Astrid It had been three days since I walked out of that house, three days since I’d left behind the hollow remnants of a life I’d once believed in. Did I regret it? Not even a little. But was I still hurting? Yes, in ways I couldn’t even put into words. I didn’t know how many times I’d woken up each night, only to cry myself back to sleep. How many times I’d told myself to keep living, despite the feeling of despair tugging at my heart every morning. I pushed my glasses up the bridge of my nose for the seventh time today—a nervous habit I couldn’t seem to control. My eyes skimmed over the small pile of belongings on my desk and the walls. A few medical journals, my diplomas, old charts and scribbled notes, letters, and gifts from my patients. Everything felt strangely distant, like I was looking at someone else’s things. I picked up a box and started stuffing my things inside. This is it, Astrid. Time to move on. This place had drained me both physically and emotionally. It w
Damien I stepped into the boardroom, my secretary trailing six feet behind me. The people who were already seated scrambled to their feet. I glanced at them briefly before taking my usual spot, signaling with a wave of my hand for everyone to sit down. My eyes drifted lazily to the floor-to-ceiling windows beside me, fingers tapping rhythmically against the leather armrest of my chair. The room was tense; no one dared to look me in the eye for more than a second, their gazes darting back to their papers, their screens—anywhere but at me. “The goal… today is to…” The head of marketing cleared his throat, attempting to push through his presentation. His voice wavered slightly. Normally, I might have given him a chance to finish, might have let him fumble his way through his notes with a slight air of tolerance. But not today. “I didn’t realize I’d hired a stutterer," I interrupted, my tone colder than the marble floors beneath my feet. "Or did your brain freeze in the Atlantic
For the first time in what felt like forever, I had a nice dream. It was soft and warm, filling me with a sense of peace I didn’t even realize I’d been craving. In that dream, I had a family—a good family, one that felt like home. Laughter echoed around me, hands held mine, and I didn't have to put on a mask to be loved. For once, I felt whole. I was happy. If this was heaven, I wanted to stay here forever. But slowly, that warmth began to slip away from my grasp. My chest tightened as I tried to hold onto the fragments, but they faded. And I was alone in a dark room, with no sunlight or warmth. Cold, mocking faces stared down at me, enjoying my pain as they kicked and stabbed me to the point I wished I was dead. I begged, cried, prayed—but nothing happened. I was left to rot in darkness, with no one to turn to. No one to hug and love me. I should just give up. There was no use fighting for something that would eventually be taken away from me. Just as everything was about t
AstridA month had passed since I had woken up from a coma. And every night, without fail, I’d dream. The dreams were always the same, or at least they felt the same. I could remember feeling connected, then heartbroken, like something precious had been lost.And when I woke up, with my cheeks damp with tears, I was met with the same empty feeling, like I was staring into a black void where my past should be.The woman who sat by my bed every day, the one who called herself my mother, would look at me with gentle eyes full of worry, as if she knew something I didn’t. As if she was praying my memory would never return.I wondered what kind of life I had lived until now. I knew a few things about myself—just fragments, really. I was told I went missing when I was twelve years old. And they claimed they had been looking for me ever since.Every time I asked her if she knew anything about my life, about who I was living with before they found me, or about the father of my unborn children,
12| Aurora Six years later “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We’ll be beginning our descent shortly. Please fasten your seatbelts and prepare for landing.” The pilot’s voice crackled through the speakers, pulling me out of my concentration. I blinked, my fingers pausing over the medical analysis displayed on my tablet. With a sigh, I pulled my earbuds out, letting the world filter back in around me, and stretched my neck from side to side to ease the stiffness that had settled there during the long flight. It had been a grueling fourteen hours in the air, most of which I’d spent poring over patient files, analysis reports, and clinical research data. I looked out the window, the clouds thinning to reveal the city below. How many years had it been? Six years? Yes, it had been six years since I left the country. I could still remember when I first brought it up and how everyone reacted. My mother was obviously against it, and so was Noah. They were so cli
Aurora Sometimes I asked myself why I couldn’t walk away when I saw someone being mistreated. Was it pity, or just basic human conscience? No, I knew it ran deeper than that. The anger that flared up inside me wasn’t simple empathy—it was something rooted in my own scars, my own memories of helplessness that I couldn't remember. "What do you think you're doing?." I took a step forward, looking each of them in the eye with a calm, cold expression. "Were you about to raise your hand on him and get away with it?” The woman’s eyes widened as she turned to look at me, clearly startled. For a moment, silence fell over the area, the tension thick in the air as she processed the fact that someone had actually stopped her. “Who the hell are you?” she spat, yanking her hand back and straightening her posture, trying to regain her composure. “How dare you touch me? Do you know who I—” “Oh, save it,” I replied calmly, cutting her off. “Is that line supposed to scare me? Because I don’
