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Chapter 72

Author: Samantha Ely
last update Last Updated: 2025-08-19 05:57:50

Aristide

I didn’t waste time thinking about the fight with Bella.

It wasn’t real—not in the way that mattered. The words had stung when I threw them out, when I saw her eyes widen like I’d cut her in half, but it was theater. We needed the illusion. If Sofia thought there were cracks between us, she’d take the bait. And she had.

All I cared about now was making sure it paid off, so I could walk back into Bella’s arms with this finished. No more staged arguments. No more poison creeping into our walls. I wanted her free, our child free, and nothing standing between us.

Enzo drove, his knuckles white on the steering wheel. His silence mirrored mine. Both of us knew what was waiting tonight wasn’t going to be neat. Bianchi’s shadow had loomed long, Cipher’s name still whispered like a curse in our corridors. But this wasn’t about the phantom in the dark anymore. This was about rooting out the rot Bella had grown up with… her mother, her sister.

And now, the final breadcrumb had landed in
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