misstep.In the kitchen, as I prepare coffee, my mind drifts. How could I
Last Updated : 2025-03-07THE ATTRACTION OF DOUBT Chapter 55: The Weight of Truth
AurélieThe streets blur past the car’s wheels, but I don’t see them. My gaze is lost beyond the windshield, trapped in a void where memories and anxiety intertwine. Every turn, every red light, every anonymous figure on the sidewalk vanishes beneath the weight of my thoughts.I didn’t want to come here. I didn’t want to face what I’ve been running from for so long. But the past has a cruel way of catching up with us when we think we’ve escaped its grasp. And tonight, it finally catches up with me.Beside me, Daniel drives in silence. His eyes flick toward me at times, discreet yet attentive. He senses my unease. He guesses the shadows stirring inside me, even though I’ve never truly spoken about what I carry. Daniel has never been one to ask unnecessary questions. He waits for the words to come on their own, for me to be ready to speak. But tonight, I don’t know if I have that strength.A sigh escapes me. I want to break this heavy silence, to say something—anything—but no words mana
Last Updated : 2025-03-07THE ATTRACTION OF DOUBT Chapter 56: The Inner Storm
AurélieThe silence in the hospital room becomes almost unbearable. The only sounds are the steady beeping of the machines and my mother’s weak breathing, lying in bed, weakened by years of battling illness. The air is heavy, filled with a tension I can’t shake.My hand is still wrapped around hers, cold and fragile, as if it could break at any moment. Yet, despite this closeness, she feels more distant than ever. Her words still echo within me, like waves crashing relentlessly against the cliffs of my mind.He’s not the one who will help you.Those words hit me over and over again, a haunting whisper, an obsessive melody I can’t escape. Why did she say that? Why now? What does she know that I don’t?I lift my eyes to Daniel. He hasn’t moved from the doorway. He stands there, motionless, his face frozen in an expression I know all too well. Doubt. Uncertainty. Pain he tries to mask behind a calm exterior.I know he’s trying to understand, to make sense of what just happened. But even
Last Updated : 2025-03-07THE ATTRACTION OF DOUBT Chapter 57: Shadows of the Past
AurélieThe days that followed were filled with a strange tension, as if time itself was holding its breath. I spent my days at the hospital, by my mother's side, but my mind couldn't stop tormenting me. The investigation I had decided to undertake was growing more and more overwhelming, an urgency pushing me to unearth memories I had long buried.That evening, as I was about to leave the hospital, I felt a presence behind me. Daniel. He had the habit of silently following me in those moments, like a reassuring shadow, always there, but never asking for anything. Yet, that evening, something had changed in the way he looked at me.I turned slowly, and he gave me a smile, but a smile that failed to mask the concern tightening his features."You know," he began, his voice tense, "I'm not going to lie to you, I'm scared. Scared of what you’ll discover, but also scared of what it might mean for us."My heart tightened upon hearing those words. I had always known Daniel was there for me, t
Last Updated : 2025-03-08THE ATTRACTION OF DOUBT Chapter 58: Revelations and Detours
AurélieI spend several hours sitting in my father's old office, my hands trembling, my eyes fixed on the documents I've just discovered. The revelation is too much for me to absorb all at once. How could my mother have hidden this from me? And why did my father never mention Sophie Devereux? Am I really the daughter of this woman, this stranger who seemed to have played such a crucial role in my parents' lives?The papers scattered on the desk seem to mock me, their deep meaning hidden behind strange words and incomprehensible symbols. Suddenly, the door to the office opens quietly. I startle, my head snapping up. It's Daniel.He knew something was wrong as soon as he saw my face marked with confusion and disbelief. He approaches me but hesitates to touch me. He understands that the answers I've just found are likely to upset me deeply, but he needs to know what I’ve discovered. His eyes lock onto mine, filled with tenderness and concern."You... found something?" he asks softly, but
Last Updated : 2025-03-09
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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
