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Chapter 26

Author: Samantha Ely
last update Last Updated: 2025-06-26 13:53:09

Aristide

I woke up with fire in my blood. It’d been days since the explosion, but the edges of it still rang in my skull like an unfinished threat. I couldn’t keep pretending the worst was over… It wasn’t.

The safehouse was quiet when I stepped into the kitchen. Mabel was already there, barefoot, making coffee like she’d always belonged to this world. She nodded at me, handed me a mug without speaking. I didn’t say anything either. Not yet.

Matteo was already waiting for me in the office. I closed the door behind me.

“You ready to stop dancing around this?” I asked.

He didn’t look up from the files in front of him. “You think I’ve been dancing?”

“You know more than you’re saying.”

Finally, he glanced up. “And you’re not ready to hear all of it.”

“I just need enough to put a target on whoever ordered the hit. You give me that,” I ran a hand down my face, “I’ll do the rest.”

My father exhaled and leaned back in his chair, the lines around his mouth deeper than usual. “When the marriage
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  • The Chosen Bride   Chapter 26

    AristideI woke up with fire in my blood. It’d been days since the explosion, but the edges of it still rang in my skull like an unfinished threat. I couldn’t keep pretending the worst was over… It wasn’t.The safehouse was quiet when I stepped into the kitchen. Mabel was already there, barefoot, making coffee like she’d always belonged to this world. She nodded at me, handed me a mug without speaking. I didn’t say anything either. Not yet.Matteo was already waiting for me in the office. I closed the door behind me.“You ready to stop dancing around this?” I asked.He didn’t look up from the files in front of him. “You think I’ve been dancing?”“You know more than you’re saying.”Finally, he glanced up. “And you’re not ready to hear all of it.”“I just need enough to put a target on whoever ordered the hit. You give me that,” I ran a hand down my face, “I’ll do the rest.”My father exhaled and leaned back in his chair, the lines around his mouth deeper than usual. “When the marriage

  • The Chosen Bride   Chapter 25

    BellaMy ears were still ringing. Even after Enzo had driven three blocks away from the blast and pulled into a hidden alley behind one of the warehouses, even after Aristide’s arms had loosened around me, my whole body buzzed like it didn’t know we’d survived.I could still feel the heat. Still smell the smoke.My hands wouldn’t stop shaking.I sat on the hood of the car, knees pulled up, arms wrapped around them. Enzo was on the phone, barking orders. Aristide stood a few feet away, talking to someone through his earpiece… Matteo, probably. His voice was clipped, controlled.But I could feel it, he was one wrong word away from snapping. He looked over at me. I quickly looked away.The problem wasn’t the explosion. It wasn’t even the realization that someone still wanted him dead… It was the message.Make it look like a hit. He dies because he got too close. The girl doesn’t get touched… for now.They didn’t say his wife. They said the girl… Me.Someone had gone through a lot of trou

  • The Chosen Bride   Chapter 24

    AristideLeaving the hospital felt strange. The air was too loud. Too bright. I’d barely been out of bed for twelve hours, but every second I spent lying there, not acting, made my skin itch.Bella walked beside me, quiet but close… like she knew I was barely holding it together.Enzo waited by the car, and when he opened the back door for me, I shook my head and went for the passenger side. He didn’t argue. Bella slid into the back without a word.“Warehouse was quiet after we left,” he said as he started the engine. I noticed he glanced at Bella in the rearview as if it were her he was talking to. “Luca hasn’t said anything new yet. But we pulled a burner off him. Unwiped.”My jaw clenched as Enzo pulled away from the curb. “She went with you?” I asked, voice low.Enzo glanced at me, then back to the road. “She insisted.”“That’s not what I asked.”He sighed. “You were unconscious. Matteo didn’t want her to go either. But she wouldn’t back down. She said if we didn’t take her, she’d

  • The Chosen Bride   Chapter 23

    AristideWaking up felt like drowning in light. Everything was too bright. My eyes wouldn’t open, no matter how hard I tried. I couldn’t figure out what was happening. Where was I?Voices filtered in. They were muffled, distorted, like I was underwater. I couldn’t make out what anyone was saying. I tried to speak, but my mouth wouldn’t move. My throat felt like sandpaper.Panic surged.I couldn’t move. Not even a finger. I tried… I fought to lift my hand, reach out for Bella. In my foggy mind, I thought I was in our bed. She was supposed to be next to me.But I was alone.My body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. Helplessness settled like a stone in my chest, and eventually, the darkness pulled me under again.The next time I woke, it felt lighter. Not easier, just... different. There was a little more control. Enough to twitch a finger.And then I heard it.A gasp. And then her voice. My favorite sound in the world.“Ari”I mumbled, barely audible. “Izzy…”She laughed. God, tha

  • The Chosen Bride   Chapter 22

    BellaThe car ride to the warehouse was silent. Not awkward, just tense. The kind of silence that made your skin itch and your thoughts spiral.Enzo drove. Matteo sat beside him, eyes forward, fingers tapping a slow, lethal rhythm on his thigh. I sat in the back, gripping the leather seat like it might ground me.The warehouse sat near the river, tucked behind rows of old shipping crates and loading docks long abandoned. It was one of ours. I recognized the markings on the door and the way the men outside didn’t flinch when they saw Matteo step out of the car.I followed them in without a word.The warehouse was anything but empty.Guards lined the walls. They were armed, alert, and stone-faced. The air crackled with restrained violence, the kind that made your skin prickle. I wasn’t afraid. Not anymore. Not after what happened to Aristide.I followed Matteo and Enzo through the warehouse until we reached the center of the room.There he was.Tied to a steel chair, ankles and wrists b

  • The Chosen Bride   Chapter 21

    BellaIt had been a week. Seven long, dragging days. And Aristide was still asleep.Mabel snored softly in the corner of the hospital room, curled up in the chair with a blanket someone from the nurses' station had given her. She refused to leave my side, and because I refused to leave his… she camped out here with us every single night. She was the only reason I remembered to eat, shower, or change my clothes.But I was tired. Tired of waiting. Tired of staring at the stillness of his chest under the blanket, praying for the slightest twitch of movement. Tired of pretending to be calm when every second felt like I was cracking open from the inside.And worst of all, they still hadn’t found the bastard who did this to my husband.I grabbed my phone and, without thinking, scrolled to Marco’s name and hit call. It rang a few times before he picked up.“Bella?” My brother’s voice was laced with surprise. “Wow, I wasn’t expecting to hear from you.”“I figured that,” I murmured.“It’s good

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