The other woman was ME
img img The other woman was ME img Chapter 1 The Villa at the edge of silence
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Chapter 6 The Quiet Before the Unraveling img
Chapter 7 The Hollowing Out img
Chapter 8 When Morning Comes img
Chapter 9 The Space Between img
Chapter 10 The House We Build img
Chapter 11 The Promise We Make img
Chapter 12 The Quiet After img
Chapter 13 The World We Make img
Chapter 14 The Quiet Before the Bloom img
Chapter 15 The Noise After the Bloom img
Chapter 16 The Names We Grow Into img
Chapter 17 The World We Bring Her Into img
Chapter 18 The Letter That Shouldn't Exist img
Chapter 19 The Visitir with No Ghost img
Chapter 20 The First Sentence img
Chapter 21 The First Draft and the First Fire img
Chapter 22 Where the Silence Begins to Speak img
Chapter 23 The Words We Can't Erase img
Chapter 24 What the Wind Brought Back img
Chapter 25 The Ghost We Choose to Keep img
Chapter 26 An Aftermath img
Chapter 27 The Shpae of What Comes After img
Chapter 28 The Woman in the Mirror img
Chapter 29 The Unexpected Love Letter img
Chapter 30 The Fire We Build img
Chapter 31 The Unwritten Rule img
Chapter 32 Ashes Don't Lie img
Chapter 33 The Woman at The Door img
Chapter 34 The Woman in the Photograph img
Chapter 35 What We Fight For img
Chapter 36 The Weight of Two Hearts img
Chapter 37 In The Eyes of The Law img
Chapter 38 The Weight of Her Name img
Chapter 39 What Love Doesn't img
Chapter 40 The Custody of Fire img
Chapter 41 The Custody of Fire (continued) img
Chapter 42 The Smoke Between Us img
Chapter 43 The Weight of Her Name img
Chapter 44 Bastards and Bookshelves img
Chapter 45 Inheritance of Silence img
Chapter 46 The Last Word img
Chapter 47 Some Letters Find You img
Chapter 48 The House We Inherit img
Chapter 49 A Name Remember img
Chapter 50 The Shape of Returning img
Chapter 51 What the Wind Remembered img
Chapter 52 The Daughter's Version img
Chapter 53 Where the Roads Fork Gently img
Chapter 54 The Reckoning of the Unchosen img
Chapter 55 The Thread Between Us(1) img
Chapter 56 The Thread Between Us(2) img
Chapter 57 What We Keep Burning img
Chapter 58 The Confronting Hour img
Chapter 59 The Next Step img
Chapter 60 The Launch img
Chapter 61 What We Keep img
Chapter 62 What the Silence Breaks img
Chapter 63 The Book That Wasn't About Her img
Chapter 64 The Quiet Crown img
Chapter 65 The Thread We Mend img
Chapter 66 Faultiness img
Chapter 67 The Story They Tried to Steal img
Chapter 68 What We Still Carry img
Chapter 69 The Language Between Us img
Chapter 70 What the Pages Remember img
Chapter 71 The Things We Dare To Keep img
Chapter 72 Where the Silence Used to Be img
Chapter 73 Where the Ink Begins Again img
Chapter 74 The Archive We Built img
Chapter 75 The Quiet Between Pages img
Chapter 76 When the Wind Stopped Asking img
Chapter 77 What We Chose to Keep img
Chapter 78 The Archive We Leave Behind img
Chapter 79 What the Wind Forgot to Take img
Chapter 80 The Garden of Soundless Things img
Chapter 81 Where the Light Waited img
Chapter 82 The Man Who Left The Frame img
Chapter 83 The Studio With the Red Door img
Chapter 84 The Panel Invitation img
Chapter 85 A Door She Didn't Knock On img
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The other woman was ME

Jaja Lolia
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Chapter 1 The Villa at the edge of silence

CHAPTER ONE

The Villa at the Edge of Silence

Mia Carter stepped out of the sleek black car and onto the gravel drive of the Voss estate, her boots crunching beneath her. The villa rose before her like something carved out of a dream-stone arches draped in ivy, windows like eyes watching her arrival. It was nothing like the tiny walk-up apartment she'd left behind that morning or the crowded café where she usually spent her afternoons sketching customers between lattes.

This world was quiet. Too quiet. A silence that hummed with expectation.

She clutched her worn leather bag, the one with her charcoal pencils and folded sketchbook inside, though she doubted she'd have time to use them. Not here. Not in this world.

The front door opened before she could knock. A woman with a tight bun and a tighter smile greeted her. "Miss Carter. Welcome to Villa Serena."

Mia didn't correct her. The villa's name suited it-beautiful and deceivingly peaceful.

Inside, the walls were cream and shadow, the floors polished marble that reflected Mia's hesitance. Paintings lined the corridors, all abstract, all cold. She felt more like an intruder than a guest.

"You'll be staying in the East Wing," the woman continued. "Everything has been arranged according to Dr. Shaw's recommendations. Mr. and Mrs. Voss will meet with you shortly."

Mia nodded. She had read the contract front to back, then again, just to be sure. No unnecessary contact. No emotional entanglements. Discretion, privacy, and obedience. But paper was one thing. Presence was another.

The room she was led to was larger than her entire apartment. Pale blue curtains danced with the breeze, and a four-poster bed stood like a throne. The window opened to a sea view so stunning Mia had to touch the sill to believe it was real.

She was still staring when she heard the knock.

Turning, she expected the housekeeper or Dr. Shaw.

Instead, Damian Voss entered.

Tall. Impossibly put-together. His charcoal-gray suit looked sharper than steel, and his eyes-cold, slate, unreadable-made her spine straighten.

"Miss Carter," he said, voice smooth but unwelcoming. "I trust your trip was comfortable."

"Yes," she said, forcing her voice not to shake. "Thank you."

His gaze scanned the room, then her, lingering not inappropriately, but with interest. Assessment.

"This arrangement," he said, folding his hands behind his back, "is more than a medical procedure. It's the last thread holding something... fragile together. I trust you understand the stakes."

Mia nodded. "I do."

Something flickered in his expression-approval or warning, she couldn't tell.

He stepped back. "Dinner is at eight. Elena would like to meet you. Until then, rest."

He left without another word.

Mia sank onto the edge of the bed.

This was real. This was happening.

And something in the villa's stillness told her that nothing would go as planned.

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