All Chapters of THE GUARDIAN'S BRIDE: Chapter 121 - Chapter 130

CHAPTER 121: What exactly am I breaking?“Swear it.”I sat frozen, my fingers twisting nervously in my lap as I tried to gather the words to stop her. I could not easily bring myself to make her that promise. Her plan was dangerous, and I feared that it could turn fatal for her. Madelyn’s face was pale but determined, her eyes burning with something raw and fierce that I had never seen in her before as she searched my face and patiently waited for me to give my word that I would keep her secret. For a moment, I felt like I was staring at a stranger, one who had already made up her mind to walk straight into a storm. One that had become reckless because of her pain. I felt that I owed it to her to try and talk her out of her plan instead of easily promising to lie to Mary and her husband.“Mads…” my voice came out low, careful, almost pleading, “please… just try to think about this one more time. Please, I'm begging you. This will not end well. I have a bad feeling about it. Don’t y

CHAPTER 123: Like the rest of usAs I waited patiently for Madelyn’s arrival, the excitement was almost palpable, like a kid at a candy store. I sat at the edge of the low leather couch in the private suite of the hotel, a cigarette smoldering between my fingers, though I had no real appetite for the smoke; it was more the ritual of it, the slow drag, the burn at the back of my throat, the exhale that fogged the air with a faint gray mist that gave me something to focus on while I waited. It actually helped in calming my excited nerves. Patience has rarely been a weapon in my arsenal. After the last stunt by Zachary and his old man, I wanted to put more pressure on the couple. I was shocked when Madelyn suddenly gave in. I knew her. I knew something else was cooking. She had been the one to bend, the one to finally agree, and though that pleased me immensely, it also made me suspicious. People rarely changed their minds without reason, and Madelyn, especially, was not a woman who ben

CHAPTER 125: Come back to me“What would have become of us,” I asked suddenly, my voice low, measured, “if you hadn’t deceived me back then?”I could feel the weight of his stare on me, shocked and calculating, like a knife pressed closely against my skin. I was playing a dangerous game. I knew it. Even if Lenny had not told me so in plain words, I knew things could get ugly if Vance realised that I was only just playing him. Yet I didn't care. My anger and my desire to save myself had made me reckless.The words hung in the air like the smoke that was still curling from his discarded cigarette. For the first time that night, Vance's mask faltered. His eyes widened just slightly, a flicker of something raw, shock, hope, disbelief, before he smothered it again under that smooth expression he wore like a tailored suit.Inside, I wanted to retch. I wanted to throw the words back into my throat and burn them before they ever reached his ears. After what the bastard did, I never once imagi

CHAPTER 127: Because of the picturesI still had my phone in hand, thumb hovering over the screen to make the call that would unleash a dozen men into the night to find her, when the sound of soft, deliberate, unhurried footsteps reached me. I stilled. And then she appeared at the doorway.Madelyn.My head snapped to the entrance just as she sauntered into the room as if she owned every second of my patience. Calm. Composed. Gliding into the room as though she hadn’t disappeared without a word to anyone, as though she hadn’t dragged me through the worst torment of my life by vanishing without a word. It was only after she had appeared that I realised the amount of anxiety that had been bustling inside me.Relief hit me so hard my chest ached, and I almost staggered, but I didn’t let it show. My face remained a mask, the same cold, impenetrable shield.Mary let out a shaky breath, her wrinkled hand pressing against her chest. Lenny, on the other hand, looked as though she’d collapse wi

CHAPTER 129: A cold resolveI barely made it into my room before my chest gave way. I all but ran to my room. As soon as the door was shot behind me, my legs carried me straight into the bathroom, as though they already knew what my body needed, and I fell onto the cold tiles, gripping the edge of the toilet bowl. The nausea that I had been keeping at bay all evening tore through me with cruel violence. There was wave after wave of retching that left my throat raw, my stomach burning, and my body trembling. Nothing but bitter acid came up, and yet my insides wouldn’t stop roiling, twisting; wouldn’t stop punishing me, as if my body itself was revolting against the storm of emotions raging inside me.By the time it had slowed, I was spent, and my arms were weak. I could only manage to clean up, then leaned against the cool tiles. Immediately, the tsunami of tears broke free. Hot, stinging tears that I had been holding back for too long. They mercilessly carved their way down my cheeks