Shattered vows: Revenge of an ex bride의 모든 챕터: 챕터 31 - 챕터 40

The silence stretched between them endlessly. The tension in the air was thick and suffocating. She felt the electricity dancing across her skin at the tension.Killian hadn’t spoken a word in exactly forty-five seconds since she had uttered the lie."He's my boyfriend."Elara sipped her wine slowly, letting the rich taste of aged wine coat her tongue as she savoured the moment she was having as she watched him.Every muscle in his body was locked tight, his hand curled into a fist on the table, his jaw clenched so hard she thought he might break his teeth.Good.This was exactly what she wanted.A distraction.Something to throw him off balance while she worked on the real plan.Killian had underestimated her for far too long. He thought he was the one pulling the strings, the one controlling the game.He had no idea that she had already rewritten the rules.He was so easy to manipulate—so predictable in his arrogance and possessiveness.She could practically hear his thoughts. Who i

(Elara's POV)The air was thick with tension, but Elara loved it.She could still taste the extent of his frustration, she could feel the weight of his gaze as he took slow steps away from her. He was trying to retain control, to compose himself after what had just happened between them.She could see how hard he was trying in the way his jaw ticked, the way he ran his hand through his hair and over his face, the way he sighed.But he wouldn’t be able to.Not tonight.She knew the war between them had only just begun, but for now she had won this round.A slow, satisfied smile grew on her lips as she ran a hand over her hair, fixing it from the deliciously messy moment they had just shared. Then, she turned to him, her voice cool, calm and collected.Everything that he wasn't."I’m staying the night."It was not a question.Not a request.A statement.She didn’t wait for his response as she brushed past him, deliberately letting her shoulder to graze his as she walked through the di

Sunlight streamed through the car window, glinting off her sunglasses as Levi—Preston, actually—drove down the somewhat empty highway with one hand on the wheel and the other casually resting on the gear shift.There was something about me who drove manual cars that she always found hot.Elara reclined her seat slightly on the passenger side, her legs crossed, sundress fluttering gently with the wind blowing in through the wound down window. For a fake date, it was turning out to be more relaxing than she anticipated.“So,” he said with a lopsided grin, eyes still on the road, “how long do I get to keep being your boyfriend?”She smirked, turning her head to look at him. “Until I no longer need to weaponize your good looks.”He chuckled. “Harsh. But fair.”Elara had never spent time with Preston outside of strictly professional settings. Since she hired him as her PI, their interactions had been all about business—clinical reports, tracked movements, discreet photos, and encrypted mes

She has gone to her room, letting the door had shut behind her hours ago.But Killian was still rooted to the same spot. Standing in the center of his hallway like a ghost in his own home, hands flexing at his sides, chest tight with a fury he couldn’t explain—not to himself, and certainly not to her.That kiss.In my house.He squeezed his eyes shut, jaw clenched so hard his teeth hurt. He had replayed the image over and over like a broken record: her lips on him, that casual intimacy, her fingers grazing Levi’s chest like they had done it a hundred times. Like it meant something.Or maybe that’s what she wanted him to believe.Either way, it worked.His phone was in his hand before he even realized that he had started dialing a number. It rang once before Ethan picked up—sleep still in his voice.“Boss?”“I need a background check,” Killian said, already heading toward his private study, the rage in his voice couldn be heard, slicing through the air Ethan didn’t hesitate. “On who?”

It had been four hours since she whispered “You’re delusional” and disappeared into her room like she hadn’t just cracked open the cage he’d kept around his darkest urges.He hadn’t moved from the study since he went in and shut the door behind him.The drink in his glass had gone untouched, the bright amber liquid catching the dim light of the chandelier above. His jaw was tight. His heart a low, steady throb beneath the skin.Delusional?No.Strategic.Because if Elara thought for one damn second that he’d sit back while she twirled around town with a man like Preston Grey—wealthy, charming, powerful—then maybe she was the delusional one.She didn’t realize what she’d started. This wasn’t a petty game of jealousy anymore.It was war.Killian sat back in the leather chair, fingers steepled beneath his chin as Ethan’s files played again on the projector screen behind him.Preston was good.Too good.The kind of man that could take Elara from him in plain sight—with a well-timed smile,