
Fractured Reflections
bright olamilo · Ongoing · 40.0k Words
Introduction
Chapter 1
Vera Kane - POV
The taste of copper fills my mouth before I'm fully awake.
My eyes snap open to fluorescent bathroom light cutting through my skull like a scalpel, and I'm standing—when did I get up?—in front of my mirror with something cold and sharp pressed against the pulse point beneath my jaw. My reflection stares back at me, wide-eyed and terrified, but my hands... my hands are steady as stone, gripping the kitchen knife with professional precision I've never possessed.
"Stop," I whisper to myself, but my hands don't listen.
The pressure increases. A thin line of blood appears on my throat in the mirror, and I watch in horror as my own face remains perfectly calm while inside I'm screaming. This isn't me. This can't be me.
Fight back.
The thought comes from somewhere deeper than conscious will, and suddenly I'm wrestling with my own body, muscles straining against muscles, my right hand trying to complete the motion while my left hand claws at my wrist. The knife wavers, the blade catching bathroom light like a silver promise of release I don't want to keep.
"NO!" The word tears from my throat, and my grip finally loosens. The knife clatters into the sink, the sound echoing off marble tiles like a gunshot.
I stumble backward, gasping, and that's when I notice everything else.
I'm wearing leather. Black leather pants that cling to my legs like a second skin, pants I've never seen before in my life. A fitted jacket that smells like cigarettes and danger, nothing like the soft cottons and silks that fill my closet. My knuckles are scraped raw, skin torn and bruised, with something dark caked under my fingernails that makes my stomach lurch.
Blood. Someone else's blood.
My apartment spreads out beyond the bathroom doorway like a crime scene. The Italian leather sofa is overturned, its legs pointing toward the ceiling like a dead animal. My coffee table lies in pieces, the glass top shattered into a constellation of sharp stars across the hardwood floor. The floor-to-ceiling windows that normally showcase Elliott Bay's gray morning light are spider-webbed with cracks, as if someone tried to break out from the inside.
As if I tried to break out.
My phone. I need my phone. I pick my way carefully through the wreckage, glass crunching under my bare feet—when did I take my shoes off?—until I find it wedged between the overturned sofa cushions. The screen shows 3:47 AM, and there's a notification that makes my blood freeze.
Security footage available. Motion detected: 12:23 AM - 3:15 AM.
I tap the notification with trembling fingers, and my building's security app opens to show grainy black-and-white footage of the lobby. At 12:23 AM, I watch myself stride through the entrance with predatory confidence, moving like someone who owns every room she enters. The woman on the screen wears the same leather outfit I'm wearing now, but she carries herself like a weapon wrapped in human skin.
That's not me. That can't be me.
But the timestamp doesn't lie, and neither does the woman's face when she turns toward the camera for a brief moment. It's my face, but wrong. My features arranged into an expression I've never worn, eyes that hold secrets I don't remember learning.
I fast-forward through hours of empty lobby footage until 3:15 AM, when the same woman returns. This time she's moving differently—urgent, almost panicked. She keeps looking over her shoulder as if something's chasing her, and there are dark stains on her jacket that weren't there when she left.
The footage ends, and I'm left staring at my reflection in the phone's black screen. My hands won't stop shaking.
I need to document this. The thought comes automatically, the same compulsion that's driven me to photograph everything in my life since the integration therapy began. Evidence. Proof that these blackouts are happening, that I'm losing pieces of myself to someone I don't recognize.
I grab my camera from what's left of my dresser and start shooting. The overturned furniture. The broken glass. My bloody knuckles. The leather clothes that smell like smoke and secrets. Each flash illuminates another piece of a puzzle I can't solve, another fragment of a life I'm apparently living without permission.
That's when I see the note.
It's tucked under the corner of my laptop, written in my own handwriting but with an aggressive slant I don't recognize. The paper is expensive—cream colored, heavy stock that I keep in my desk for important correspondence—but the words are scrawled across it like a hastily composed battle plan.
Day 31. She's getting stronger. The integration isn't working—she's fighting back. Find Ash before she finds you. —R
R. Raven. The name Dr. Voss uses for my "other self," the personality that emerges during my dissociative episodes. But this note suggests something Dr. Voss never mentioned—that Raven isn't just a symptom of my fractured psyche.
She's fighting something. Or someone.
And who is Ash?
I flip the paper over, hoping for more information, but there's only a small sketch in the corner. A bridge, drawn with quick, confident strokes. Something about it tugs at my memory, but the harder I try to remember, the more it slips away like water through my fingers.
My phone buzzes, making me jump so violently that I nearly drop it. A text message from Dr. Voss, sent just now at 3:52 AM.
Emergency session required. Come alone. Tell no one about tonight's episode.
I stare at the message, ice forming in my veins. How does she know about tonight? How does she know anything happened at all?
Unless she's been watching.
I look around my destroyed apartment with new eyes, searching for cameras, listening devices, anything that would explain how my doctor knows about my 3 AM breakdown. The thought that I might be under surveillance in my own home should terrify me, but instead it brings an odd sort of relief. If someone's been watching, then at least there's proof. Evidence that these episodes aren't just psychotic breaks but something else entirely.
