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Ch: 18 ARTICLE ELEVEN.

Author: Quill-Shadow
last update publish date: 2026-10-15 08:42:45

Seraphina's POV

"Lucius authorized me," I said.

Hale's smile stayed exactly where it was. "Lucius is in a hospital bed with a head injury."

"He is awake, and he told me to sit."

"I'm sure he told you to sign. Legal filed a copy of your agreement when you married, and I've read it." He crossed the carpet and stopped on the far side of the desk. "Page nine covers emergency papers, Mrs. Thorne. It doesn't cover that chair."

Through the glass wall, sixty people pretended to work. Nobody was typing.
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  • BACK TO MY WEDDING: MY SECOND LIFE AS A VILLAINESS   Ch: 32 THREE QUESTIONS.

    Seraphina's POVMy father opened the front door himself. He wore the green cardigan I gave him three Christmases ago, and he had been watching the driveway. I knew because he got there too fast."Seraphina!" His arms went out. Then he saw who stood behind me, and they stopped halfway.Lucius waited on the step in a dark suit, his strapped arm hidden under the jacket. In his good hand he held a small tin."Dad," I said. "This is...""I know who it is." My father's voice had gone careful. "Mr. Thorne.""Sir. Happy birthday." Lucius held out the tin.My father took it without looking down. "You said a friend, Seraphina. You didn't say which one.""He's my husband."Somewhere behind the kitchen door, a serving spoon hit the floor. Nobody moved."Say that again.""I married him eleven weeks ago. On a Monday, in a red dress, at city hall.""Two days after your wedding.""Two days."My father turned around, walked to the bench in the hall and sat down with the tin in his lap. He looked at th

  • BACK TO MY WEDDING: MY SECOND LIFE AS A VILLAINESS   Ch: 31 SERA SUPPORT.

    Seraphina's POVClara texted at nine on Friday night. I'm sorry about the picture. I have something. Not on the phone.I waited until midnight to answer. Tomorrow at four. Fifth and Ash. A black car. Switch your phone off before you get in.She stood on that corner at ten to four with her bag held against her chest. Eli watched her from across the street for ten minutes. He told me afterward that she never once looked behind her.He drove her in circles for forty minutes, then brought her through the garage so she never saw the street. At twenty past four, he walked her into the kitchen.Clara stood on the mat with her coat buttoned to her chin. Her eyes went to the stove, the back stairs, the closed door to the hall."Whose house is this?""A friend's.""A friend with a driver.""A friend with a lot of rules." I held out my hand. "Phone."She gave me her own phone, switched off. Then she took a second one from her bag, a cracked old model in a pink case. "My sister's. I didn't want t

  • BACK TO MY WEDDING: MY SECOND LIFE AS A VILLAINESS   Ch: 30 THE EMPTY CHAIR.

    Seraphina's POVThe first photo loaded at 11:40 on Thursday night.I sat on the guest room bed with Lucius's Kestrel files across my knees. My phone buzzed against the sheet. I picked it up because I was sick of reading about freight surcharges.Nora Lind had posted six pictures.A long table in the back room of Aubrey's, the French place on Ninth. White cloth, candles down the middle, fourteen women in good dresses with their glasses raised. I knew every face. I had been to nine of their weddings. I had thrown Nora's bridal shower in my father's garden, and I had held Beth Carrow's hair back on a rooftop when we were twenty-two.Lillian sat at the head in cream silk. She looked lovely and a little sad.I swiped. A toast. A group hug. A place card in Lillian's handwriting. Then the fourth picture, and my thumb stopped.At Lillian's right hand, someone had left a chair empty. A framed photo sat on the seat, with three white roses leaning against it.It was me. My twenty-fifth birthday,

  • BACK TO MY WEDDING: MY SECOND LIFE AS A VILLAINESS   Ch: 29 SLOWER.

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  • BACK TO MY WEDDING: MY SECOND LIFE AS A VILLAINESS   Ch: 27 TWO TABLES AWAY.

    Seraphina's POVLucius stood in the front hall when I came in. He had one hand on the banister and the other strapped to his chest, and he was pretending he hadn't been standing there for an hour."Eli says you're fine.""Eli says what I tell him.""I know." He looked at my face. "Come on."He waited until we were in the study with the door shut. Then he sat in the big chair, and I stayed on my feet, because if I sat down I would start shaking again.I told him all of it. The lunch. The takeout menu, which made him smile. The red pen, and what my father had said about the man who kept it for twelve years."He said that?" Lucius asked."He said he likes my friend.""I'm your friend now.""You're something."He looked at the blotter for a while. The corner of his mouth moved, then went flat again.I told him about the blue binder with seven yellow tabs, and the one page I had read before the door opened."On your father's shelf," he said slowly."Right behind his chair.""Somebody put i

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