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Lahat ng Kabanata ng Scarred Hearts: A Mafia Billionaire Romance : Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

271 Kabanata

CHAPTER 1: Trapped in the Gilded Cage

Leya stood by the edge of her father's study, her fingers trailing along the smooth wood of the desk that had once been his. The room once filled with his presence, his laughter, his unwavering confidence, once alive, now felt like a tomb: cold, hollow, and lifeless. Almost, as if she heard the echo of his voice from the walls, reassuring her that steadiness that she always relied on. But now nothing was stable anymore. Nothing was all right. The memory of his death came crashing upon her like a tide, of which the force threatened to drown her. She remembered the call, how her mom's face had slumped, folding in on itself, as the weight of the news had shattered everything. Leya watched immobile, her world breaking into pieces. The moment before, her father was alive, vibrant, with plans and dreams. The next… he was gone. A car accident: sudden, brutal. Her hands were quivering while she reached for the framed picture lying on the desk, that of her father proudly in front of

CHAPTER 2: Harrison's Fury

The reception had taken place in the great ballroom of the Blackwood estate, a lavish affair of crystal chandeliers casting shimmering light across polished marble floors. Leya swam through the crowd, accepting well-wishes from the guests she didn't know, nodding politely at their empty compliments. But all the while, she had the feeling that she was a ghost wafting through a life that wasn't hers. She caught a glimpse of Harrison across the room, similarly flanked by his family and his business associates, wearing the same detached expression, his smile never quite reaching his eyes. A prisoner in this arrangement too, though his prison was one of power and expectation, not desperation. As the evening wore on, she found herself standing beside the big bay window, looking down into the sprawling gardens below. Laughter and clinking glasses faded through the background as she allowed herself for a moment to breathe in the weight of everything that happened. She felt her mother com

CHAPTER 3: Midnight Warning

Mr. Samuel Blackwood sat back in his dark leather chair. The poor light from the desk lamp cast sharp shadows across his face. His fingers drummed around the edge of the thick file labeled Anderson while his eyes were hard and calculating. He swirled the glass of brandy in his other hand, eyes narrowing while weighing his next move. That wasn't some list of debts and bankruptcies. This dug a little deeper than that. For years, Samuel had been keeping tabs on the Anderson family, way back before Leya's father died in that tragic accident, before their business went belly-up. He knew fully well it would only be a matter of time before the bottom fell out from under them, and he was positioned just right to make the most of it. Yet even more Leya did not know: secrets safely laid to rest, secrets her father had taken to his grave. Samuel's eyes strayed to the picture inside the folder, the same framed smiling family photo that had once hung in the Anderson house. He touched his fing

CHAPTER 4: Harrison's Visit

Leya sat alone in her room, the soft light from the lamp casting enough glow to chase away the shadows that seemed to cling to the walls. The air was thick and suffocating as if the mansion itself were alive, pressing down on her from all sides. She sat down leaning against the headboard, her fingers straying aimlessly across the embroidered patterns of the bedspread while her mind fell back to recollections of the time past. The nights had become her only solace, those scant times when she could be left to her thoughts alone, away from the freezing stare of Harrison, the chain of belittling remarks from Vivian, and the constant prying eyes of Eleanor. It was in this quiet that she remembered what it had been like to be herself, before marriage, before the death of her father, before the walls of this mansion closed in on her as though in a prison. And as it was the case, her thoughts took her back to her father's study. She could almost envision him now, sitting behind the desk, h

CHAPTER 5: The Safe Behind the Portrait

Leya's breathing ceased at that door. There was a mass that had rested there on her chest. The door had been creeping and reeling on the opposite side, but whatever lay there was bearing against no segment of the door. It's not screaming. It's waiting. She shook with fear. Her head spun. It wasn't Harrison, for he'd have already flung open the door, firing piercing asides like barbs. But this one had a brooding air—brooding as if he survived her confusion. The silence continued. And then— The handle was turned. Leya sat up in bed, her heart pounding so hard she was certain she'd lost hearing. The door groaned, the inch or so of door to frame allowing only the darkness of the hall beyond. Then the whisper. Low. Gentle. Chilling. "You don't belong here." Leya's insides knot. Her fists were wrapped around the blanket, knuckles whitening. The whisper hadn't been Harrison's. Nor Eleanor's, nor Vivian's, nor even Samuel's. It was someone else. A man shot through