Something that requires emergency intervention at four in the morning.
I move to my laptop, stepping carefully around the broken glass, and open the folder where I keep all my documentation. Photos of strange clothes appearing in my closet. Screenshots of texts I don't remember sending. Receipts from places I've never been to, restaurants and bars that Raven apparently frequents during my blackouts.
But this is different. This is violent. Dangerous.
The fresh injection marks on my inner arm throb as I type, two small puncture wounds surrounded by bruising that definitely wasn't there when I went to bed. Someone—Raven?—has been injecting something into my system, but what? And why?
My reflection catches my eye in the darkened window, and for a moment I see her. The other woman. Raven. She's there in the set of my shoulders, the way my head tilts slightly to the right, the curve of my mouth that suggests secrets I don't remember keeping.
"What did you do?" I whisper to the window, to her, to the stranger wearing my face.
But she's already gone, leaving me alone with the wreckage and the growing certainty that Dr. Voss's integration therapy isn't healing me.
It's making something else stronger.
Last Chapters
#30 Digital Prey
Last Updated: 1/26/2026#29 Voices in the Dark
Last Updated: 1/26/2026#28 When Minds Shatter
Last Updated: 1/24/2026#27 The Sister
Last Updated: 1/24/2026#26 The Network
Last Updated: 1/24/2026#25 The Awakening
Last Updated: 1/24/2026#24 The Integrated Consciousness
Last Updated: 1/24/2026#23 The Memory Transfer
Last Updated: 1/24/2026#22 The Ghost Facility
Last Updated: 1/24/2026#21 The Doctor's Origin
Last Updated: 1/24/2026
You Might Like 😍
Alpha Cameron's Vengeful Mate
Alpha Cameron is the strongest Alpha in America and the most feared, but he has a secret. He doesn’t want a mate because of this and has decided to take a chosen mate to become his Luna in name only. His mother, sister, and beta urge him constantly to rethink his decision as the woman he has chosen is a nightmare. They believe that he should wait for his fated mate, but their pleas fall on deaf ears. What happens when he visits the Red Dawn Pack for the Alpha daughters’ coming of age party and finds his fated mate being beaten? Will he save her or reject her?
Accidentally His: The Billionaire’s Wife in High Society
Five years later, Freya Myers returns to the city with a pair of exceptionally gifted twins, desperately trying to conceal their existence from the world. But when she interviews for an internship, she unexpectedly encounters Declan Castle—the very same man from years ago—as her interviewer. From then on, Declan Castle becomes a persistent, demonic force haunting her!
Five years ago, a single, desperate mistake changed Freya Myers's life forever. Intending to secure a future with the man of her dreams, she ended up in the wrong room, stealing the 'seed' of the wrong man. That man was Declan Castle—the cold, ruthless, and enigmatic CEO of the world-renowned Castle Group.
Now, Freya has returned to the city as a struggling single mother, hiding a pair of genius twins from the world. When she lands an internship at the Castle Group, she hopes to remain invisible. But fate has other plans. Declan Castle, a man who has remained mysteriously untouched by any woman since that fateful night, instantly senses something familiar about the new designer. He has spent years searching for the woman who 'ruined' him, and now that he has found her, he has no intention of letting her go.
Forced into a high-stakes marriage of convenience with the domineering CEO, Freya must navigate the treacherous waters of high society while desperately guarding her children's true identity. Between a scheming stepmother, jealous socialites, and a series of deadly secrets, the walls are closing in.
What started as a game of cat-and-mouse and a quest for revenge soon ignites into a passion that neither can control. In a world where power is everything and betrayal is a way of life, can Freya protect her heart and her children, or will the relentless Mr. Castle claim everything she’s been trying to hide?
Cursed Beauty and her Three Alpha Mates
Cast out by her pack for being wolfless and plagued by uncontrollable heat, Maya has spent her life surviving humiliation in silence.
Fate drags her into the path of Kael Draven, the ruthless Lycan King who claims her… only to reject her.
But Kael is not the only Alpha bound to her.
Finn, her childhood best friend and the rising Alpha, loves her with a devotion so fierce, he spends four years locked away in the most ruthless dungeon only to keep her safe.
Xander, a rogue wolf who can make even Alphas bow to his will, has waited centuries for her to be reborn, and he has no intention of losing her again.
Three Alphas.
Three claims.
One cursed destiny.
They called her wolfless. They thought she was weak. But she is done hiding, and this time, she's rewriting the rules.
Game of Destiny
When Finlay finds her, she is living among humans. He is smitten by the stubborn wolf that refuse to acknowledge his existence. She may not be his mate, but he wants her to be a part of his pack, latent wolf or not.
Amie cant resist the Alpha that comes into her life and drags her back into pack life. Not only does she find herself happier than she has been in a long time, her wolf finally comes to her. Finlay isn't her mate, but he becomes her best friend. Together with the other top wolves in the pack, they work to create the best and strongest pack.
