Chapter 145 Confessions and kisses

Chapter 145 Confessions and kisses
Chapter 145: Confessions and kisses

Roy’s bedroom was quiet after, the kind of quiet that didn’t feel empty. The lights were low, the curtains half-drawn, the city outside reduced to a distant hum. Roy lay on his back, Coco tucked into his side, her head resting on his chest. His arm was around her, steady, protective, familiar in a way that felt dangerous and safe at the same time.

For a long while, neither of them spoke. Coco traced slow circles on his skin, not thinking, just grounding herself. Roy stared at the ceiling, his thoughts moving but not rushing. Whatever had passed between them moments earlier hadn’t needed words, but now the silence felt heavy with things unsaid.

Coco shifted slightly and lifted her head to look at him. “Tell me something,” she said quietly.

Roy glanced down at her. “What?”

“How did you survive?” she asked. “After I left. After everything disappeared. The money. The structure. The protection.” Her eyes searched his face. “I took everything, Roy. I know I did.”

He didn’t look away. “I know.”

Coco swallowed. “So how did you make it?”

Roy exhaled slowly, like he’d been expecting the question. “I didn’t do it alone.”

Her fingers paused. “Who helped you?”

He hesitated for just a second, then said it. “Your mother. Angel Kaave.”

Coco sat up slightly, bracing her hand on his chest. “My mother?”

Roy nodded. “She came to me when I was already sinking. I didn’t even know she was alive. One day she was just… there.”

Coco’s face tightened. “She never told me but my father and I found out, at Gurara Hills.” 

“She wasn’t ready to,” Roy said. “And she didn’t want me telling you either.”

Coco leaned back against the headboard, pulling the sheet around herself. “What did she do?”

Roy turned toward her. “Everything you used to do. And more. Remember how things always worked out at the last minute? When donors showed up out of nowhere? When certain people stopped asking questions?”

Coco stared at him, her mind racing. “That was her?”

Roy nodded again. “She cleaned up messes before they became fires. She protected me when I didn’t even know I needed it. She taught me how to move without relying on brute force.”

Coco shook her head slowly. “I always knew she wasn’t naive or innocent.” 

“She was smart,” Roy said quietly. “The people watching her were watching you too.”

Coco looked down at her hands. “And when she was gone?”

Roy’s jaw tightened. “Everything started to crack. That’s when the pressure came back. That’s when I realized how much of the weight she’d been carrying alone.”

Coco’s voice dropped. “That’s why they killed her.” Coco didn’t say it was Georgiana. She knew in real sense it’d be Vill that did the job, but she didn’t say anything. 

Roy didn’t answer, but he didn’t deny it either.

Coco leaned forward and rested her forehead against his shoulder. “She protected you,” she whispered. “And I didn’t even see it.”

Roy wrapped his arm around her again, pulling her close. “She believed in me. Even when she stayed in the shadows.”

Coco closed her eyes. “I’m running out of time.”

Roy kissed the top of her head. “Then don’t run alone.”

She looked up at him again, emotion flickering across her face, then leaned in and kissed him softly. It wasn’t rushed. It wasn’t desperate. It was quiet, sealing something fragile between them.



Coco moved differently after that.

From Roy’s mansion, she began working without noise. No announcements. No confrontations. Just movement. She sat in empty rooms with her laptop open, going through old files she hadn’t touched in years. Numbers. Names. Patterns that only made sense if you knew where to look.

Angel Kaave’s fingerprints were everywhere.

Coco pulled up donor lists and frowned. “You were smarter than I thought,” she murmured to herself.

She cross-checked accounts, traced shell movements, followed influence lines that didn’t show up on official reports. Angel hadn’t just advised Roy; she’d shielded him. She’d built quiet walls around him while letting the spotlight stay on his ambition.

Coco leaned back in her chair, staring at the screen. “You weren’t just helping him win,” she said softly. “You were trying to kill me too.” 

She started reconnecting dots Angel had once handled—calling old contacts, sending vague messages that tested loyalty. Some numbers rang dead. Others answered too quickly. She took notes, her face calm but her mind sharp.

“This is why they were scared of you,” she whispered.

Her phone buzzed. She ignored it. Another buzz followed. Still ignored. She needed to finish the picture.

When it finally clicked, she froze.

“Vill didn’t kill you because of Roy,” she said aloud. “They killed you because of what you knew and just to use it against me.”

Coco closed the laptop slowly. Her reflection stared back at her from the dark screen, eyes colder now, more focused.

“I’m next,” she said under her breath. “Or Roy is.”

She stood up and looked toward the bedroom door where Roy was resting. For a moment, her expression softened. Then it hardened again.

“I don’t have much time,” she whispered. “And I can’t afford to choose wrong.”



Detective Flynn stood in the middle of his living room, staring at the decorations like they might judge him. Balloons. A banner. Soft music playing from his phone. It all felt ridiculous, but he didn’t stop.

“You better work,” he muttered, adjusting the banner again.

The doorbell rang. He straightened up, smoothing his shirt. “Okay,” he said to himself. “Don’t mess this up.”

He opened the door.

Pearl stood there, confused. “Flynn? What’s going on?”

He stepped aside. “Just… come in.”

She walked in slowly, her eyes widening as she took everything in. “What is all this?”

Flynn rubbed the back of his neck. “An apology. A real one. No excuses.”

Pearl covered her mouth. “You did this… for me?”

“Yes,” he said firmly. “I messed up. I pushed when I should’ve listened. I made you feel like an option. You weren’t.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “Flynn…”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “For the lies. For the distance. For making you doubt what you meant to me.”

She didn’t let him finish. She screamed suddenly, a burst of joy, and ran into his arms. “I forgive you!”

They laughed as they stumbled back a step. Pearl kissed him, once, twice, then pulled back just enough to look at him. “I love you,” she said breathlessly.

Flynn smiled, relieved. “I love you too.”

She jumped again, wrapping her arms around his neck. “This is perfect!”

Flynn held her, smiling over her shoulder. His eyes flicked briefly to his phone on the table, still lit with a paused notification.

Then he looked back at Pearl and hugged her tighter.