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Chapter 36 - Lilac
Huling Na-update:
2025-04-21 18:31:53
BryantI love how the cousins just accepted Lilac into the fold. Lilac’s mom can go join her golden child in ruin and leave Lilac alone. At least she has Jacob, who's seeing Makayla’s not the enemy.
Kaugnay na kabanata
Troubled Heart Chapter 37 - Makayla
I should’ve been sleeping. Lilac was already curled up beneath the hotel blanket, one arm draped over Pockets like she’d always belonged there, like she was woven into the quiet of this room. The folder her father had given her—the deed to their cabin, to the land that started everything—rested on the nightstand beside the laptop, where the screen glowed faintly in the dark. But I couldn’t close it yet. Not until I was sure there wasn’t one more trap waiting to be sprung. A paranoid instinct had kept me alive in systems most people never even realized they were walking into. And that instinct now told me something didn’t add up. The financial patterns in Stacey’s shell companies were too clean. Too rehearsed. And nothing about Stacey Sherbourn was ever that tidy—unless she wanted it to be seen. So, I went digging. Again. I tunneled back into the encrypted backups I’d mirrored weeks ago—deep code packets stored from a corrupted cloud system linked to a Sherbourn asset overseas. Be
Huling Na-update : 2025-04-22Troubled Heart Chapter 38 - Pockets
The humans smelled different this morning.Not scared. Not sharp with adrenaline like they’d been the last few days. There was still tension—always was, when Makayla paced or typed or made her voice extra serious—but now it hummed lower. Deeper. Like thunder far away.I stretched on the hotel bed, paws splayed, tail flicking once before curling tighter beside Lilac’s thigh. She was warm, still in Makayla’s hoodie, sipping coffee from the white mug. I don't understand why humans like that. It has such a bitter smell. Yet it makes them smile.Makayla stood by the television, remote in hand, eyes on the screen. I didn’t understand all the words, but I understood other things, like looks of anger and relief, words like justice, and I recognized handcuffs. I'm 3 months old. I probably shouldn't know what those are. It did confuse me to see them being used on the news. I had only seen them when I was little, okay I'm still little, and I still lived with my parents and their humans. I had h
Huling Na-update : 2025-04-23Troubled Heart Chapter 39 - Makayla
I didn’t cry when I booked the ticket, I sure the FUCK wasn’t driving back. I thought maybe I would that it might come with some cinematic swell of relief or catharsis. I felt relief, felt like I could breathe easy again. To breathe in a way I hadn’t since before the blizzard. Before the betrayal.Outside the hotel window, Aspen was no longer blanketed in threat. The snow had softened to slush at the curb. The streets weren’t hostile anymore. The mountains didn’t loom. Everything felt like an exhale.We were going home.I rolled the word around in my head again: home. Not D.C., with its sterile buildings and buried truths. Not the political chessboard I’d grown up on, where every move was either weapon or weakness.No. I meant New York to my penthouse in Manhattan near Central Park.Not perfect. Never soft. But honest.It had been the first place I carved out for myself—where I built something not wrapped in the Hopkins name or the Frost legacy. It was my pulse, my grit, my skyline of
Huling Na-update : 2025-04-24Troubled Heart Chapter 1 - Makayla
Thick, blinding snow whipped across the highway, turning the landscape into swirling chaos. I barely blinked, my focus fixed on the road ahead. The biting wind howled outside, but determination surged within me. My knuckles turned white as I gripped the wheel, pushing through the storm. The engine purred beneath me, a steady reminder of my resolve with each turn of the tires on the icy asphalt. Next to me, the flash drive in the console felt alive, pulsating with energy. It contained everything I needed to dismantle Stacey Sherbourn’s empire—a foundation built on deceit. Inside were damning emails, revealing agreements, and hidden financial transfers that exposed her greed. These weren’t just documents; they were weapons poised to ruin her and shatter her carefully crafted image. The weight of their implications was palpable in the small space between us. Pockets, my loyal companion, stretched beside me before flopping back onto his blanket, blissfully unaware of the danger ahead. Hi
