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Chapter 5
Last Updated:
2025-03-06 07:52:02
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“We were supposed to leave you for dead,” the cold, chilling voice sliced through the silence like a blade. “But your parents want you alive. You didn’t realize that marrying Ryan meant spending the rest of your life in isolation.”I didn’t move. I didn’t speak.My limbs were bound in an awkward, painful position—wrists tied behind my back, legs bent and aching. The cold stone floor bit into my skin. Every breath felt like it scraped my throat raw.The man shifted closer, his shadow swallowing the only flicker of light that poured in through the crack in the wall. I shivered uncontrollably. He crouched to meet my eye level. There was no warmth in his face.“He wants you dead,” he said flatly. “They convinced him you tried to kill your own child. That you were mad. That you didn’t want to live with him anymore.”I blinked, my voice a rasp of despair. “Who…”He let out a sharp laugh, one that made the hairs on my arms rise. “Clara.”My breath caught in my throat.Clara.Of course.I had
Last Updated : 2025-04-22MY STEP SISTER'S MARRIAGE: I AM HER SUBSTITUTE Chapter 7
Five years laterThe private jet touched down with a subtle jolt, tires kissing the tarmac of the airport runway. My daughter quickly took the toys the air hostess gave her to stop her from crying.I thought she was brave when I told her that we were going back to my country—my origin, that was taken from me.I never wanted to bring her back but he told me to. That it was time for me to pay back in hundred folds and more. Alice Morgan stepped off the plane, my heels clicking sharply against the polished steel steps. The wind tousled my sleek dark hair, but I didn’t flinch. I stood tall, the tailored black pantsuit hugging my frame with an elegance that screamed power. My eyes, sharper now, scanned the skyline of the city I once fled from.A city that stole everything.A city I'd return to—with fire in my veins.Ready to burn anyone that stood in my way.My right hand reached down gently to the small hand clinging to my leg. A five-year-old girl looked up at me with big, curious eyes.
Last Updated : 2025-04-24MY STEP SISTER'S MARRIAGE: I AM HER SUBSTITUTE Chapter 7
08The café was tucked in a forgotten corner of the city, away from curious eyes and familiar faces. The windows were tinted, the air smelled of espresso and dust, and the booths were old but clean. It wasn’t a place where power players met—exactly why I chose it.He was already there when I arrived, seated in the back, away from the entrance. As always, he wore black. No tie, just a dark button-up shirt rolled at the sleeves, revealing veiny forearms and a silver watch I suspected doubled as a tracker.His eyes lifted the second I stepped in, sharp, observant—never missing a detail. He didn’t smile. He never did.I slid into the booth across from him, folding my hands neatly on the table. “It’s been a while.”“Definitely not the kind of place I want to be seen but what made you call me that?" He said..Putting a folder on the table and checking the time. It was still early, most of the customers rushing in are the ones that go to the workplaces, a perfect blend of anybody hearing our
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The night air clung to me, thick and electric, as I stepped out of the car. I straightened my shoulders, smoothing my hand over the curve of my deep red gown. The velvet caught the light of the golden chandeliers pouring from the grand entrance of the Bennett Empire’s headquarters. Inside, music throbbed like a heartbeat. The world I once belonged to was gathering inside that ballroom—laughing, scheming, parading their perfect, poisonous lives. And I had returned for them. Five years had hardened me into someone they wouldn’t recognize. I wasn’t the trembling girl they banished. I wasn’t the wife they discarded. I wasn’t the sister they betrayed. I was something else now. Something sharper. Something they couldn’t destroy. The valet didn’t recognize me, which was exactly how I wanted it. He bowed politely, handing me my ticket without a second glance. I climbed the steps one slow, deliberate movement at a time, heels clicking like gunshots against the marble. The door
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The rain came softly that morning, thin and cold, slicking the sidewalks with silver. It wasn’t the kind of rain that invited you outside but one that made everything feel distant and muffled. The world outside seemed to vanish into the gray mist, and for a moment, I wished I could disappear with it. But I had something I needed to do, something I had been waiting for too long to turn back now.I watched from inside the black car, my fingers curled tightly around the edge of my coat. My palms were slick with sweat, despite the chill in the air. Nerves buzzed under my skin, electric and ugly. Every muscle in my body screamed with anticipation. This moment was too important. There was no room for mistakes.Today was not a day for war.Today was a day for something far more dangerous.Hope.Hope had always been fragile. Something I clung to through the years, despite everything that tried to tear it away from me. There were moments when I almost lost it—when the weight of everything beca
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I don’t know how long I sat there, looking at that damn file. Could’ve been minutes. Could’ve have been hours. It felt like a lifetime, honestly. Time just stopped or maybe it never really started. It was there, sitting right in front of me. A monster, ugly, thick. I had this temptation to burn it, tear it apart, smash it against the wall and scream until there was nothing left. But i couldn’t, I was stuck. Stuck in the kind of way that made your heart beat like a war drum and make your body feel like it was made of stone. It was too loud, I couldn’t escape it. The clock was breathing down my neck, counting down to something i wasn’t prepared for. “You sure?” Reeves asked. His voice was rough, low, like it was coming from the bottom of a deep pit. It was too real and too much.I wanted to laugh, I wanted to cry, I wanted to punch him in the face. Punch all of them. Punch the whole damn world. But was I sure? That I was about to burn my bridges? That I was about to sign away whatev
