Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 161 - Chapitre 170

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Wedding Planning

Chapter 161Celeste's POV:The wedding planner’s office smelled like vanilla candles and expensive paper.It was the kind of place that made everything feel delicate, intentional, and curated for people who had never known chaos. Soft cream walls, tall windows framed with sheer curtains, and a massive white table in the center of the room that reflected the afternoon sunlight like polished marble.I sat at one end of that table with a leather folder in front of me, my phone resting beside it, face down. Christian’s name was still glowing faintly in my mind from the last message he had sent.“Another meeting just came up. I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you.”I believed him. But belief didn’t stop the quiet ache in my chest.Across from me sat Elena Rossi, my wedding planner. She was elegant in a way that felt effortless, her dark hair pinned into a neat low bun, her lips curved into a soft professional smile. She had already arranged several thick binders, colour swatches, and fabric sa

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-01-22

Partnership

Chapter 142Christian's POV:When Celeste walked through the front door, I felt it before I saw it. I always felt her presence around me. I was always in tune with her.She looked annoyed and exhausted. There was so much emotional weight behind her eyes. The quiet frustration she tried so hard to hide behind her soft smile.I closed the file I’d been staring at for the past ten minutes without reading a single word and stood up immediately.“Hey,” I said gently. I didn't want to upset her more, she was probably annoyed that I couldn't join her today but I had been leaving my work unattended to, since we came to Amalfi and I couldn't stretch it any longer.She dropped her bag by the door and looked at me like she was trying not to melt into the floor.“Hey,” she replied, voice tired but warm.I crossed the room in three steps and wrapped my arms around her. She didn’t hesitate. She stepped into me, pressing her face against my chest, breathing me in like she needed the grounding.“I’m

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-01-26

Missing

Chapter 163Christian's POV:We were laughing when we walked through the door.Laughing…like people who believed the world was still kind enough to let them plan a future without blood on its hands. Planning the wedding came with its stress but it made us closer, more carefree, I hadn't been able to be this happy in forever.Celeste brushed past me first, her shoulder deliberately grazing mine, her mouth tilted in that soft, knowing smile she wore when she was in a good mood. Amalfi sunlight followed us inside, warm and gold, spilling across marble floors and white walls that had finally begun to feel like home instead of a temporary shelter.“You flirted with the florist,” she accused lightly, slipping off her shoes.“I negotiated,” I corrected. “There’s a difference.”She hummed, unconvinced, walking backward now, her eyes on mine. “You smiled. You only do that when you’re winning.”I reached for her waist, pulling her in just enough that our bodies aligned, familiar, easy. My lips

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-01-28

Missing 2

Chapter 164Celeste's POV:I remembered thinking, right before everything broke, that happiness felt fragile. Like glass warmed too long by the sun.We came home laughing. I remembered that clearly. The sound of it still echoed in my head afterward, cruel and misplaced, like it belonged to another lifetime. Christian’s hand had brushed my lower back as we stepped inside, his touch familiar and grounding, and I had leaned into him without thinking, already imagining Seraphina’s smile when she saw us. It had become some sort of a routine, I and Christian fussing around town, preparing for the wedding, asking the kind neighbour to watch over Seraphina for a few hours because we didn't want her to be in the sun for too long and also keeping her a secret was best for when she was younger, then we'd return and our little family would be complete and then we'd spent the rest of the day, cuddling and being with each other.But today wasn't like any other day, I was still smiling when I climbe

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-01-28

A Friend In Need

Chapter 165Matteo's POV:Christian’s voice on the phone wasn’t loud. That was how I knew the world had ended. More like something bad had happened that was beyond his desire to scream at me through the phone.“Seraphina has been taken.” His voice sounded unreal, like he didn't believe he was saying them.Those four words landed with the weight of a gunshot. For half a second, my mind refused to process them. I sat upright in bed, the silk sheets pooling around my waist, my heart slamming so hard it hurt.“What?” I said. There was no room for disbelief in his silence.“She’s gone,” he repeated. “Get to Amalfi. Shut everything down.”The call ended before I could say another word.I stared at the dark screen of my phone, the echo of his voice still vibrating through my bones. In all the years I had known Christian, through blood, fire, and betrayal, I had never heard him like that. Not when his enemies came for him. Not when wars were declared. Not even when Damian died. Even then he d

