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CHAPTER 48

Penulis: Melanie
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-05-24 20:41:13

SEVERAL YEARS AGO

JASMINE POV

Summer break had just ended, and I was starting eleventh grade. One more year, and I could finally leave this place behind.

Ever since my father’s death, the teachers looked at me with quiet pity. Some murmured whenever I walked past like grief was contagious. I hated it. I didn’t want their sympathy. I wasn’t broken, I was surviving. And I had earned my scholarship with my brain and not because of a tragic sob story.

My father had been a good man. A kind man.

The only person to blame for his death was my mother.

I was reaching into my locker for my math textbook when someone bumped into me. I stumbled forward a bit, bracing my hand against the cold metal.

“Shit, sorry,” a voice said behind me. “Thought you were someone else.”

I turned, already annoyed, and stopped short.

He had storm-grey eyes, dark tousled hair, and the kind of face you only ever saw in magazines or in your worst distractions.

I narrowed my eyes. “You don’t even know me. How could I be
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  • WIFE TO A CHEATER BRIDE TO A BILLIONAIRE    CHAPTER 68

    NATHAN POVI hated the way she smiled at him.Not because it wasn’t beautiful—God, it was. But because I could tell it wasn’t real. It was the kind of smile you wear when your heart’s in a cage and someone else has the key. Tight, polite, and perfectly practiced. The kind you flash at fans or flashing cameras. The kind I’d mastered years ago.But Jasmine Carter didn’t belong in that world. She wasn’t built for deception. Not like the rest of us.I knew that the moment she looked up at me in that café. Her hands were shaking from the humiliation, and yet she still thanked me—me—for stepping in. Like I wasn’t supposed to. Like no one ever had.That haunted me.Now I found myself here again, back at the park bench where we talked that day, where she clutched her coffee cup like it could hold her together and told me—quietly, almost like a confession—that she wasn’t looking for a savior. That was the moment it happened. The shift. The silent, terrifying realization that I didn’t want to j

  • WIFE TO A CHEATER BRIDE TO A BILLIONAIRE    CHAPTER 67

    JASMINE POVI left the hospital room like I was walking through water.Every step felt heavy, slow, disconnected from the ground beneath me. The fluorescent lights in the hallway buzzed overhead, and I kept my head down, gripping the straps of my bag so tightly my hands ached.I didn’t tell the nurses I was leaving. I just needed air. Or distance. Or maybe just the illusion of control, because every piece of this was slipping through my fingers.At the elevator, I hesitated. Then I turned and walked toward the stairwell instead. I needed to move. To think. To burn off the panic that had started building in my chest the moment I saw those initials inside the ring.K.J.I had to know the truth. Not tomorrow. Not later. Now.By the time I made it to the parking garage, I’d already made my decision. I dialed Kiara.The phone rang once. Then twice. Then—“Jasmine?” Her voice came through, cautious but not surprised. “Hey…”I froze. That voice—so familiar, so easy. It sounded nothing like s

  • WIFE TO A CHEATER BRIDE TO A BILLIONAIRE    CHAPTER 66

    JASMINE POV.I sat by her bedside and watched the monitor blink. Each soft beep reminded me that she was still alive… barely alive. Elora hadn’t moved since they sedated her. The doctors said she was stable but could not explain why she hadn’t woken up. She had opened her eyes once for a few seconds but didn’t say anything; she just stared ahead like she wasn’t seeing anything. Then her body started shaking, and just like that, she slipped into a coma.I pulled the blanket up to her chin again, even though the nurse had already done it. It didn’t matter. I had to do something. Anything to ease the guilt I felt. Elora wasn’t supposed to suffer like this. I should have refused her help when she offered to spy on Kimberly. Maybe now she will be partying instead of living in horror on Halloween. I thought I had it under control, that I could play this game and win. That loud, impulsive Kimberly was just another bitter woman clinging to a man and a stolen business.But I was wrong. So, so

  • WIFE TO A CHEATER BRIDE TO A BILLIONAIRE    CHAPTER 65

    THIRD PERSON POV“Drop the money at the end of the Firetrail Alley. Red tent. No games. Drop it on the table and leave.”William leaned in. “We need proof that she is alive.”“You will get that once we verify the drop is complete,” the voice replied. “We count, and you wait. When I know the money is complete, I will call again.”The line went dead.Jasmine lowered the phone slowly.Haley was already opening the map on her phone. “Firetrail Alley runs behind the east end. Close to the freak show tents. It’s away from the rides..”“Let’s go,” William said.They moved quickly, staying close to one another. Jasmine held the large bag, and William kept the smaller one tucked under his coat. They avoided the main crowd, slipping behind food stalls and game tents.It felt like everyone was watching them.As they moved deeper into the carnival, the noise began to fade. The flashing lights gave way to dim bulbs. The smell of popcorn, mixed with damp grass, turned sour.Firetrail Alley was almo

  • WIFE TO A CHEATER BRIDE TO A BILLIONAIRE    CHAPTER 64

    THIRD PERSON POVThey were supposed to be halfway there by now.Instead, they hadn’t moved more than six blocks in nearly an hour.The city was suffocating. Horns blared from every direction. Cars pressed bumper to bumper like bricks in a collapsing wall. Halloween decorations danced mockingly from lampposts, and kids in masks skipped along sidewalks, oblivious to the countdown ticking like a timebomb inside the van.Inside, Jasmine sat wedged between Haley and a duffel bag stuffed with money. Her right leg bounced nonstop. Her fingers wouldn’t stop chewing at each other, knuckle, nail, knuckle, nail, until her skin stung.Haley hadn’t said a word in thirty minutes.Not since Jasmine had snapped and yelled, “Please, just shut up for one second,” when Haley tried to suggest a different route.The silence in the van felt heavier than the cash.William’s hands gripped the steering wheel. He kept leaning forward like that would make traffic move as if his glare could part the line of cars

  • WIFE TO A CHEATER BRIDE TO A BILLIONAIRE    CHAPTER 63

    JASMINE POVHaley had just run off after William, probably to interrogate him about something I wasn’t meant to hear. I stayed in the kitchen, pouring pancake batter into the pan and pretending everything felt normal. The phone buzzed again on the counter. I rolled my eyes. It was Halloween, probably just some prank call or a spam message with a cheesy pumpkin emoji.But it kept ringing.And when I glanced down at the screen, there was no caller ID, just a blank number and an eerie persistence.I picked it up.The voice was flat and distorted, like someone using a cheap filter.“Happy Halloween, Jasmine. Thought you’d want to see this.”Then it cut off.A new video appeared on my screen.I hesitated. My thumb hovered. I already felt cold, like my body knew what I was about to see. Still, I tapped it.The screen lit up. Elara was on the floor, barely conscious, blood streaking the side of her face. Her arms were tied behind her back, and her blouse was torn at the sleeve, soaked in re

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