All Chapters of The Rejected Bride: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

“Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.” — Stephen King“Poor girl, you don’t know how much I pitied you every time you came here, thinking she was your friend,” he said, still looking at me. “Almost from the moment you arrived, she did everything she could to get you out. I used to shake my head as she encouraged you to continue to receive that one,” he beckoned at Ibrahim with his chin, “in your bed, deceiving you that it was the only way to have some footing in the house, though she knew full well that the more accepting you were of his son, the more it angered Omar and pushed you away from him. She thought he would have sent you away years ago and didn’t anticipate you staying for as long as you have.”“But the minister had so many other women. Amanda, Clara, Lauralee, Clementina…just to name a few,” I say, my head still spinning. “I was the least of her problems.”“You were the one he ca

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.” — Charlotte Brontë, Jane EyreThe call came at 4:12 a.m.I was already awake, lying rigidly atop the silk sheets he insisted I sleep on, staring into the heavy darkness. The phone rang—sharp, slicing through the stillness—and even before I heard the soft knock at my door, I knew.I knew but ignorance was a tool dangerous in the Right hands."The Minister has passed,and his burial will be held in the coming days" the news reporter whispered, her voice trembling.Maybe he was one of her benefactors too.Passed.Such a gentle word for a man who had been anything but gentle.Dead.Gone.Just like that.I swung my legs over the side of the bed and sat there, feeling absolutely nothing. No gasp, no collapse to the floor. No tears.Only a strange, hollow stillness in my chest, as if I had been emptied out long ago.The Great Minister. The champion of reforms.The man loved by the people — a

Chapter 76 ."Out of difficulties grow miracles." – Jean de La BruyèreTears pool in my eyes as the contents of the note hit me like a slap in the face. Jacobi has left me, and despite what he has written, there is a high chance that he might not return. My heart, soul and spirit are crushed. Without him, what is there to look forward to?Early the next morning, Catherine eaves for New-York. By noon, the minister’s lawyer arrived. Barrister Evans is the minister's longtime associate, who was even part of the contingent that accompanied him to India when he came to marry me. A pleasant man who wears his age just as regally as his friend did, he is one of the minster's cronies who never lusted after me once, and was always genuinely nice to me. But today, sitting before us in the living room, he isn’t his usual humorous and playful self. He is here for serious business. He coughs before he starts to read.I, Omar royale wahah , a legal ad

Chapter 78"The most dangerous people are the ones who pretend to be your friend until they have the chance to become your executioner." — Unknown“That’s a nice hair style you have there. It seems strange seeing you without your head scarf,” comes a voice from the door. “I didn’t think I would find you here.”Even though the worst is over, hearing that voice still sends shivers down my spine.“Good evening,” I say to Ibrahim, as he walks into the room. “Something came up. I’ll be leaving tomorrow.”“May I join you?” he asks, smiling at my glass of wine. I shrug, and he proceeds to pour himself a glass. “I hear you were able to sell the place for a tidy amount of money.”I shrug again, not wanting to go into any details with him.“I’ve also put up the bakery and the house in New-York for sale,” he says. “My family and I are moving to Washington. With Dad gone, there isn’t much for me here anymore.”I don’t answer, and he sets his glass down. “Zeyne

“He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.” — Friedrich NietzscheChapter 80“We can make it past! We just need to run quickly. We'd make it,” the man with ali, who from his voice I can identify as Uriel, one of the old ranch hands, counters, himself also coughing heavily.But I know there is a fat chance of this. One foot into that inferno, and we will all be roasted alive.And then I hear my name.“zeynep! Zeynep!”I would know that voice anywhere.It calls out from the only other room on my side of the hallway, a long abandoned room that served as an extension of the minister's late wife’s closet, a room that has remained locked since her death.Uriel kicks the door down, and we run inside it, escaping the ravaging flames that are about to consume us. I throw off the blanket and see Naeto and another man standing by the open window. The