Huling Na-update : 2025-03-10Troubled Heart Chapter 2 - Liliac
The cabin creaked as the wind howled outside, rattling the shutters with icy fingers. I barely noticed. My pencil glided over the sketchpad, the delicate curves and sharp angles of a new design taking form under my fingertips. The flickering glow of the fireplace cast shadows across the page, the soft crackle of burning wood filling the quiet space around me.Outside, the snow fell harder. Thick flakes swirled past the window, disappearing into the endless white expanse of the Rocky Mountains. The storm had been creeping in slowly and steadily since last night until the distant peaks vanished beneath a heavy veil. The world beyond my cabin blurred into a wintry void.I let out a soft sigh, tilting my head as I examined my latest creation with a mix of pride and contemplation. The floor-length coat stood before me, its silhouette gracefully cinched at the waist, draping effortlessly over an imagined form that exuded strength and femininity. The oversized collar was a statement piece—bo
Huling Na-update : 2025-03-10Troubled Heart Chapter 3 - Makayla
The first thing I felt was warmth. A heavy, comforting weight pressed against my side, radiating heat that contrasted sharply with the last thing I remembered—the bone-deep cold of the storm, the blinding snow, the moment my tires lost control.I wasn’t in my car anymore.My eyelids were heavy, but I forced them open as consciousness clawed its way back. The ceiling was unfamiliar. There were wooden beams. There was a soft, flickering light. It was not my apartment, not a hospital. Not anywhere I recognized.I inhaled, my chest aching with the movement. Firewood. Tea. Something faintly herbal, clean. Not the sterile scent of antiseptic. This wasn’t a medical facility.Something shifted against me, and I turned my head, wincing at the sharp throb that flared at my temple.Pockets.His tiny, fluffy corgi-sized body was curled against me, his fur warm beneath my fingers as I instinctively reached for him. His breathing was soft but quick, his little chest rising and falling in short, une
Huling Na-update : 2025-03-10Troubled Heart Chapter 4 - Lilac
The wind slammed into me as soon as I stepped outside, whipping snow against my face with icy force. I hunched deeper into my coat, gripping the flashlight tight as I trudged down the path toward the distant wreck. Each step sank deep into fresh drifts, the snow crunching stubbornly beneath my boots.I couldn’t shake the feeling that my night had taken a surreal turn.Tending to the woman’s injuries had felt awkwardly intimate, cleaning scrapes, bandaging bruised ribs, and covering her gently with blankets while she’d been unconscious. It wasn’t until she’d woken up that I’d finally put the pieces together, recognizing her vividly colored hair and those striking features. She was familiar—not personally, but from photographs splashed across the web, standing beside Stacey Sherbourn at elegant events. She was Makayla Hopkins, daughter of a New York senator, tech genius—and, according to the press, Stacey’s devoted long-term girlfriend.My jaw clenched tightly against the bitter wind.S
Huling Na-update : 2025-03-11Troubled Heart Chapter 5 - Makayla
Sunlight seeped through the curtains, warming my skin as consciousness gradually returned. The dull ache in my ribs greeted me immediately—a lingering reminder of how close I’d come to disaster. Slowly, I pushed myself upright, careful not to aggravate my injuries, my eyes adjusting to the cozy bedroom around me.Pockets lifted his head, ears perking up as I stirred. He wagged his tail sleepily as if reassuring me everything was fine now. I smiled softly, scratching behind his ears. At least one of us had slept peacefully.The woman—my mysterious rescuer—had promised to go back out into the storm and retrieve my things. Had she really braved the blizzard for me, a stranger she’d found crumpled in a wrecked car? Doubt twisted inside me. Growing up surrounded by politicians taught me how empty promises could be. I needed proof.Taking a steadying breath, I slipped my feet onto the cold floor, standing slowly to test my strength. The pain was manageable, and as I wrapped myself in the wa
Huling Na-update : 2025-03-11
Pinakabagong kabanata
Troubled Heart Chapter 39 - Makayla
