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

AristideI didn’t waste time thinking about the fight with Bella.It wasn’t real—not in the way that mattered. The words had stung when I threw them out, when I saw her eyes widen like I’d cut her in half, but it was theater. We needed the illusion. If Sofia thought there were cracks between us, she’d take the bait. And she had.All I cared about now was making sure it paid off, so I could walk back into Bella’s arms with this finished. No more staged arguments. No more poison creeping into our walls. I wanted her free, our child free, and nothing standing between us.Enzo drove, his knuckles white on the steering wheel. His silence mirrored mine. Both of us knew what was waiting tonight wasn’t going to be neat. Bianchi’s shadow had loomed long, Cipher’s name still whispered like a curse in our corridors. But this wasn’t about the phantom in the dark anymore. This was about rooting out the rot Bella had grown up with… her mother, her sister.And now, the final breadcrumb had landed in

AristideThe silence between us was thick, like smoke hanging in the room after a gunfight. Bella lay with her head resting against my chest, her fingers idly tracing across my ribs, but I could feel the weight behind her stillness. She wasn’t just lying here to be close—she was waiting. She wanted answers.I hadn’t wanted to bring the poison of tonight back into this room, not after finally holding her again. But she deserved the truth, and she had earned it ten times over.Her hand stilled, then she lifted her head, her eyes dark in the low glow of the lamp. “What did you find tonight, Ari?” Her voice was soft, but it carried that steel edge that only came out when she was both hurt and determined. “I know you wouldn’t have left unless it was important.”I cupped her cheek with my palm, the need to shield her clashing with the promise I’d made to never lie. “We followed the last breadcrumb,” I admitted, watching her carefully. “And it led exactly where I feared it would. Straight to

AristideI felt the familiar hum of the jet beneath us, but my mind was miles away from the gentle turbulence. Bella slept lightly against me, her hand resting over my chest, our fingers entwined. For a few hours, New Zealand had felt like another world—a place where nothing from the old life reached us. But I knew the bubble wouldn’t last.The plane touched down with a soft bump, the engines winding down. The sun was low over the airstrip back home, painting the sky in bruised purples and golds. I helped Bella out of the plane, and to the car waiting to drive up to the Estate, kissing her head before whispering that we would be home soon. She made a “hmm” noise, telling me that she didn’t believe that the peace of the last twenty-four hours wouldn’t last.And… she was right. Because the moment the estate gates came into view, the atmosphere changed. The house loomed against the horizon, guards posted double at the perimeter, radios pressed to their ears. Mabel met us at the entrance

AristideBy the time the estate’s halls quieted, the weight of what had happened still pressed against my chest like a stone. My father was dead. Carlo was in chains. And Cipher, our faceless ghost of an enemy, was still out there, pulling strings.The house smelled faintly of candle wax and salt tears. Guards had carried my father’s body to the family chapel, where traditions would be observed. But there would be no mourning without strategy. Not in our world.The war room glowed with harsh light as everyone gathered. Bella was already there, seated at the head of the long oak table, her brother Marco at her right. Elena sat across from her, her face pale but steady, hands folded tightly in her lap. Enzo leaned against the wall, bandaged from his recent injury but refusing to be left out.Carlo sat shackled at the far end, two guards at his shoulders. His face was bruised from the struggle, his hair matted with sweat, but his eyes carried that same Moretti arrogance that had poisoned

AristideThe gates of the estate groaned open as our convoy pulled inside. The engines died, one by one, leaving only the echo of metal cooling in the night air. The mission had been quick, precise, brutal, exactly as it needed to be. But precision didn’t erase the weight of it. It only concentrated it.I stepped out first, Marco at my side, the smell of gunpowder and sweat still clinging to us both. The guards standing at the entrance straightened, but their eyes weren’t on me. They were on the house, waiting, knowing.She was already there.Bella stood at the top of the steps, her hair pulled back, her frame cloaked in a dark wrap that made her look both regal and severe. Elena hovered at her shoulder, posture sharp, but the tension in her jaw betrayed her worry.The moment Bella’s eyes locked on mine, something inside me eased—and tightened all at once.She came down the steps quickly, not running, but close to it. I met her halfway, and she didn’t hesitate. Her arms wrapped around