Lahat ng Kabanata ng Bared To You : Kabanata 101 - Kabanata 110

Maximillian You know that moment when everything shifts—and you don’t need anyone to say a word because their faces say it for them? Yeah… that was me the second Edwina’s parents walked into that hospital room.I didn’t need a mirror to know I looked like the villain in their story. They didn’t even try to hide it. The disappointment, the anger, the blame—it was all right there, aimed straight at me. And honestly? I couldn’t even argue with it.Because what kind of man lets the woman he loves end up in a hospital bed… because of his own family?I stood there, hands stiff at my sides, forcing myself not to look away as more of them filed in—my parents, my grandparents, her sisters. The room felt smaller with every step they took, like the walls were closing in, squeezing the truth tighter around my throat.This is on you.They could say it wasn’t. They probably would. But I knew better. I’d seen the tension. I’d noticed the looks. And what did I do? I trusted my sisters. Trusted them

Maximillian Pastor Emmanuel stepped aside, and the chapel held its breath as Dad rose from the front pew.He buttoned his jacket as he stood — a small, automatic gesture, the kind muscle memory produces when a man has spent his whole life being watched. He walked to the podium the way he walked into every room — like he owned it, like the floor had been expecting his footsteps. But I watched his hand grip the edge of the podium when he got there, and I saw what the rest of the chapel probably missed.He was holding on.He unfolded a single piece of paper, looked at it for a moment, then set it aside.He wasn't going to read it."My father," he began, and then stopped. Cleared his throat. Started again. "My father used to say that a man is not measured by the height of his throne but by the depth of his roots.""He said it so often that we stopped hearing it the way you stop hearing the sound of rain after a while — it just becomes part of the atmosphere."A quiet ripple of recogniti

Maximillian Julian was nervous. Anyone with eyes could see it — the way his knee bounced under the table, the way he kept lacing and unlacing his fingers like he was trying to remember how hands worked. Nobody pushed him to speak. We all just sat there, waiting, the silence stretching long enough that it started to feel like its own kind of conversation.Something's coming, I thought, watching him. Something he's been carrying around for a while.It made sense, in a way. This was the first time in longer than I could remember that Julian had actually summoned everyone — called a family meeting like we were a board he had to report to. Whatever he was about to say, it wasn't going to be small."Um..." He cleared his throat, lacing his fingers together again. "What I'm about to say is very important to me, so I'd really appreciate it if you all could take it in stride." Then he did something that made the whole room shift — he stared pointedly at Bianca. "Whatever opinion you might

Edwina Evelyn came at me across the ballroom looking like a girl who had something to share and would actually combust if she didn't get it out soon. She grabbed my hand without a word of warning and hauled me to the farthest corner of the room."Guess what?" she said, practically vibrating."You know I hate guessing." I rolled my eyes."Well, I've been keeping this a secret for a while now, because I didn't know if it would go anywhere, but I guess I can say it now."Whatever this is, it's clearly good. I could see it written all over her face."Oh, come on. Stop stalling and tell me." I wanted to shake her. My own heart was racing now too, whether I liked it or not."Lucas asked me to be his girlfriend." She squealed the words out."What? Seriously?" My eyes went wide. "You've been dating under the radar?""We were friends first. It started the day Julian introduced him to Esther." Evelyn was talking fast now, the way she did when she was excited. "When we found out we'd be paired

EdwinaThree years laterI've regretted many things in my life. At one time, I regretted not trying harder for my friendship with Steven. It wasn't my fault, not really — it had been his doing more than mine — but I still wished I'd handled it differently.But my greatest regret, the one I carried heaviest, was pushing Maximillian Sebastiani away. I was scared. Stubborn. Too foolish to see that he'd been right about everything. My father had gained a son the day Esther married Julian, and over the years Julian had become the brother I never had.I was so stupid, I think, even now. I didn't understand that letting go of him meant losing him completely.Max officially relinquished his claim to the throne. Julian was named second in line, which meant Esther — my sister, the person I trusted most in this world — was going to be the next queen of Mercia. Max left the country two days after the wedding and never came back. Not when Esther gave birth to the twins. Not when Evelyn married L