I didn’t cry when I booked the ticket, I sure the FUCK wasn’t driving back. I thought maybe I would that it might come with some cinematic swell of relief or catharsis. I felt relief, felt like I could breathe easy again. To breathe in a way I hadn’t since before the blizzard. Before the betrayal.Outside the hotel window, Aspen was no longer blanketed in threat. The snow had softened to slush at the curb. The streets weren’t hostile anymore. The mountains didn’t loom. Everything felt like an exhale.We were going home.I rolled the word around in my head again: home. Not D.C., with its sterile buildings and buried truths. Not the political chessboard I’d grown up on, where every move was either weapon or weakness.No. I meant New York to my penthouse in Manhattan near Central Park.Not perfect. Never soft. But honest.It had been the first place I carved out for myself—where I built something not wrapped in the Hopkins name or the Frost legacy. It was my pulse, my grit, my skyline of
Troubled Heart Chapter 38 - Pockets
The humans smelled different this morning.Not scared. Not sharp with adrenaline like they’d been the last few days. There was still tension—always was, when Makayla paced or typed or made her voice extra serious—but now it hummed lower. Deeper. Like thunder far away.I stretched on the hotel bed, paws splayed, tail flicking once before curling tighter beside Lilac’s thigh. She was warm, still in Makayla’s hoodie, sipping coffee from the white mug. I don't understand why humans like that. It has such a bitter smell. Yet it makes them smile.Makayla stood by the television, remote in hand, eyes on the screen. I didn’t understand all the words, but I understood other things, like looks of anger and relief, words like justice, and I recognized handcuffs. I'm 3 months old. I probably shouldn't know what those are. It did confuse me to see them being used on the news. I had only seen them when I was little, okay I'm still little, and I still lived with my parents and their humans. I had h
Troubled Heart Chapter 37 - Makayla
I should’ve been sleeping. Lilac was already curled up beneath the hotel blanket, one arm draped over Pockets like she’d always belonged there, like she was woven into the quiet of this room. The folder her father had given her—the deed to their cabin, to the land that started everything—rested on the nightstand beside the laptop, where the screen glowed faintly in the dark. But I couldn’t close it yet. Not until I was sure there wasn’t one more trap waiting to be sprung. A paranoid instinct had kept me alive in systems most people never even realized they were walking into. And that instinct now told me something didn’t add up. The financial patterns in Stacey’s shell companies were too clean. Too rehearsed. And nothing about Stacey Sherbourn was ever that tidy—unless she wanted it to be seen. So, I went digging. Again. I tunneled back into the encrypted backups I’d mirrored weeks ago—deep code packets stored from a corrupted cloud system linked to a Sherbourn asset overseas. Be
Troubled Heart Chapter 36 - Lilac
We'd gone into town for lunch to have lunch with Makayla’s cousins. Or at least the ones still in town. Her cousins Darius and Elijah had taken earlier flights home to Boston, which left Reese, Clay, and Forrest behind. Given the triplets and their wife, I'm still wrapping my head around that poly reverse harem marriage, four young kids it made sense that two of them would head back to help her. The café was warm, filled with rosemary and fresh bread scents, creating a cozy atmosphere. Before we arrived, they combined two large tables in the back to fit us all—Clay took up nearly an entire side, cradling a small cider in his bulky hands. Reese sat next to him with her laptop open and a grain bowl, looked polished, and genuinely happy to see us. “Took you long enough. I was about to order for you both.” She greeted Clay grinned and nodded to two mugs. “House-made ciders with cinnamon sticks. You’re welcome.” Makayla slipped in beside me, sandwiching me between her and Forrest, who
Troubled Heart Chapter 35 - Makayla
The alert sliced through the stillness just after 6 a.m., a secure ping that buzzed insistently from Reese’s private line: Emergency injunction filed. She’s coming for the data. Check your vaults. I didn’t bother replying to Reese. Instead, I quietly slipped out of bed to not disturb Lilac beside me. I moved silently barefoot across the carpeted floor to my laptop. I quickly opened it and booted it up, ready to go to war, even half awake. I caught a glimpse of Pockets, the always-watchful pup, stirring in his place. He didn’t get up, but I felt his body stiffening; he had a way of knowing to be alert whenever everything wasn’t quite right. I logged in, my fingers dancing over the keys as I navigated through three layers of encryption, bypassing my default startup shell and accessing the server logs. Sure enough, I found evidence of attempted breaches: accesses were blocked, and nodes glowed a fierce red, a warning beacon in the pre-dawn darkness. “She’s trying to freeze our dropbox
