Chapter 1 finally home (part 2) And somehow, she had become tangled in the kind of world people didn't simply walk away from. The Russian event wasn't just a celebration. It was a gathering of powerful people—politicians, businessmen, criminals, military figures, and wealthy families whose names rarely appeared in newspapers. And Mariem knew all of them. Too well. As the song ended, a man approached us. He was tall, dressed entirely in black, with a cold expression that made the entire room seem quieter. "Mariem." She stiffened. The man's eyes moved toward me. "So this is the husband." I instinctively moved closer to her. Mariem's fingers wrapped around mine. "Yes," she said quietly. The man's mouth curved into a faint smile. "I thought he was dead." My blood ran cold. Mariem looked at him. "He's not." The man chuckled. "No." His eyes returned to me. "Apparently not." He walked away. I looked at Mariem. "What the hell was that?" She didn't answer. "Mariem." She finally looked at me. There was something in her eyes I had never seen before. Fear. Not for herself. For me. "You need to leave." "What?" "Tonight." I shook my head. "I just got here." "You don't understand." She stepped closer and lowered her voice. "The reason I disappeared from your life wasn't that I stopped loving you." My heart sank. "Then why?" She swallowed. "Because someone found out about you." I stared at her. "Who?" Mariem looked toward the ballroom doors. Then back at me. "Everyone." She squeezed my hand. "And now that you're here..." Her voice became barely a whisper. "...they know exactly what you mean to me." That was when I realized the truth. My wife hadn't been waiting for me to return. She had been protecting me from something. And whatever that something was... It had finally found us both.
Dew date: October 30 2026 Chapters: 3-5 chapters Book cover artist: (coming soon) Author: @vlnne6 @jsuslhdusb Writer: @vlnne6 @_foresthunter_ Characters: Vicky/vincent-mariem-noah-AL-hazel
