ANMELDENChapter 152|| ANASTASIA’S POV ||The mansion had not felt like a home. It had felt like a decision.I had woken long before dawn, though I could not call what I had done “sleep.” My eyes had closed, yes, but my mind had stayed alert, circling around the same truth like a blade circling its target.Today, I was going to marry the Duke.The words should have sounded unreal. They should have sounded like something spoken about another woman. But they did not. They landed in my chest with blunt weight, and they stayed there, heavy and immovable. When the first pale light slipped through the curtains, it did not bring warmth. It only made the room visible. It showed me the carefully chosen elegance: the carved furniture, the polished wood, the expensive fabrics that had been placed here to create an illusion of comfort. But no matter how beautiful the room was, it could not soften the fact that I was here because someone had decided I needed to be here.The maids arrived as if they had b
Chapter 151|| Anastasia’s POV ||“That you’re. .. different. .. from other human beings?” he asked slowly.The sounds reverberated through my mind, muffled and warped, almost as if my mind was fighting the implications that the sounds held. I simply stood there and stared at Reinaldo, hoping that he would laugh and tell me that he was joking, or that he had just said it out of anger.However, he did none of those things.His expression was tranquil. too tranquil. The tranquil type of expression that always gives me the creeps."You need to marry me, Anastasia."The room seemed to shrink around me. The atmosphere condensed, pushing against my chest until it was hard to breathe. I shook my head, an automatic motion to try to expunge the words from my hearing.“No,” I said without thinking. “That’s not happening.”The refusal was easily forthcoming. Inevitably so. There had never been a world in which the sentence could possibly have been otherwise.Reinaldo's head turned a fraction of a
Chapter 150|| Reinaldo’s POV ||Texas had not been an accident."New York had not fooled me," Fiol says inHer name, her clean paperwork, her quiet life of an artist—that had all been impressive. Almost admirable.Nearly.I had observed her for months before I finally set foot in this apartment. I knew her patterns. Times. Her momentary indecision over crosswalks. The habit of checking her reflection in store windows rather than turning her head. She had been careful—pain can make people predictable.And hope made them careless.I sat in the dark of her apartment, drinking in air thick with the scent of oil paint and turpentine, listening to the creaking of her building. I had gotten there hours before she arrived. The cameras were already online. The door had opened readily. She trusted the world far too much.Hearing her footsteps in the hallway, measured but fatigued, a knot formed in me—not anticipation, not relief.Feedback."This," I thought, "was the woman who had destroyed my
CHAPTER 149|| Anastasia's POV ||It had been two months since I left everything behind and moved back to New York City. New York City did not ask questions. It never cared about where someone came from or what it was that someone was running from. That was exactly why I selected New York City. No one just disappeared in New York City. Everyone was just another face, another name, another life that no one bothered to recall.I had another name there. A new identity altogether. A name that stood alone. A past that was separate. I took a small apartment that housed my paintings and painting materials just about. Mia was the only one who knew where I was.She visited me regularly, with groceries, coffee, and her worry etched on her face. This afternoon, she sat opposite me on the floor while I worked on a sketch that was half-done. She had maintained silence for too long, and I was expecting what was about to come.“Anastasia,” she finally replied, her voice low. “Duke Reinaldo is look
Chapter 148|| REINALDO's POV ||I had stood in front of the mirror in my groom's outfit, adjusting the cuff that refused to sit straight, when the world had ended behind me.The room smelled faintly of flowers and starch, of new fabric and old hopes. White roses lay on the table, their petals perfect, untouched. I remembered thinking, absurdly, that Anna would scold whoever had chosen white because she preferred wildflowers-messy, alive, imperfect. Smiling at that thought, I turned around.That was when I saw her.Anna was lying on the floor where the sunlight should have touched her face. Blood was spreading beneath her, a dark, ruthless shadow, soaking into the carpet, staining everything it touched. Her dress was torn, the gentle color of it ruined, her skin pale in a way that seized my chest tight. For a moment, my brain refused to understand what my eyes were seeing. I just kept standing, frozen in my groom’s suit, breathing an air that now felt poisoned.“No,” I whispered. The
Chapter 147Book 3 - The Duke's Purchased Bride|| ANASTASIA’s POV || White drapes fluttered from every railing. Gold ribbons shimmered against the winter breeze. Flowers were everywhere—too perfect, too polished, too fitting for a wedding that shouldn’t have existed.I stopped the car a little farther from the front entrance so no one would pay attention to us. The music echoed faintly from inside—violins, slow melodies, the kind guests pretended to enjoy while gossiping behind champagne glasses.Mia shifted in the passenger seat beside me. Her fingers had been trembling on her lap, and her breathing was uneven. She had been staring at the mansion like it was a monster ready to swallow us whole.“Anastasia, please…” Mia’s voice had cracked. “We should leave. Let’s just forget this. We can still turn around. No one has seen us yet.”I didn’t look at her immediately. My gaze stayed fixed on the mansion as if it had dared me to step inside. My jaw tightened, and I exhaled slowly.“Mia,