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-01-28

Cage

Chapter 166Astrid's POV I sat very still in the dim room, my body curled into the armchair as if I were the one who needed cradling, my eyes locked on the small rise and fall of Seraphina’s chest.She had finally fallen asleep.Hours of crying had wrung her tiny body dry, each wail scraping against my skull until even I had felt close to shattering. Now her lashes rested softly against her cheeks, her mouth parted just enough to release warm, even breaths. One of her fists was curled near her face, the other tucked beneath her chin like she trusted the world to stay quiet.I hadn’t moved in a long time.The room smelt faintly of milk and clean linen. The curtains were drawn tight, the only light coming from a small lamp in the corner that cast long, wavering shadows across the walls. It felt like a pocket outside of time, suspended, unreal.I stared at her, Christian’s child.My fingers twitched against the armrest as a familiar ache spread through my chest, sharp, bitter, and deepl

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-01-28

Mother's Pain

Chapter 167Celeste's POV:I had stopped speaking without meaning to.At first, it had been accidental, words drying up in my throat, sentences dissolving before they reached my lips. By the third day, silence had become deliberate, a fragile shell I wrapped around myself because everything inside me felt too raw to touch.Christian noticed, of course. He noticed everything.He noticed how I didn’t answer when he asked if I wanted water. How I shook my head when he brought soup to the bedroom, the smell of it turning my stomach even though I knew I needed it. He noticed how my hands trembled when I sat still for too long, how my eyes kept drifting to the hallway, to the stairs, to the empty nursery down the corridor.He begged me to eat. Not angrily. Never that.He knelt in front of me once, his hands wrapped gently around my wrists like he was afraid I might disappear if he let go. His eyes were red, rimmed with exhaustion and something darker…guilt, guilt that mirrored my own so clo

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-01-28

Desperation

Chapter 168Christian's POV:The room smelt like salt and polished wood, a poor attempt at elegance layered over fear.I sat at the head of the long table, my hands flat against the surface, fingers spread as if I were anchoring myself to something solid. Across from me were the leaders of Amalfi, men in tailored suits and one woman with silver hair pulled back so tightly it looked painful. They wore careful expressions, measured tones, and the practised calm of people used to negotiating power without ever truly owning it.But I owned power, and right now, it was rotting inside me.“We understand your distress,” one of them said carefully, his Italian softened for diplomacy. “But the island has been sealed for three days. Families are separated. People are missing funerals, and businesses are closed. Children are—”“My child is missing,” I cut in, my voice dangerously quiet.Silence rippled through the room. The woman cleared her throat. “Yes. And you have our deepest sympathies. But

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-01-28

Parents… again?

Chapter 169Christian's POV:Fear did not announce itself politely. It did not knock, did not warn, and did not give me even a second to brace for it. It detonated.My car rolled through the gates of the estate just as the sun dipped lower, staining the sky in soft gold and bruised violet. Amalfi looked deceptively peaceful in moments like this, too beautiful for the kind of pain it hid behind its cliffs and narrow streets.Matteo had peeled off toward the ports minutes earlier, his car disappearing down the winding road as plans were set in motion. I barely remembered the exchange. My mind was still buzzing from the meeting, from the rage I had barely kept contained, and from the image of Celeste kneeling on the cold marble floor, whispering prayers to a God I had never trusted but now silently pleaded with.She had not spoken to me. That silence sat heavier on my chest than any threat ever had. I stepped out of the car and walked inside, nodding distantly at the guards. The house wa

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-01-28

Patient

Chapter 170Celeste's POV:I woke slowly, as if dragged upward through thick water.At first, there was only sound, a steady, rhythmic beeping that pulsed somewhere close to my head, too regular to be part of a dream. Then came the smell. Sharp antiseptic, clean and cold, layered with something faintly metallic. It stung my nose and made my stomach roll.Hospital.The realisation came before my eyes fully opened, settling into my bones with a quiet dread. My eyelids felt impossibly heavy, like they had been glued shut. When I finally managed to pry them open, the light stabbed into my skull, white and unforgiving. I winced and let them fall shut again, my breath hitching weakly.“Easy,” a voice murmured nearby.I knew that voice. I forced my eyes open again, slower this time, blinking through the blur until the shapes around me sharpened. Pale walls. A curtain half drawn. A monitor to my left with green lines dancing across the screen. A thin blanket tucked around my legs.And then I

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-01-28

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