Aurora “Is something wrong, Mr. Lawson?” I asked, my tone deliberately casual, though I could see the fear taking root in his eyes. “I thought I was going to get banned.” I could practically hear the rapid beating of his heart as he stared at me, wishing he could dig a hole and crawl inside it. But I looked at him with a cold, indifferent expression. Oh, he’d wish that hole was more than six feet under. “What? Cat got your tongue? I thought you could destroy my life with just a single phone call?” I grinned, eyes turning colder. “Or, maybe I should do the honors of destroying yours.” He swallowed hard, his hands suddenly trembling. “I-I… I didn’t realize…” His voice was barely a whisper now, stripped of its previous arrogance. “I thought you were… I mean, I didn’t expect…” He trailed off, unable to complete his sentence. Everyone was fully invested in the scene now, forgetting they had flights to catch. Even the men trailing behind him looked surprised—they must have never seen
Damien I leaned my back against the wall, tilting my head indifferently as I watched the scene unfold. My gaze darted between the two girls who looked utterly humiliated, and the man who was pale, shaken, his fury barely contained. And then, there was her—walking away with a calm, unbothered grace that was almost… mesmerizing. She moved through the crowd with her head held high, completely unaffected by the commotion she’d left everyone in. A faint smile tugged at the corner of my mouth, an unfamiliar sense of interest flickering to life as I watched her go. Interesting. When my private jet malfunctioned, I had to book an entire plane to return back to the USA. I had no idea I would be entertained. I allowed myself a moment to study her as she walked away, her back straight, movements calm and nonchalant. Who would have thought my rival's younger sister would be this interesting. "Mr. Damien," a voice interrupted my thoughts. My assistant, Jason, stood beside me, his ey
Nathaniel “Oh, big brother, they attacked us!” Olivia cried dramatically the moment she saw me. She ran straight into my chest, sobbing so loudly she nearly choked. She looked like a complete mess. Her dress looked ripped apart and torn and she looked like a mad woman with there literally being a bald spot on her head that looked like it had been ripped right off. I stood at the entrance of the hospital room, dumbfounded, as I took in the sight before me. Serena was unconscious on the bed.Just moments ago, I’d been speaking with a patient, my mind still reeling from meeting Doctor Aurora. After everything I’d done to finally cross paths with her, she had to meet him—that bastard who nearly injured her. If she had been hurt, imagine the damage it would’ve done to the hospital’s reputation.And yet, all I could think about was the way she looked. Her blonde hair, those clear, bright eyes. And the strange feeling that I’ve met her before. There was something familiar about her, someth
Serena “I see you’re out shopping,” Clarissa said, her left hand on her hip and a smirk tugging at her lips. “My father got the invitation to your husband’s event. I’ll be attending with my family, so it only makes sense that you’re buying new clothes so you wouldn’t want to be overshadowed at your own party.”Her other hand was holding a designer bag, and she sneered at me with a look that could rot milk. Her red hair was pulled into a ponytail so tight, I wouldn’t be surprised if it had fried a few of her brain cells.By now, people had started glancing our way, sensing the drama. Olivia, who didn’t know how to hold down her anger, poked her head out from behind me, her eyes glaring right at Clarissa.I tilted my head to the side and bit my lip, trying hard to fight the urge to insult her entire generation. Because that would suit the careful image I’d crafted for years. “Clarissa,” I said with a sweet smile, “if you were worried about being overshadowed, I’d be more than happy to
SerenaEvery morning, I wake up and look in the mirror grinning like I own the world. And why wouldn’t I? Winners smile. That’s what we do.When you want something badly enough, you don’t just wait around hoping it comes to you. You take it. You claw, bleed, and fuck your sister’s husband if you have to. Because this world isn’t fair. It’s a game. And there are only two kinds of people, winners… and losers.Astrid—my dear, dead sister—was the latter. A loser through and through.“Young madam, Miss Olivia is waiting for you downstairs,” the maid called gently from behind the door.I smiled, still facing the mirror, leaning in to perfect my lipstick. A soft smack of my lips, and I rose to my feet, admiring the reflection that stared back at me.Even after two kids, my body was still flawless. Tight, toned, glowing. Every inch of me radiated power, beauty, and control.Because I had it all.My parents’ love. My darling Nathaniel.And Astrid’s life.I stepped down the staircase, each clic
