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CHAPTER 25

last update publish date: 2025-12-03 10:00:57

The conference room felt smaller compared to what happened an hour ago. Pressure thickened the air within the four corners, sharp, metallic, suffocating. The Valtieri elders are no longer merely displeased. They were livid.

At the center of the storm, Dominic stood. His jaw locked, hands steepled behind his back, the cold fury radiating off him contained only by sheer willpower.

Luca Valtieri, the patriarchal elder, slammed his palm on the table. The crack echoed like a gunshot but that didn’t
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  • His Dead Wife: No Longer the Surrogate Bride   CHAPTER 340

    The helicopter cut through the night like a black arrow.Inside, no one spoke as they only listened and watched the rhythmic beeping of the cardiac monitor filled the cabin.Benjamin pressed another unit of blood through the rapid infuser.Michael adjusted the oxygen mask before checking Althea's pupils once more."BP?" He asked."Eighty over forty." Benjamin replied grimly, quickly glancing at the monitor."Pulse?""One-forty." Benjamin answered without looking up. "We're losing her."Dominic's entire body went rigid and he held Althea's cold hand against his forehead."No." His voice cracked. "You're staying with me."Althea's eyelids fluttered weakly and her lips moved beneath the oxygen mask. “Dom... I’m here." She managed to say and then stopped as she struggled for air. “…Don’t… let go…”He squeezed her hand harder."Never."Every light on the lawn blazed white against the darkness outside Blackstone and the emergency entrance is as well as the entire hospital wing is on full al

  • His Dead Wife: No Longer the Surrogate Bride   CHAPTER 339

    The chamber trembled as the ancient mechanisms groaned beneath four centuries of stone.The blue rings surrounding the Seat continued to pulse rhythmically, bathing the chamber in an ethereal glow.Dominic never looked back even just once.Althea lay motionless in his arms, her blood soaking through his shirt, warm against his chest.Every second mattered."She's going into shock." Seraphina warned firmly, keeping firm pressure on both wounds as she ran beside him. "Dominic, don't stop! Do you hear me?! Don’t stop!""I won't." He answered, his voice was raw and broken.He climbed the narrow staircase three steps at a time, refusing every offer of help.Enzo sprinted ahead of him, shouting and clearing the passage while Rafael and Lia secured every corridor leading toward the manor.The surviving men who had served Matteo had already dropped their weapons.Not one dared pursue them after witnessing Matteo’s fall.Not after watching the ancient chamber awaken.The battle for the Seat wa

  • His Dead Wife: No Longer the Surrogate Bride   CHAPTER 338

    The chamber suddenly glowed.For one suspended heartbeat, no one moved.They stared as the ancient channels carved into the stone floor shimmered with pale blue light, radiating outward from the Seat in concentric circles.Even Matteo stood frozen, his chest rising heavily as he stared at the illuminated chamber.Lorenzo lowered his head."The Keepers..." He whispered, “have awakened.""NOOOOO!!!!" Matteo roared.The spell shattered.Matteo lunged at Dominic with a ferocity born not of discipline, but of desperation.The two men collided again. They crashed into one of the massive stone columns. Ancient dust exploded into the air as Dominic completely absorbed the impact before driving Matteo backward with a crushing shoulder strike."You don't deserve it!" Matteo snarled as he swung wildly. "It should have been mine!"Dominic blocked the punch, countering with a hard strike to Matteo's ribs.The older man staggered but refused to fall.Years of obsession had become his strength.Madn

  • His Dead Wife: No Longer the Surrogate Bride   CHAPTER 337

    No one breathed.The lantern light danced across the ancient stone chamber below, casting long shadows over the circular dais where the Seat rested in solemn silence.It was not a throne as everyone had thought.It possessed none of the extravagance kings demanded.No gold or any jewelries.No ornamentation.Its simplicity made it terrifying as it is only a dark stone worn smooth by countless hands.Everything in the chamber had been built around it. While above it is the estate, the western wing, the library and the galleries.Even Alessandro's renovations had existed only to protect this single object.Lorenzo removed his glasses slowly. “For four centuries,” he said as his voice echoed softly through the hidden passage, “no one has claimed the Seat by force."Matteo's eyes never left it."Then history is about to change." He said, his voice deep.His words had barely faded when Aurelio suddenly made a move."Now!"The command exploded through the chamber.The armed men behind him s

  • His Dead Wife: No Longer the Surrogate Bride   CHAPTER 336

    The cold draft continued to flow from the narrow opening in the western wall, carrying the unmistakable scent of damp limestone.Ancient cedar.Old wax.And something else.Smoke. Althea thought tightly.It was not fresh or recent.It carries the lingering trace of candles that had burned for decades.Someone had lived below.Or had continued returning there.No one spoke between them, arriving at the same realization that settled over the room like a weight.Dominic slowly reached toward the opening in the wall but stopped a few inches away."Enzo." He called out in a low voice.Enzo nodded immediately.“Got it, Dom.” He responded and motioned for the two guards.The two guards silently stepped forward, compact flashlights already in hand. One swept the beam through the narrow gap and found nothing and only darkness.The second guard crouched and examined the stone."No fresh damage." He informed lightly. He ran his fingers along the edge. "No pry marks as well as explosives. No forc

  • His Dead Wife: No Longer the Surrogate Bride   CHAPTER 335

    Elsewhere in the manor, Matteo stood in the western gallery.Aurelio approached quickly."We heard it." He commented. "And I’m sure, so did they. What changed?"Matteo remained motionless."The mechanism activated." He answered.Aurelio looked puzzled."But we didn't trigger anything, Unc." He pointed out calmly.Matteo's expression darkened."Exactly."For the first time that evening, flicker of uncertainty crossed his face."They're ahead of us."Back inside the music room, Althea finally stood before had the grandfather clock. She looked up and immediately observed that it was magnificent.It looked older than the manor's newest wing and even older than Alessandro's renovations.Perhaps even older than the estate itself.She examined the carved wooden case, her eyes noting very carvings carefully.Vines.Oak leaves.Lions.Family crests.Nothing unusual as she lightly traced the wood with her fingertips.Until, her fingers suddenly stopped near the base.Althea closed her eyes for

  • His Dead Wife: No Longer the Surrogate Bride   CHAPTER 101

    Dominic smelled blood before he saw it.Not the sharp, metallic tang of fresh violence. What he smelled was older, darker, soaked into fabric and skin.Hospital antiseptic clung to it, trying and failing to erase what had already happened.Althea was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking out the w

  • His Dead Wife: No Longer the Surrogate Bride   CHAPTER 100

    Althea arrived at the Valtieri estate after dawn.The car that picked her up rolled through the gates as the sky shifted from gray to pale gold, the light catching on stone and iron without warmth. Morning should have felt like relief but exhaustion is clearly overtaking her body.The operation Luc

  • His Dead Wife: No Longer the Surrogate Bride   CHAPTER 99

    The breach began quietly.There were no alarms screaming or any dramatic storming of gates. It was a single, almost imperceptible lapse. One door that remained unlocked half a second longer than protocol allowed, a camera feed that lagged not enough to trip automated alerts but enough to create sha

  • His Dead Wife: No Longer the Surrogate Bride   CHAPTER 98

    The next morning, Aurelio summoned Althea again, this time after Dominic had already left for the office in just an hour.The summon came with impeccable timing and calculated politeness. A knock delivered by a servant who would not meet her eyes. A message that was phrased as a courtesy, framed li

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