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Chapter 44: what could've been
publish date:
2026-07-27 03:56:01Harper
My penthouse had never felt this small and it was all because she was standing in it. Mirabella stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, arms still wrapped around herself out of habit more than cold now, watching the city glitter beneath us. She was staring ahead, into the nothingness. I poured two glasses of wine I doubted either of us would finish and told myself, for the hundredth time in three years, that I wasn't doing anything wrong.
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The Bride He Wanted Was Never My Sister 47: A little Different
Mirabella.The door bell rang and I flew past Sergei and Theo who appeared to be having a meeting of some sort probably about firing and hiring more security details. I was very aware of my husband's eyes on me as I flew to the elevator. He'd been rather keen on what I was up to even though I'd been up to absolutely nothing.Cass had texted me nonstop once she was able to read my message and she'd asked for my new address. I knew she was the one. As soon as the door came open, Cass dropped her roller bag which dropped in a clank somewhere in the hallway and squeezed me into a hug. “Oh my sweet girl.” She nuzzled into my hair. My throat hurt too much from the hug. She pulled away from me and frantically searched my face, turning me from side to side. She exhaled. “Oh thank God you're not hurt.”"Cass, I'm okay—""You are not okay, don't you dare say that to me Bella." She pulled back just enough to hold my face in both hand
The Bride He Wanted Was Never My Sister Chapter 46: A kiss to Forget
Mirabella The Hartley family house smelled like cedar and old money, it had that same smell the very first time I stepped into their home and it lingered on your skin even after you're gone, almost like the scent seeped into the wood and velvet foam of the chairs. I sat at the long dining table, wrapped in a wool shawl that smelled faintly of lavender. I kept my hands busy, tracing the seam of it with my thumb over and over to keep myself from unraveling. Gracie had draped it over my shoulders earlier when I first arrived and made me a cup of tea. I felt warm and it wasn't because of the tea but because of how tenderly she looked at me and just knew exactly what I needed without a single question attached, and it was the gentlest anyone had been to me in days.She'd say with me for a while, holding my hands and whispering that it will be okay and she made me believe it will.I always wondered why Theo and Gracie never got along despite
The Bride He Wanted Was Never My Sister Chapter 45: Penthouse
Theo The elevator ride up to Harper's floor felt longer than the flight from Moscow. My hands managed to stay by myself but just wouldn't unclench.I hadn't said a word to Sergei since we landed. There wasn't a word built yet that could contain what I was feeling, words failed me but the actions in my mind I was definitely going to execute on Harper's jaw. I'd spent hours in the air staring at that photograph until the image had burned itself permanently behind my eyes, my brother's hand in my wife's hair, her face tilted toward his like she was actually considering it. Considering him.The doors opened and I stepped out, eager to execute my mission. I didn't wait for Sergei.Harper answered on the second knock, still in the same shirt from the photograph, sleeves rolled, a wine glass somewhere behind him on a table I could see past his shoulder. His hair was disheveled and it only activated all sorts of wrong images involving
The Bride He Wanted Was Never My Sister Chapter 44: what could've been
Harper My penthouse had never felt this small and it was all because she was standing in it. Mirabella stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, arms still wrapped around herself out of habit more than cold now, watching the city glitter beneath us. She was staring ahead, into the nothingness. I poured two glasses of wine I doubted either of us would finish and told myself, for the hundredth time in three years, that I wasn't doing anything wrong. I wasn't. If my brother had exposed her the way he did and still couldn't protect her, I would protect her. She was my brother's wife. She was also, and had always been, the only woman who'd ever made me feel like the version of myself I actually wanted to be, instead of the version my family spent thirty years constructing out of expectation and money. I handed her a glass and went hard to light the fireplace. "You don't
The Bride He Wanted Was Never My Sister Chapter 43: Knight in Shining armor
Theo Her phone rang out for the fourth time, it rang all the way and still hit oblivion. I was nearly losing my freaking mind.I stared at the screen like it had personally betrayed me. Glaring at the little icon that read ‘calling’ and then ‘call ended’ my blood boiled but it didn't surpass the dread that washed through me. I'd tumbled over the question in the room over a hundred times.Was my wife safe?But she wasn't even taking my call to answer that.Four times. Four separate attempts to hear her voice, to know she was breathing on the other end of a line that stretched across an ocean, and four times nothing but the flat, indifferent tone of a call going nowhere."She's not picking up." I said it out loud, mostly to hear it confirmed by something other than my own spiraling head.Sergei was already moving, phone pressed to his ear, speaking low and fast in Russian to someone on the other end. He held up a finger — “wait a second.”I hated that finger with everything in me and
The Bride He Wanted Was Never My Sister Chapter 42: A friend Indeed
MirabellaThe fluorescent lights in the precinct buzzed above me. I wasn't sure what over stimulated me, the bad lighting or the incessant buzzing of telephones.If fish jump out of water, this is what it would look like.I sat on the hard plastic chair, arms wrapped around myself, watching Officer Reyes type my statement with two fingers like the keyboard owed him money. His plaque and badge had his name oddly bolder than the rest of the officers.He was still typing and every letter felt like an hour. I'd been here an hour already and I couldn't stop tapping my feet. I needed to go back. Back to my studio where I could breathe, even though it was unsafe currently. The incessant beeping sound was pulling me further from the one thing I actually wanted, which was to go back to my studio and see for myself that Antoinette was really gone, that I hadn't imagined the empty space. I kept thinking about Zoya. And the Minister's death."And you're certain nothing else was taken," Reyes sai
The Bride He Wanted Was Never My Sister Mirabella: Gilded Cage
Everyone was playing with me.They always did, not once has there ever been a time anyone took me seriously or cared for what I had to say. It was always I'm sure Mira wouldn't mind.All this was fishy, how was everyone fine with me marrying my sister's fiance.I wanted to flee from this sham and d
The Bride He Wanted Was Never My Sister Chapter 6: The Only Competition
TheoI must have lost my mind to have let her out of my sight after almost losing control with her in that dressing room.Couples usually stuck together during their wedding reception but she fluttered like the most vibrant butterfly in the room. I loved to see her in her element, though she barely
The Bride He Wanted Was Never My Sister Chapter 5: Mirabella
Mirabella I needed air but even though I was breathing it wasn't enough. My throat had stretched so thin that air just couldn't pass through. The air pricked my throat, it couldn't pass through and the ones that did constricted my chest.The ache was dull at first but the pain began to pull, to te
The Bride He Wanted Was Never My Sister Theo
I got down first and fastened my suit jacket. The entirety of this wedding would be a success only if I got the expression I wanted from my wife.My wife.I was watching her from the moment she stepped out of the car, she was distracted from the view, adjusting her train and eventually pulling off
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