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홈 / Mafia / The Auctioned Bride / Chapter 40: Dressed to Conquer

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Chapter 40: Dressed to Conquer

작가: Annie
last update 최신 업데이트: 2025-09-29 18:00:11

The morning of the D-day started badly. My stomach rolled the moment I opened my eyes. I’d already been sick three times before I felt light enough to breathe again. It was always the same…I would empty myself out, then feel strangely better, like it reset me. Weird. But since I wasn’t dying, there was no point in making a scene.

After freshening up, Martha brought me breakfast with a side hug that felt almost too soft for the day ahead. Then she handed me a folded letter.

My heart skipped. Elara. She probably sent another message, another little knife on my side. My hand shook as I reached for it.

“Don Valerio asked me to give this to you, Miss,” Martha said, smiling.

“Valerio?” My voice caught. “He sent me a letter?”

“Yes, Miss.” She nodded and slipped out of the room.

I opened it, breath tight in my chest.

“Dolcezza,

You won’t be seein’ me this mornin’, ’cause I got business to attend to. You’re gonna get dressed, look your best, and wait for me, capisce? I’ll be takin’ care of som
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  • The Auctioned Bride   Chapter 150

    Althea’s pov When I walked downstairs, he had set the table…plates, glasses, even a flower in a cup like he was trying too hard.“Sit,” he said quickly, pulling the chair for me.He was trying to be a gentleman now?Adorable..He went over the pot to remove the last batch of food. but every few minutes he returned to me… a hand on the small of my back, fingers brushing my arm; a soft touch to my cheek as he checked if I was “too warm.”The old Althea might have melted.But I watched him with clinical precision.Observing his patterns.His weaknesses.His desires.He served breakfast… toast, eggs, tomatoes cooked unevenly and sat beside me instead of across the table. Our knees brushed. He didn’t move away.I sat, and he placed the food gently in front of me, like I was fragile porcelain.“You didn’t have to do all this,” I said sweetly.“I wanted to,” he said, taking the seat closest to mine instead of across the table. Our knees brushed…accidentally on purpose.I ate slowly. He watc

  • The Auctioned Bride   Chapter 149

    Althea’s povIt was slow when consciousness finally seeped back in.My head throbbed, the kind of dull, heavy ache that comes from crying until the body gives up and forces sleep. My eyes felt swollen, my breaths uneven. For a moment, I didn’t know where I was.Then I felt the warmth beside me.Damien.He was asleep on the other end of the bed, lying slightly turned toward me, one arm resting loosely over his stomach. His hair was messy, his jaw shadowed, his chest rising and falling with the softest rhythm. And then I noticed it.He was smiling.Not wide. Not obvious. Just… a faint, peaceful curve at the corner of his lips.In all the time we were together, in every night he once held me, I had never seen him look this calm. This content. Even when he pretended to “move on,” even when he married her… I knew he never slept like this.Last night must have been the best night of his life.We kissed, and it was everything he’d ever wanted from me. Everything he thought he lost forever.

  • The Auctioned Bride   Chapter 148

    Damien’s povI heard her scream before I was even fully awake.A sound like someone ripping their soul out through their throat.“Althea?”I was already running.I pushed her door open so hard it slammed against the wall. She was thrashing, drenched in sweat, tears cutting lines down her cheeks, her breath shuddering like she was drowning in air.Her eyes snapped open…wild, terrified, unfocused.“Althea.. Althea hey….hey, I’m right here,” I said, grabbing her shoulders gently.She looked at me as if she didn’t see me at all.“They came… they came for me,” she stuttered, voice breaking apart piece by piece. “They took me….there was blood….Valerio”Valerio.Even hearing the name made my jaw lock, but this wasn’t about me. Not now.I pulled her against me. She was shaking so hard her teeth chattered.“It’s okay,” I murmured, running a hand down her back, trying to steady the tremors. “You’re safe here. No one’s getting to you. Not in my house. Not while I’m here.”She clung to my shirt l

  • The Auctioned Bride   Chapter 147

    Althea’s povI jolted awake with a violent scream, drenched in sweat, tears streaking down my face. Every breath was a ragged tear in my chest.Damien burst into the room, panic flashing across his face."Althea... are you okay?" he asked, holding me close. I shivered, tears welling in my eyes. "They came... they came for me," I stammered. He pulled me closer, brushing wet strands of hair from my face. "Calm down... you're safe now," he soothed, his voice a low tone as he patted my back. The comfort was a need to my frayed nerves, and I leaned into him, clutching at his shirt. He gently cupped my face, his gaze intense. "I'm not going anywhere, Althea. It's okay Althea… you're okay.. You're safe here with me, I won't let anything happen to you, okay?" His eyes were mixed with sincerity and pain. I managed a shaky nod.It wasn't much at the time, but it gave me relief. I slumped on his shoulder holding him tight. He broke the hug and held my face. “I’m not leaving you again.. Okay?

  • The Auctioned Bride   Chapter 146

    Althea’s povI felt him before I heard him.A tight, burning sensation crawled up my spine the familiar, infuriating pull of his presence.Valerio.I turned sharply.He stood there, chest heaving, eyes wild, like a man who had sprinted through hell just to reach me.But that only made my anger sharper, colder.“What are you doing here?” I hissed. “Why are you here, Valerio?”His face tightened. “Let me explain, Dolcezza, I….”“Don’t.” My voice sliced the air. “Don’t call me that.”He froze.For a second… he looked like I’d slapped him.Good.“It’s almost funny,” I said slowly, bitterness burning through my throat. “I used to want nothing more than to hear that name from you. I even loved the way it sounded. And now?”I shook my head.“Now I detest it.”“Althea, please…” His voice cracked, soft but desperate.“You’re just like him.” I spat the words like poison. “Damien. A liar. A cheat.”His jaw clenched. “I’m nothing like him.”“You lied to me!” My voice rose despite my attempts to s

  • The Auctioned Bride   Chapter 145

    Althea’s PovThe next few days, the pattern deepened.He cooked again.Then he offered to drive me anywhere.Then he started talking… the kind of talking men only do when they’re trying to rebuild something they know they shattered.Stories. Regrets.Confessions wrapped as apologies.“I don’t know why I let things go the way they did,” he said one afternoon as we sat in the living room. “I tried to move on… I even tried to convince myself I was happy. But every time I saw you…”He stopped.I tilted my head. “Every time you saw me… what?”His jaw clenched. “It reminded me of everything I ruined.”There it was.The crack.The opening.I stepped closer, pretending to hesitate. “Damien… we can try to rebuild something. Maybe not what we had, but…”I let my voice soften into the version he remembered… warm, forgiving, naïve.A small, careful smile touched his lips…full of hope he didn’t deserve.Hook two.But…I let the softness drop like a blade.“That was what you expected me to say?” I

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