DamienWhat if Astrid, the woman who shattered my carefully built defenses for a single night, had never truly disappeared?I can’t help but scoff, what a stupid thought but the more I thought about it the more I found myself stumped.My men had done their research. Every report, every scrap of evidence pointed to the fact that she had burned to ashes in that accident. There wasn’t even a body left to bury. And yet, something didn’t sit right.For one, the case had been open and shut. A freak accident. They said a truck had collided with her car while she was distracted. The driver barely survived. Three days after being admitted to the hospital, he vanished. No one batted an eye. Who cared where a middle-aged man who could barely walk disappeared to? I sent Jason to find his family, but they had vanished too. Strange. I would have dug deeper if I cared.But I didn’t.I wasn’t grieving. I wasn’t haunted by loss. I was just… unsettled.Astrid had no right to do what she did to come int
Damien Spending my evening in a supermarket shopping for gifts and flowers wasn’t exactly how I’d pictured my life thirty years down the line. If someone had told me back then that I’d willingly buy a woman flowers, I’d have sent them straight to jail. Yet, there I was, arms crossed, eyes narrowed at a bouquet of roses. Trying my best to ignore Jason, who had apparently forgotten how to behave. He wasn’t shocked, just in awe, already composing the tales he’d spin for Sofia when we got home. But I was stumped. Aurora was a mystery, one I wanted to unravel piece by piece. Finding a flower she’d actually like was turning out to be more of a challenge than I’d expected. And after that heart-to-heart with my grandfather, it was becoming harder to deny that whatever I felt for her was real. Roses or Poises. Elegant or sweet. Doctor Aurora was as elegant as a rose—poised, breathtaking, impossible to ignore. But she had thrones, ones that I wasn’t sure she even knew. But I was so f
Aurora The cool, sterile air of the hospital brushed against my skin as I walked out of Nathaniel’s office. My mind was spinning. An ex-wife? That revelation sat heavy in my chest, creating more questions than answers. Why had no one ever mentioned it before? Why had he mentioned it to me? And why was my heart racing every time I thought about it? I shook my head, trying to clear the confusion. My steps echoed faintly in the hallway as I moved forward, but I couldn’t focus on where I was going. It felt like I was walking in circles. The feeling of always getting close to your goal and then being back at the beginning was frustrating. Whenever I was near the truth, something or someone always had to stop me from finding out. It was starting to annoy me. I could just stop all this trouble and ask my mother or my brothers, but I doubt they would be much help. They were hiding my past for a reason, and they wouldn't just tell me. Nathaniel asked me out for dinner, and the way he
Aurora “Doctor Aurora?” Nathaniel stared at me in surprise, his eyes carefully studying my face as if he was trying to see if I was really the one sitting in front of him. I met his gaze with no particular emotion. I planned for this. I played out so many different versions of how this meeting would go. How I would act. What I would say. What I would ask. But now? Now I was just… staring at this man. This man who felt familiar and yet a complete stranger all at once. Nathaniel’s eyes darted to my body, as if trying to make sure I was okay. Then, much to my surprise, he sighed heavily, leaning forward and placing his head in his hands. “I’m sorry, Doctor Aurora,” I blinked, caught off guard by the sudden apology. “Sorry? Why are you apologizing?” He looked up at me, his expression open and honest. “It’s my fault. You came to my hospital, and you almost got hurt. You were dragged into something dangerous.” I tilted my head slightly. Was he serious? Did he actually mean it
Aurora I stared at him in disbelief. What just happened? Did he just catch the knife with his bare hands? Did he just save me from getting killed? At the moment when the knife was about to make contact with my body, I thought about a lot of things. A lot of people that meant so much to me—people I couldn't leave behind. But unexpectedly, he saved me. Nathaniel saved me from being killed. Blood dripped from his palm onto the floor, but he didn’t even flinch. Why? Why would Nathaniel do that? "Who the hell are you?" The man shouted, bringing me back to the present. Nathaniel straightened, his bloody hand still clutching the knife, and pushed me behind him. He stood tall, his presence commanding the room as he looked the man directly in the eyes. "I am Doctor Nathaniel. I don’t believe we’ve met, but I was the surgeon who performed your daughter’s operation." The man’s eyes widened, his face twisting with rage. "You bastard! You're the person that killed my Juliet." he shouted, y
Aurora I stared up at the massive hospital in front of me, The building was both inviting and intimidating. It was slightly larger than my brother’s hospital, which was not surprising, given its history. This place had been around for decades, building its reputation as not just a place of healing but also one of hope. Known for its work with patients who couldn’t afford treatment, it stood out in a world where healthcare was often ruled by greed. But, more than anything, this hospital was known for him. Dr. Nathaniel Davis. The surgeon everyone adored. The media’s golden boy. The man who seemed to embody perfection every time he appeared on TV or in interviews, his kind smile and composed personality made people swoon. A family man, a husband material and the perfect father. Trust me, I could say more, after all I had done my research. I ran a hand through my blonde hair, letting out a quiet sigh. We agreed to meet after that day and I was the one who set the time and th