All Chapters of Claiming The Archduchess: Chapter 141 - Chapter 150

Chapter 140KAITO POVThe moment the she-devil stepped through the gates, everything else ceased to exist. The crickets stopped chirping, the insects ran and hid in the safe cradles of their little holes and nests, and the monsters fled into the shadows in the dark. The silence that blanketed the whole world was like the quiet before the storm, crashing into was little calm we had left. We stood by the giant veranda watching as her assistant pulled the ramp before opening the door of the black Mercedes-Benz V-Class. The door slid back with ease before revealing a black interior. Poline rolled her wheelchair out before stopping at the leveled ground and staring around. Her face had a pleasant smile that only sent shivers down her spine. There was never a good time with this woman. For all my life, I have seen the woman laugh twice. Only twice. “She can’t be that bad,” Kim commented, whispering beside me while we all watched as her assistants wheeled her up the stairs. Her automatic

Chapter 142RAYANA POV We ended up inside our villa again, slow and lazy in the way our limbs tangled. We made love on the floor that night, by the open balcony doors. The waves outside echoed our rhythm, and our breath was the tide. The soft lapping of the waves against the shore resembled our wet skins against one another’s.It wasn’t urgent, it was brutal. It was slow, real. He took his time with me, like he was memorizing every freckle and every dip. Every scar and every curve. He kissed places I didn’t know were soft, touched me like I was made of light and air. And when I came undone, he followed right after, holding me close to his chest, his face buried in my neck. “I needed this.” He said in a soft voice, lying in a sweaty tangle of limbs and promises of light. “I needed you.” I spun in his hold and kissed his naked chest. “Always” We spent the rest of the night listening to each other’s breathing and the sound of waves crashing on the shore. Something built up inside of

Chapter 144RAYANA POVThe morning was supposed to be calm. Peaceful. Quiet. Filled with intense love-making and the sweet promises of the future. A quiet return to what we called a normal rhythm of our home. After all, I had my husband back, and I had just reached the core of his soul when he came undone and opened his heart to me for the first time. We were supposed to revel in the feel of all that. Instead, the first thing I saw when we walked into the dining room was an electric shock to every nerve ending underneath my skin. An insult to everything I had ever worked for. Poline sat at the head of the table, all pristine and shiny like she belonged there. Her spine was straight, shoulders pulled back, and dripping with aristocratic arrogance that was full of hatred. A knowing smile played on her lips like she had been fasting and praying her whole life to play that role; to sit there and insult my husband in his own house, in front of me, his wife, and his people. Her smile w

Chapter 146ALEJANDRO POVThe scream tore through the air like a knife lodged into my beating heart. I shot out of my chair like it had grown sharp spikes, heart stopped and lungs frozen. I knew that voice. I’d know that voice anywhere. High. Panicked. Raw and in pain. My Rayana. I didn’t think. I just ran. Out of the door, across the corridor with force; feet slammed against the floor like gunfire. My vision blurred, panic and rage rushing through my veins like heated gasoline. She’d gone swimming. She was running hot and needed to cool off. She promised she wouldn’t stay out long. I looked at how beautiful she was, how the little swimwear looked like it was tailored right on her body. But I didn’t kiss her…I reached the backyard at the speed of lightning, and that’s when I saw her. My wife. My everything. She was lying in a pool of red blood at the bottom of the stairs. Her arms were limp, her legs twisted in the most unnatural way. Her eyes fluttered like it was the last fli

Chapter 148ALEJANDRO POVThe soft glow of the late noon sun streaked through the thin lace curtain, casting golden shards across the quiet living room. I sat slouched on the velvet couch, my phone and all the drama it only ever brought forgotten in my lap as my eyes scanned articles and forums about baby care and fatherhood. The kind of reading I never, not even once, ever pictured myself ever doing. “Dad magazines,” I muttered under my breath, earning a soft laugh from Rayana who had her head in my lap, her eyes closed and a pleasant smile plastered on her face. She peeled her black eyes open and watched me with that knowing smile. The one that told me she was amused but understood the storm of nerves wreaking havoc inside of me. I needed to prepare. For the babies. For her… for whatever our future might hold. So I learned every single thing about parenting. About the colic phase, and even the hacks to changing dirty diapers. I made a mental note to change the room on our floor