All Chapters of The Substitute Bride of the Ruthless Mafia Boss : Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

I wasn’t supposed to be here.That much was obvious.The hallway was dimly lit, the faint golden glow from the sconces casting long shadows against the polished wood. My footsteps had been light, careful, every nerve in my body telling me to turn around and go back.But then I heard them.Dawson’s voice, low and edged with something unfamiliar. Isobel's softer, more vulnerable than I’d ever heard before.I knew I should leave. This wasn’t my business.But I stayed.Pressing my back against the wall, I positioned myself near the slightly open door, the gap just wide enough for their voices to slip through.“I can’t do this,” Isobel whispered. “I keep telling myself that, but then…”Dawson let out a slow exhale. “Then what?”“Then I see you,” she admitted, her voice barely above a breath. “And everything I try to bury comes back.”A silence stretched between them, thick and charged.“You think I don’t feel the same way?” Dawson’s voice was lower now, almost dangerous in its intensity.I

I gripped the steering wheel tightly as Dawson sat in the passenger seat beside me, his gaze fixed on the road ahead. Esther was in the backseat, tapping impatiently on her phone. The tension in the car was thick, suffocating even. None of us wanted to admit what we were all thinking—if Julia had Ace, then we were already too late.But I refused to accept that.“We’re checking the bar first,” I said, breaking the silence. My voice was steadier than I felt.Dawson exhaled sharply. “You think she took him from there?”“Where else would he have been?” I shot back, gripping the wheel tighter. “He wouldn’t just disappear without a fight. Something had to have happened after I left.”Esther hummed from the back. “I still think we should be looking at Julia’s new husband’s place. The Nightwind Mafia has the resources to keep Ace locked up.”I clenched my jaw. “We’ll get there. But first, the bar.”No one argued after that.---The bar was nearly empty when we arrived, a few scattered patrons

We had a plan. A reckless, insane, probably-going-to-get-us-killed plan. But it was a plan nonetheless. I sat on the couch in Ace’s penthouse, staring at the city lights through the floor-to-ceiling windows. The glow of Boston’s skyline should have been calming, but my mind was a storm. My fingers tapped restlessly against my knee. Esther sat across from me, legs propped up on the coffee table, twirling a knife between her fingers like she was born to wield it. Dawson stood by the minibar, pouring himself a drink. He didn’t offer me one, probably because he knew I wouldn’t take it. “So,” I said, breaking the silence. “How exactly do we kidnap Julia without getting our heads blown off?” Dawson took a slow sip of his whiskey before answering. “We don’t rush in blind, for starters.” Esther scoffed. “Tell that to Brielle.” I shot her a glare. “Excuse me for actually wanting to do something instead of sitting around while Ace rots in Julia’s web.” Dawson set his glass down with a sof

We drove in silence. Valerie kept both hands clenched on the wheel, her fingers practically digging into the leather. Esther lounged in the back seat like she didn’t have a care in the world, scrolling through her phone. I stared out the window, my mind racing. We had done it. The money had been moved. We should’ve been celebrating. But all I felt was unease. “So,” Valerie finally spoke, voice tight. “Where exactly are we going?” “My place,” I answered. “At least until we figure out if anyone’s onto us.” Valerie let out a short, humorless laugh. “Oh, they’re onto us. Did you see that backtrace? We had, what? Three minutes before they found me?” “But they didn’t,” Esther said coolly, still focused on her phone. “You wiped the trace. No one’s knocking down your door.” “Yet,” Valerie muttered under her breath. I turned to her. “Val—” “No.” She shook her

The car ride was suffocating. Not because of the silence—there was none. Valerie was talking non-stop, mostly to herself, mostly about how insane this plan was.“I just wanna go on record,” she was saying, shifting in her seat beside me, “that this is the single most ridiculous, most reckless, most absolutely batshit idea we have ever had.”“Noted,” Esther said, not even looking up from her phone. “For the third time.”Ace sat on my other side, staring out the window like he was miles away. I could feel the tension in him, the tightly coiled energy like he was waiting for something to explode.Dawson, from the driver’s seat, let out a low chuckle. “You say that like we’ve never done anything worse.”Valerie threw her hands up. “Oh, I don’t know, Dawson. Walking into a literal psychopath’s trap with nothing but sheer arrogance and wishful thinking? Yeah, this one definitely takes the cake.”I pressed my hands together in my lap, m