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I didn’t remember getting out of the car. One second, Reeves was muttering something about court protocol, and the next the cold slapped me across the face, snapping me awake.The courthouse loomed above us huge, heavy and indifferent.My heels clicked too loud against the Pavement. My dress coat felt too tight across my shoulders. Every step sounded like a countdown. I don’t even know how I was walking.Inside, the security line moved in jerks. I shuffled forward, clutching my bag, trying to breathe. My chest was tight, my hands were clammy, I wiped them against my skirt when no one was looking.The metal detector beeped for the woman ahead of me, she laughed nervously pulling out her keys. I wanted to run, instead I stepped through when it was my turn. The machine stayed silent, maybe it should have screamed.Maybe it knew better than I did how dangerous today really was.The courtroom wasn’t like in the movies. It wasn’t grand, it wasn’t dramatic, it was just…. beige.Ugly carpe
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I barely slept the night before. I don’t think i even closed my eyes, just laid there, staring at the ceiling while the hum of the fridge and the ticking of the wall clock took turns in mocking me.Every second dragged like it was trying to suffocate me. At 4:16 a.m, I got out of bed and took a shower. Hot water. Too hot. I let it burn my skin just to feel something different from panic. The pain helped somehow, it reminded me that I was still here, still fighting.By the time the sun rose, I’d already ironed my clothes, reviewed my statements and packed Mera’s lunch twice and she didn’t even have school today.Habit.Survival.When I stepped out of the elevator into the courthouse lobby, the air felt different. It was heavier than last time, tighter, like the walls were holding their last breath.Reeves was waiting for me near the metal detectors, suit perfect, hair slicked back, eyes scanning the room like a sniper. “You ready,” he asked.I nodded, even though the answer was no.H
Last Updated : 2025-04-30
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Clara’s pov It was the hesitation that stayed with me, not the drawing, not Alice’s quiet defiance and not even Victoria’s smug, polished contempt, which usually had the power to stir something sharp and righteous in me. No what lingered was the moment Aaron didn’t move right away when I told him it was time to go.That second just a second where he held on to a piece of paper like it mattered more than my voice. That paper should’ve meant nothing but it didn’t.Back in the car, Aaron was quiet. Mera’s drawing rested in his lap like a secret he didn’t want to share yet. I kept my hands tight on the wheel, fingers clenching and unclenching, trying to focus on the road, not the weight in my chest. I knew that weight. It was the same one I’d carried since the first time Aaron stopped calling me Mom. Since the first time he looked at me like I was a stranger.“Did you like seeing her?” I asked, keeping my voice even.He didn’t answer right away. His fingers traced the edge of the paper
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The waiting room felt unusually sterile today, the quiet hum of the fluorescent lights above me doing little to drown out the thoughts running through my head. I held the crumpled, old piece of paper that Mera had drawn on her usual messy but beautiful sketch of two stick figures in spacesuits one holding a book and the other reaching out. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to show it to Aaron yet, but I wanted to have it with me, it felt like a bridge I could offer him.The time had come for our next visit. The counselor had told me Aaron was eager to share his story with me, a book he had been working on about a boy lost in space. I could almost feel my pulse quicken.This was a moment, a turning point. I was about to meet Aaron where he was, and this time, it wasn’t going to be through some cold, clinical sheet of paper or a session monitored by someone else. This was us.The door opened, and I saw him standing there, holding a book close to his chest, eyes downcast, shifting from foot
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The summons comes at 7:12 a.m . It was hand delivered of course.Victoria doesn’t do digital. She wants the weight of paper, the performance of it. She wants me to feel it in my hands like a threat you can fold and tear but not outrun.I don’t flinch, not anymore. But I do read every line twice. Then once more out loud just to hear the words spoken into the world.Emergency hearing in three days.They want the visits suspended “pending psychological review.” They want me shut down again and this time, they’re trying to make it stick.Reeves is already at my apartment before I finish my coffee.“I figured you’d get the notice this morning,” he says. “She filed it before dawn.”“She couldn’t sleep,” I mutter. “Guilt’s loud.”He raises an eyebrow but doesn’t smile. “Victoria doesn’t feel guilt. She feels threat.”“So that means we’re winning.” I say looking at him.“It means she’s bleeding somewhere, and hiding it.” He replies back.I sit at the kitchen table, eyes on the stack of document
