Chapter 112

Nora POV

I ran from that penthouse like the devil himself was chasing me.

My mother. It had all been about my mother. The text, the panic, the desperate need to get to her—and it was all a lie. A trap. Another one of Darren’s sick games.

The car that had brought me was gone. The street was empty except for the cold night air and my ragged breathing. I pulled out my phone with shaking hands.

Seventeen missed calls from Kai.

Twenty-three text messages.

And then I saw the news alerts. Hundreds of them, all with the same devastating words:

“Nova Black Caught in Secret Affair”

“No,” I whispered, clicking on the first article with numb fingers.

The photos loaded slowly, each pixel a nail in my coffin. There I was, entering a romantic penthouse. Champagne. Rose petals. Low lighting. And a man who looked like Kai from behind, his face conveniently obscured, but his build, his height, his silhouette—all convincing enough.

The