All Chapters of The Billionaire Broken Bride—Married To My Enemy.: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

ALESSA’S POV“This isn’t about them. This is about me… finally choosing to live.”The soft beams of morning sunlight streamed through the thick velvet curtains, casting golden patterns across the walls. Warmth kissed my skin as I stretched under the duvet, my body reluctant to part with its cocoon. There was something different in the air like the silence after a storm, not empty, but sacred.Two days ago, everything changed.No more cold stares across the dining table. No more sharp words or slammed doors echoing down the halls. Just… peace. Fragile, tentative peace. Forgiveness in its earliest form. A truce I never thought we’d reach.I’d made a vow to myself.To try.To try living with the life I’d been given.To try looking Michael in the eye without being haunted by what I’d lost.To try, to learn how to love him. Not because I had to, but maybe… because I wanted to.The scent of sautéed spices drifted up the stairs comforting, familiar. Someone was already busy in the kitchen.

NATASHA’S POVThe applause still rang in my ears like a rising tide when Alessa’s fingers found mine. Cold. Trembling. Urgent. She didn’t speak, just pulled.I followed. I trusted her, so I gave that excuse hoping the crowd that cheered bought it.Behind us, the ballroom glowed with gold and thundered with cheers, but the velvet curtains swallowed it all. Music dimmed. Applause faded. The world narrowed into silence and soft carpeting underfoot.We passed mirrored panels that reflected fragments of us, my sparkling crown, Alessa’s stiff shoulders, the jitter in her step she tried to hide. She clutched her gown with one hand, the other still locked with mine like a lifeline.A server moved to offer us champagne, but Alessa barely spared a glance. We moved too fast.My lungs tightened.This wasn't part of the plan.She opened the door to the VIP lounge and ushered me in. The lock clicked softly behind us, the final seal.And just like that, it was quiet.Too quiet.My crown weighed heav

MICHAEL’S POVBy the third day, the meeting was set. Everyone was there. Even Amber.The room had that breathless silence that only heavy truths invite. It was wide and white, sterile almost, except for the hum of the overhead lights and the steady tick of the wall clock, a countdown to confrontation.The whiteboard stared back at me like it had a soul. Empty, but waiting. Like it knew what was coming. Like it was bracing for impact.I turned to the circle forming around me.Amber sat closest to the door. Her hands were clenched in her lap, her eyes flickering every few seconds toward the hallway like a girl half-expecting a ghost to return. Natasha stood at the table’s edge, arms crossed tightly over her chest, like she needed to hold herself together. There were faint bruises on her skin, not just the kind you see, but the kind you feel in your bones.Alessa was already typing, her laptop glowing dimly beside her like a lifeline. Disha flipped through her notepad, her lips pressed

ALESSA’S POVThe room felt unbearably still, like the air itself had been sucked out. The silence was so heavy it pressed against my ears, making my heartbeat pound loudly in my chest.I watched Natasha sit there, so fragile and small, almost like a shadow of the woman I thought I knew. Her shoulders shook just a little, like a wall built to protect her was quietly falling apart, piece by piece.Every part of her seemed to be holding on by the tiniest thread, barely there, barely keeping her upright.Her voice, once strong and sure, had faded into a soft whisper, then disappeared altogether. And when the tears finally slipped down her cheeks, quiet, stubborn, and unstoppable, the silence afterward felt like a deep, open wound inside the room.It wasn’t a cry for help. It wasn’t asking for pity. It was the sound of someone breaking apart slowly and completely.I wanted to reach out, to wrap my arms around her and keep her safe. To hold her pain so she wouldn’t have to carry it alone. B

ALESSA’S POVI didn’t see him leave.One second Michael was there, breathing hard in front me, with the way his chest rose and fell, I saw it. His gaze fixed somewhere past the chaos and the next, he was gone. A shadow slipping into the maze of the warehouse, swallowed whole by steel beams and the strobing flash of police lights.The gunfire had stopped, mostly. The air was thick with the metallic tang of blood, the bitter stench of gunpowder. Every breath scraped my throat raw. My hands still trembled from shoving past the guard, but I kept them clamped over Natasha’s arm, feeling the sluggish warmth of her blood seeping through my fingers. If I pressed hard enough, maybe I could anchor her to me. Keep her here. Keep her alive.Disha crouched beside us, her voice sharp but steady. “Stay down. Police are sweeping the building.”I wanted to stay. I should have stayed. But my eyes kept flicking toward the far end of the warehouse, where Michael had disappeared. The pounding in my c