When it's time for the pack games, the event that decides the packs rank for the coming ten year, Amie needs to face her old pack. When she sees the man that rejected her for the first time in ten years, everything she thought she knew is turned around. Amie and Finlay need to adapt to the new reality and find a way forward for their pack. But will the curve ball split them apart?
The Last Sempyr: Alpha's Fated Mate
“Watch me,” I snap.
His icy gaze flicks to my lips.
I know I’m trapped.
I’m a stray fighting to keep orphans alive—until I’m caught and chained to the North’s most feared Alpha.
Xuaru Ruel is war-forged, ice-cold, bound to a king who owns him.
He was born to kill my kind. Instead, he keeps me close.
Calls it discipline. Lies.
The fated mate bond ignited, and his wolf won’t let me go.
He fights the pull, yet always comes back.
If he learns my secret…
He’ll choose: hand me to his king…
Or burn the world to claim me as his.
The Vampire Prince's Hybrid Bride
A TASTE OF TEMPTATION: Vampire King And His Hybrid Bride
Chained and rejected by my pack, I thought I was just an ordinary werewolf. But the Vampire King's rescue reveals my true nature and a shocking past. Now, as shifters and vampires clash, I must choose between my heritage and my destiny.
Will I surrender to the King's dark desires, or forge my own path? In this world of ancient power struggles, one thing is certain: my blood will decide the fate of all.
A pack of their own
After the Divorce She Became Untouchable
Her husband, Abel Donovan, a ruthless and powerful figure, gave her no chance to defend herself, readily believing his stepsister's lies.
Anna was pregnant with his child and was cruelly driven away.
Five years later, Annabelle was no longer the infamous, abandoned woman she once was. She returned as the CEO of the global fashion empire BelleNova.
Abel never imagined she would return, especially with his child.
What the Heart Wants (Book 1 of the Alpha Faros Series)
Not loving him will cost more.
Derek has one goal: survive high school without drawing too much attention or pissing off his pack’s alpha.
As the youngest son of the alpha, his life is governed by lycan hierarchy, tradition, and politics. With no signs of awakening a lycan spirit, his only value is what he can do for the pack’s image. He knows he’s only ever one misstep away from exile… or worse.
Then, he finds a boy trapped in a locker on orientation day, and everything changes.
Derek shouldn’t want Nikolias. He’s off-limits. A risk Derek can’t afford.
So why does it feel like he’s the only thing worth fighting for?
Nikolias has just lost everything: his parents, his home, and any sense of peace. Sent back to the town his family left years ago to live with his prejudiced and controlling uncle, who wants nothing to do with anything—or anyone—not human, he’s trying to do everything in his power to get out quickly.
But then he meets Derek again, and all of his plans vanish in the soft, yearning flecks of gold in Derek’s green-hazel eyes. He’s drawn to Derek in a way that’s impossible to deny, and he thinks Derek feels the same way, despite the danger their relationship holds for him.
As Moonshadow's politics turn deadly, Derek and Nikolai are caught in the crossfire of a war that had started long before they were born, and their bond becomes a threat and a lifeline that neither can afford to sever.
Because the heart wants what it wants….
And it never asks permission.
TW: Graphic Violence, Suicide Ideation, Suicide Attempt, Child Abuse, Cult-Like Behavior
BROKEN TRUST
Neither of them knew she was carrying his child.
Emily’s affair didn’t just end her marriage—it erased the life she thought was guaranteed. Ryan left without looking back, carrying his anger like armor and leaving Emily alone with regret she would never outrun. Three years later, fate drags them back into each other’s world, along with a little girl who has Ryan’s eyes and a truth that shatters everything he thought he knew.
Old wounds reopen, grief masquerades as rage, and love refuses to stay buried. As parenthood binds them together and the past demands accountability, Emily and Ryan must face the question neither of them is ready to answer: is broken trust the end of their story… or the beginning of a love forged through loss, forgiveness, and brutal honesty?
Ruined : You will always be mine.
“Fuckkk”, I couldn’t help but scream.
“You need to learn to be obedient” he said as he kept thrusting into me. When I felt his hands on my clit my body shook.
“Asher please, it’s too much”.
“No. if I really wanted to punish you, I would give you all of me”, he said against my ears and my entire body froze. Suddenly he moved and I was standing again. This man was insane.
I felt him behind me. “Ten Lashes for your disobedience”, he said
“Asher please”,
“No”. His voice was cold and void of any emotion.
Asher was what I wanted , what I truly craved until it was too late. An orphan should never fall in love with someone out of their reach. I thought loving him was the right thing to do until he revealed his true identity and Ruined me. I was ruined for everyone one else . I could still feel his touch, it was as if it was etched into my skin. I tired to avoid him but fate wouldn't let it happen.
The Sterling's were the most powerful in Havenwood and Dorian Sterling was off limits.
As an orphan finding out you still have people looking for you is hard to take but when it turns out to be people of wealth and standing I took the other road and ran, but running led me right back to the place I was avoiding and the person I was avoiding.
Asher and Dorling Sterling one and the same. When his first love shows up and along with everyone that has set out to ruin me, I prayed that he could protect me.