Troubled Heart Chapter 34 - Lilac
The hotel room was quiet, wrapped in a soft hush that made every sound more intimate. Outside the window, snow fell slowly, drifting spirals, catching the light like dust in a cathedral. The only glow came from Makayla’s laptop on the table and the muted blue screen of my phone in my lap. Pockets was asleep near the heater, his little body rising and falling in time with the radiator’s sighs. Makayla sat curled beside me on the bed, one hand loosely tangled in mine, her other hand idly scrolling through encrypted feeds on her laptop. The war room was technically still open, but we weren’t warriors tonight. We were… just us. I tapped open the app almost without thinking. Old muscle memory guided me to my handle: @GreenFlare. I wasn't sure what to expect when I checked it. I had used it recently to gather information before I came to find Makayla. Still I hadn't expected much activity. What I got instead was fire. Hundreds—no, thousands—of notifications pinged in bursts like tiny di
Troubled Heart Chapter 33 - Makayla
The screen went dark with a final, satisfying click. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding—long, slow, and shaky. The kind of breath that doesn’t just leave your lungs but peels back something deeper. The war room we’d built from this hotel desk was finally silent. The strategy had been laid, the files synced, and the timeline mapped. There were no more questions. Just the storm we were about to unleash. But for once, I didn’t want to be in front of a screen. “C’mon,” I murmured, gently nudging Lilac where she sat beside me, cross-legged and curled in my hoodie. “We need a reset.” She blinked up at me. “You mean sleep?” I shook my head. “Air. Fresh, cold, not-cyber-coded air.” Lilac grinned softly and stood, grabbing the blanket from the foot of the bed. “Alright, hacker girl. Let’s go breathe.” We bundled up—she wore my hoodie, I threw on my coat, and Pockets gave a thrilled little huff when I clipped on his leash. He bounded to the door like we were about to take
Troubled Heart Chapter 32 - Lilac
I hadn’t gone back to sleep when Makayla left. I’d sat there worried about her while Pockets snoozed. Every time I heard someone in the hallway, I sat up, heart in my throat, as I watched the door, waiting for when it would be her. Of course, footsteps always carried past the door. Finally, they stopped at her door, and I heard the lock disengage. I was sitting cross-legged on the bed in her oversized hoodie, the sleeves swallowing my hands. This was not a women’s hoodie. I design clothes, and I know the difference between something intended for a woman and something designed for a man. This was a man’s hoodie. Maybe Makayla just liked it enough to buy it from the men’s side of a store since I at least knew it didn’t belong to an ex-boyfriend. The fabric still smelled like her skin—warm and electric, edged with cedar and storm—and I’d clung to it like a lifeline while she was gone. Pockets stirred from his spot beside me, ears twitching, tail giving one hopeful thump as the door open
Troubled Heart Chapter 31 -Makayla
The morning light crept through the hotel curtains in fractured gold, spilling across the bed in quiet stripes. The room smelled faintly of snow, lavender soap, and the lingering embers of what we’d done last night. Lilac lay beside me, tangled in the sheets, her dark curls spread across the pillow like a crown. Her breathing was slow, steady—a peaceful rhythm. One hand rested over Pockets’ back, his tiny body curled against her side like a living shield. He stirred slightly as I slid out of bed, but didn’t move. Pockets would never sleep in the bed when Stacey was in it. It shows I should’ve trusted my dog’s opinion all along. He knew the right sister from the wrong. He didn’t take any convincing to trust Lilac like I did. He just instinctively knew she was the good sister and the one I should be with. I pulled on my hoodie and padded barefoot across the room, careful not to wake either of them. The glow from my laptop was a harsh contrast to the softness behind me. I blinked agai