CHAPTER 6: She Wasn't Meant to Know

The air had been thick and stagnant out there like a coiled spring, and Leya braked hard, Harrison's last words in the empty room echoing in her head.Goodnight, wife.She bit down hard on her cheek and took a breath. Her flesh was taut underneath where he was pressed atop hers, his pressure digging into her skin. She wasn't sure if the chill on top of her spine was fear or anger.Or both.Harrison was aware of it. Had been strewn about how his eyes had rested on her, imposing defective stubbornness over him. And he'd fought more fought against it—he'd risen up in protest. He had swirled her about like some plaything that revolved within his brain, unaware as to whether or not she would go back to it.Her hands trembled and she hated it. Hated thin, hated being trapped in her own boudoir. She fought just to get herself out of bed, lead legs, shambling into the room to the window. In the mansion window outside, the mansion lawn spreads and stretches, glimmering in dark moonlight. Iron

CHAPTER 7: A Warning in the Dark

Leya breathed deep, she stamped the spasm of fear beneath her in quiet. The notebook was heavy between her fingers, leather wrinkled under her hand pressed against it. She desired the attic desolate of her before person and beast could encounter its door. She took the journal and floated to the door, hesitant hand around the doorknob so as not to squeak. She jumped at a jump because squeaking back hinges were caught in the quiet of their silent turn. She floated out and closed the door quietly. She floated down creaking wooden stairs silently with no noise whatever through the black mansion halls. She had to find somewhere where she could sit and read the journal—a spot where they'd never think to search. The servants' block? No, too probable. The library? Too probable. Her mind ran in circles until she recalled one spot that might be beyond their reach. The greenhouse. It was towards the house, on the east side of the east wing—unmown and unpicked since Samuel died. Nobody ever we

CHAPTER 8: The Hidden Clause

Leya leaned against the stone wall for a moment after Harrison departed, attempting to catch her breath. The air now felt colder with him gone, his scent-scented, clean-pervading still clinging around the greenhouse. She forced the notebook into her palm, her mind spinning at what he'd stated. He doubted that she did believe him—he was good with that. She never thought that he would, though. But how that he spoke, in which he seemingly could not accomplish that which was happening, shook her to the core of herself more than she ever would concede. Harrison was ever capable, ever hard and unstoppable. And this evening, she glimpsed something—a fear or uncertainty. She wasn't going to sit around waiting for him or anyone else to make a move, She must attempt to get something out of Samuel regarding what he had been holding back and why it mattered to him. Slipping unnoticed out of the greenhouse, Leya crept unseen back into the mansion. She did not go through the front door and glided

CHAPTER 9: The Edge of Loyalty

Harrison rested against the courtyard's rim, cigarette burning low in his hand, its ember shining like the final reminder of authority he could hold onto. The cold night wind swirled against Blackwood Mansion's walls and brushed against him, but he did not tremble. He never did. He rested and glared at the greenhouse. She was in there. Leya. He had witnessed the light move from the soiled glass, observed her slip in like a phantom to its source. What did she read in Samuel's notebook? Which page had she turned that altered the very nature of her existence? He could not have stopped her. Could have. Hadn't. And that—that doubt—was what had Eleanor pursuing him like a wolf scenting weakness. She was on one thing correct: Leya was dangerous. But not that she had envisioned. Not for defying. For telling the truth. For not tiptoeing around their dictates like a static, proper puppet. For regarding him tonight—like he wasn't a monster. But like she viewed right through

Chapter 10: The Heat Beneath the Cold

Leya gasped, looking at the burned letter, Samuel's words branded like a cancerous blessing in her mind."If they find out what you are—"What was she?All that she had seemed to roll away from her like loose marble, leaving her chilled. She balled the burned paper in her hand, heat branding the shape of her palm where ash foamed like hidden secrets.Shayla watched her with wide eyes. “Leya… what does it mean?”“I don’t know,” she whispered, though her voice was sharp, her spine steel. “But I’m going to find out.”Moments Later – Harrison’s WingThe hallway leading to Harrison’s private rooms was veiled in shadow, the sconces dimmed, casting sharp lines on the marble. Leya stormed forward, no longer caring about being silent, about being proper.She wasn’t here for answers anymore.She'd arrived in needing the truth—and she was going to get it out of him if it was the very last thing she ever drew breath.Guards to his front gate started tattling, but one glimpse at her—and off they s

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