All Chapters of Masked Desires: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

The sky was a dismal gray, as though the heavens themselves grieved. A low mist hung over the small hilltop cemetery just beyond the city’s edge, where the chapel loomed old and silent like a weary mourner. It was the kind of day that demanded silence, that swallowed sound like earth swallowing memory.Minnie stood beside her sister, dressed in black, her gloved hands folded in front of her. Her face was expressionless, porcelain-still, lips neither pressed nor parted. She stared at the plain pine coffin resting atop the hole in the ground and saw not a casket, but a chasm—the kind no love could ever fill.There were only a few people present. The priest, an older man with a gentle voice. Marlena Lockwood, dressed in solemn navy, her lips tight with restrained sympathy. Ethan, just behind her, quiet and still. Ellie stood off to the side, holding a small bouquet of lilies and watching Minnie with worried eyes.Cassie cleared her throat and stepped forward, voice trembling as she addre

. After the last guest had departed and the final strains of the string quartet had drifted into silence, the Lockwood estate rested under a canopy of stars. Somewhere in the garden, a faint wisp of rose and jasmine lingered from the day's abundance of flowers. The celebration was over. The vows had been spoken. The kiss had been witnessed. And now, the only thing left was reality.Ethan Lockwood opened the tall oak door to their bridal suite and stood aside. "After you, Mrs. Lockwood," he said with a teasing smile.Minnie hesitated at the threshold. The room was impossibly grand. Vaulted ceilings framed with silk drapery, golden sconces casting warm light on cream-colored walls, and in the center of it all: a massive four-poster bed dressed in gold-embroidered linens. She took a slow step inside, her heels clicking against the polished floors."I can’t believe this is real," she whispered."Yeah," Ethan said from behind her, closing the door gently."Me either."She turned to face hi

The evening air drifted through the open window, carrying the scent of roses and a summer storm still brewing in the distance. Minnie sat on the edge of her bed, staring blankly at the shoes placed carefully at her feet—nude satin heels with delicate bows on the ankle straps. Beside them, a floor-length evening gown lay draped across her comforter, its champagne silk shimmering like temptation in the dim light.She hadn’t chosen it. Ellie had.In fact, none of this was her choice.Her fingers trembled slightly as she buttoned the back of her blouse. Not because of nerves about dinner with Ethan—at least not in the romantic sense. She could no longer afford to think of romance. Not after what had happened earlier that day. Not after Amanda had slithered into her life like a viper and whispered venom against her throat.Her secret—Ruby—was no longer safe.Amanda knew.And Amanda, with all her cruelty and connections, wasn’t bluffing. She’d laid it out cleanly: steal data from Ethan’s co

Minnie stood in the center of Ellie’s tiny living room, pacing back and forth as she nervously twisted the hem of her sweater. Her mouth felt dry, her palms clammy. Ellie, sitting cross-legged on the couch, watched her with cautious eyes, letting her speak when she was ready.“I need to tell him,” Minnie finally blurted out. “I can’t keep doing this, El. It’s killing me. Every time he looks at me like he... like he cares, I feel sick inside.”Ellie tilted her head gently. “So tell him. Tonight. Before it gets worse.”Minnie stopped pacing. She looked at her best friend, her eyes clouded with fear and heartbreak. “What if he hates me? What if he thinks I used him?”“Then he’s a fool. You did what you had to do, Min. Amanda backed you into a corner.”“I still stole from him. I was supposed to protect him. Instead...” She trailed off, wiping her eyes. “I was just going to practice telling you. So when I told Ethan, I wouldn’t mess it up.”Ellie stood up and took her friend’s hand. “Pract

Rain lashed against the windshield like relentless fingers trying to hold her back. The wipers smeared the downpour in jagged arcs, but Minnie Love barely noticed. Her grip on the steering wheel was tight, white-knuckled, as she drove through the empty roads that twisted up toward the Lockwood estate.A nearly empty bottle of rum rolled in the footwell, sloshing its last drops every time she hit the brake. Her hair clung to her damp face, makeup smudged from tears and alcohol. Her head was spinning, but her heart thudded with a singular purpose: to see Ethan. To beg, scream, cry—she didn’t know. All she knew was that she needed him.And that he was gone.Blocked her. Shut her out."You deserve it," a cruel voice whispered inside her. "You betrayed him."But she hadn’t done it out of malice. She did it because she’d been cornered. Amanda had threatened to leak the truth about Ruby—her truth. The one she’d buried deep enough that sometimes even she forgot.But it wasn’t forgotten now.N