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I show up early for the next visit. Too early, I sit in my car outside the center with my hands locked around the steering wheel, staring at the brick wall in front of me like it owes me something. The engine’s off and the silence in the car feels too loud. I’ve got twenty minutes to kill, and no part of me knows what to do with them.I already know I won’t go inside early. I don’t want Aaron to see me waiting like I’m desperate even though I am.Desperate doesn’t even cover what I’m feeling.I’m not waiting for a miracle. I’m just waiting for something small a smile, a joke, a flicker of trust. I’d settle for him looking me in the eyes a full five seconds without shutting down.That would be enough, that would be everything.When I finally step inside, the counselor gives me a nod like she’s trying not to smile. “He’s in the room already.”I blink. “He’s early?”She shrugs. “He came in quiet. Said he didn’t want to wait in the car anymore.” That lands heavy, quiet but sharp. He did
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The woman at the center keeps smiling like that’ll make this easier. It doesn’t. She tells me things I already know. That visits are supervised, that the child leads, that if he’s scared, we don’t push. She uses words like “reunification” and “adjustment period,” like this is some soft story with a neat ending.I nod like I’m listening. I’m not listening though. I’m counting the seconds until that door opens.Five years, that’s how long it’s been since they told me he died. Since they took him out of my arms and disappeared with him like I never existed and now he’s walking through that door any second from now.The counselor straightens in her seat. “He’s here.”My heart slams so hard I almost choke on it and then… the door creaks open.He walks in slow. His shoulders hunched, small hands tucked into the sleeves of his hoodie. He’s not the baby I remember, not the soft, wrinkled little thing I brought into the world.He’s a boy now, grown in someone else’s shadow. But I know him, i wou
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I barely slept the night before. I don’t think i even closed my eyes, just laid there, staring at the ceiling while the hum of the fridge and the ticking of the wall clock took turns in mocking me.Every second dragged like it was trying to suffocate me. At 4:16 a.m, I got out of bed and took a shower. Hot water. Too hot. I let it burn my skin just to feel something different from panic. The pain helped somehow, it reminded me that I was still here, still fighting.By the time the sun rose, I’d already ironed my clothes, reviewed my statements and packed Mera’s lunch twice and she didn’t even have school today.Habit.Survival.When I stepped out of the elevator into the courthouse lobby, the air felt different. It was heavier than last time, tighter, like the walls were holding their last breath.Reeves was waiting for me near the metal detectors, suit perfect, hair slicked back, eyes scanning the room like a sniper. “You ready,” he asked.I nodded, even though the answer was no.H
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I didn’t remember getting out of the car. One second, Reeves was muttering something about court protocol, and the next the cold slapped me across the face, snapping me awake.The courthouse loomed above us huge, heavy and indifferent.My heels clicked too loud against the Pavement. My dress coat felt too tight across my shoulders. Every step sounded like a countdown. I don’t even know how I was walking.Inside, the security line moved in jerks. I shuffled forward, clutching my bag, trying to breathe. My chest was tight, my hands were clammy, I wiped them against my skirt when no one was looking.The metal detector beeped for the woman ahead of me, she laughed nervously pulling out her keys. I wanted to run, instead I stepped through when it was my turn. The machine stayed silent, maybe it should have screamed.Maybe it knew better than I did how dangerous today really was.The courtroom wasn’t like in the movies. It wasn’t grand, it wasn’t dramatic, it was just…. beige.Ugly carpe
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I don’t know how long I sat there, looking at that damn file. Could’ve been minutes. Could’ve have been hours. It felt like a lifetime, honestly. Time just stopped or maybe it never really started. It was there, sitting right in front of me. A monster, ugly, thick. I had this temptation to burn it, tear it apart, smash it against the wall and scream until there was nothing left. But i couldn’t, I was stuck. Stuck in the kind of way that made your heart beat like a war drum and make your body feel like it was made of stone. It was too loud, I couldn’t escape it. The clock was breathing down my neck, counting down to something i wasn’t prepared for. “You sure?” Reeves asked. His voice was rough, low, like it was coming from the bottom of a deep pit. It was too real and too much.I wanted to laugh, I wanted to cry, I wanted to punch him in the face. Punch all of them. Punch the whole damn world. But was I sure? That I was about to burn my bridges? That I was about to sign away whatev
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The rain came softly that morning, thin and cold, slicking the sidewalks with silver. It wasn’t the kind of rain that invited you outside but one that made everything feel distant and muffled. The world outside seemed to vanish into the gray mist, and for a moment, I wished I could disappear with it. But I had something I needed to do, something I had been waiting for too long to turn back now.I watched from inside the black car, my fingers curled tightly around the edge of my coat. My palms were slick with sweat, despite the chill in the air. Nerves buzzed under my skin, electric and ugly. Every muscle in my body screamed with anticipation. This moment was too important. There was no room for mistakes.Today was not a day for war.Today was a day for something far more dangerous.Hope.Hope had always been fragile. Something I clung to through the years, despite everything that tried to tear it away from me. There were moments when I almost lost it—when the weight of everything beca
