Share

CHAPTER 9

last update publish date: 2025-11-27 11:11:57

The applause still thundered like an avalanche around her as the last frame of the presentation faded from the screen.

Althea kept her posture relaxed, her breathing even. The stage lights washed over her white coat, giving her the illusion of floating, untouchable, ethereal, a figure carved from calm brilliance.

The world saw perfection.

She saw a cage of memories rattling violently at the edges.

“Dr. Johnson! Congratulations!”

Her colleagues swarmed her, faces bright with admiration.

They wer
Continue to read this book for free
Scan code to download App
Locked Chapter

Latest chapter

  • His Dead Wife: No Longer the Surrogate Bride   CHAPTER 293

    Althea slowly realized after looking back and forth at the drawings and the dinosaurs, the dinos are no longer toys anymore.They’re markers! She thought frantically. Directional markers.She immediately rearranged the drawings, placing each dinosaur beside corresponding symbols.The room disappeared as her mind entered the place Dominic jokingly called"The Pattern World."Where nothing existed except relationships.Connections.Geometry.Logic.She whispered."Not rooms..." She whispered as her breathing quickened. "They're directions."She rearranged another paper."No." She muttered as she rearranged another sheet on the floor. "They're orientation points."She looked at the Tyrannosaurus.Then the Triceratops.Then the Stegosaurus.North.South.East.West.Her eyes widened."The species..." She started but froze and let out a soft, quiet and disbelieving laugh. She shook her head. “No. No way.”Althea reached toward Nicholas' bookshelf and removed the children's dinosaur encyclo

  • His Dead Wife: No Longer the Surrogate Bride   CHAPTER 292

    The first rays of sunlight slipped through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the master bedroom, washing the room in soft amber light. Outside, a gentle morning mist clung to the gardens, making the fountains and ancient trees appear almost ethereal as dawn came quietly.For the first time in several nights, the estate itself felt still despite the problems still being there.It was because exhaustion had finally forced everyone into sleep.Almost everyone.Althea's eyes slowly opened and adjusted to the light.Years of medical training had conditioned her body to wake before sunrise regardless of how late she slept.She remained lying still for several moments, breathing and listening.The steady rhythm beside her immediately caught her attention.Dominic.Still asleep.She slowly turned her head.He rarely slept this deeply.Not anymore.The past several days had stolen what little rest he usually managed to get. His brow, usually furrowed even in sleep, was finally relaxed. His breat

  • His Dead Wife: No Longer the Surrogate Bride   CHAPTER 291

    Blackstone Estate had finally quieted down but not asleep or more like it had never truly slept anymore ever since the Axis and Matteo.Not since Alessandro's secrets had begun resurfacing one by one.The hallways are now illuminated by warm lights and the security teams quietly rotated shifts.The gardens outside glowed beneath moonlight.Everything looked peaceful but also felt deceptive because beneath Blackstone's calm exterior, every person inside was carrying something.Questions.Fear.Suspicion.And tonight, Althea carried Matteo Valtieri.She was not carrying the man himself but his patterns.Althea entered her room with Dominic quietly and the familiar scent immediately greeted her as she stepped inside.Sandalwood.Fresh linen.Dominic.Home.The room itself had always been her sanctuary.A place where she could allow herself to stop being Dr. Althea Johnson or Miracle Hands.A place where she could simply become Althea.Althea Valtieri.A mother.A woman.Dominic’s wife an

  • His Dead Wife: No Longer the Surrogate Bride   CHAPTER 290

    Thirty minutes later, Althea finally finished telling them everything that happened between her and Matteo.She was silently glad that nobody interrupted, spoke nor moved when she was talking.The entire room listened to every detail she spoke.The locker room.The encounter.His words.His smile.His offer.His confidence.His knowledge about the vault.His attempt to recruit her.When she finished, nobody said anything for almost a minute.Then Antonio stood up immediately, with a look of anger on his face."I'm going to f8cking kill him." He growled angrily.Enzo grabbed his arm."No!” He countered evenly. “You’ll only make it worse!”Antonio pointed toward Althea, his anger starting to get the better of him. “That f8cking lunatic intentionally cornered her!” He shouted furiously. “How dare he talked to her and had the balls to recruit her.”"He—.""No, Antonio." Enzo repeated hardly. “Get that f8cking temper down, man.”Antonio looked genuinely angry."Why the hell not?""Because

  • His Dead Wife: No Longer the Surrogate Bride   CHAPTER 289

    Blackstone Estate is still wide awake when Althea, Michael and the medical team finally returned.The lights are turned on throughout the corridors, the fountains outside continued their gentle rhythm and the gardens bloomed with the flowers planted around.Everything looked peaceful and normal.It was a lie as nothing had been normal for weeks.Ever since the Axis Core.Ever since Matteo.Ever since Alessandro's secrets began resurfacing.The estate itself seemed to know.The walls felt heavier, the hallways quieter like the house itself was listening.Althea exited the SUV slowly with her bodyguards remained close.Michael stepped out behind her. He immediately noticed her silence that is not from the exhausted silence after surgery. It was also not the emotional silence after saving a life.Something else and it’s darker."That bad, huh?" He commented gently.Althea looked toward the estate and then nodded, looking up at him."Yes."Michael frowned, knowing that Matteo was in Mont-

  • His Dead Wife: No Longer the Surrogate Bride   CHAPTER 288

    The locker room’s large and private toilet sat empty and quiet as Althea entered and walked towards the lavatory counter. She placed her toiletries gently and for a few minutes sat on the bench provided, breathing in and out slowly and deeply.After twenty minutes, Althea finally stood up and started to wash her face, feeling the cold water on her face, refreshing her face and then gently pressing her knuckles on her closed eyes, massaging them.Once she had freshened herself up, she changed into comfortable clothes, brushed and retied her hair.Her body still felt heavy but her mind is heavier.She reached for her bag, turned and then stopped immediately.She stiffened, gripping her fist because something changed. She had still lived with the instinct of knowing something had shifted in her surroundings.The air.A feeling.Someone’s here. She thought tightly and every instinct she possessed awakened instantly.The room no longer felt empty and she slowly turned the knob of the door

  • His Dead Wife: No Longer the Surrogate Bride   CHAPTER 122

    The third move came that night that was silent, surgical, and far more intimate than any strike before.At exactly 2:17 a.m., one of Blackstone’s external safehouses, discreetly repurposed as a medical relay station under Althea’s oversight, went dark.There was no explosion or any gunfire.No scre

  • His Dead Wife: No Longer the Surrogate Bride   CHAPTER 121

    The empire that Luca Valtieri inherited did not rise on noise.It rose on silence, on patience and on moves that no one saw until the results had already taken hold. It was built by Don Pietro Valtieri and one thing he had passed down to them is to have pieces to move that only one knows existed.A

  • His Dead Wife: No Longer the Surrogate Bride   CHAPTER 117

    That night, Nicholas, who is already in his jammies with prints of dinosaurs, wandered into Dominic’s office again. He was carrying his green, dinosaur plushie as well as his book“Papa, are we in trouble?” He asked softly.Dominic turned in his chair, stood up and pulled his son into his arms. He

  • His Dead Wife: No Longer the Surrogate Bride   CHAPTER 116

    The chapel doors closed quietly behind Seraphina with a low, final echo that seemed to seal the moment into something irreversible.Dominic did not move. He just stood in the center of the stone floor, the wooden box still in his hand, his gaze fixed on the man who had just stepped fully into the f

More Chapters
Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status