Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Auctioned Bride: Kabanata 141 - Kabanata 150

Althea’s pov“Althea,” Seraphina spat, her voice sharp, venomous, yet edged with panic.I leaned against the edge of the office desk, arms crossed, watching her like I was some predator observing prey. The faint hum of the city outside was muffled by the tall windows, but it didn’t matter. In this room, time itself had slowed, bending around the chaos that Seraphina had never expected.Her world was collapsing, and I was holding the detonator.“You’re going to regret this,” she hissed, her face pale, eyes wide. She had always carried herself with a flawless mask of composure, but now that mask was cracking, showing glimpses of the woman behind the power, behind the schemes.I smiled, cold, almost clinical. “Regret?” I said softly, letting the word hang in the air. “Oh, Seraphina… you should have thought about that before you decided to take everything from me, from my family. You should have thought about me before you broke the law, embezzled, and stole from my father’s legacy.”Her

Damien’s povShe was here.Standing right in front of me as though the universe had finally taken pity on me after months…no, years of slow, gnawing misery.Althea.For a full second, I honestly thought it was a hallucination. Maybe lack of sleep. Maybe guilt. Maybe punishment. But when she blinked, when her lips moved, when she said my name in that voice that used to soften every part of me…I knew she was real.And the look she gave me…the slight curl of disgust she tried so hard to hide hit me like a punch to the chest. God, I deserved it. I deserved every bit of hate she carried.But she was here.And she came to me.It felt like a second chance wrapped in punishment.I don’t know what kind of man I’ve become lately. I don’t know how to explain the ache, the emptiness, the regret that sits in my bones every day. All I know is that ever since I chose wrong, ever since I walked away from her, something in me never recovered.I thought I loved Elara.I convinced myself I did.But som

Althea’s PovThe next few days, the pattern deepened.He cooked again.Then he offered to drive me anywhere.Then he started talking… the kind of talking men only do when they’re trying to rebuild something they know they shattered.Stories. Regrets.Confessions wrapped as apologies.“I don’t know why I let things go the way they did,” he said one afternoon as we sat in the living room. “I tried to move on… I even tried to convince myself I was happy. But every time I saw you…”He stopped.I tilted my head. “Every time you saw me… what?”His jaw clenched. “It reminded me of everything I ruined.”There it was.The crack.The opening.I stepped closer, pretending to hesitate. “Damien… we can try to rebuild something. Maybe not what we had, but…”I let my voice soften into the version he remembered… warm, forgiving, naïve.A small, careful smile touched his lips…full of hope he didn’t deserve.Hook two.But…I let the softness drop like a blade.“That was what you expected me to say?” I

Althea’s povI jolted awake with a violent scream, drenched in sweat, tears streaking down my face. Every breath was a ragged tear in my chest.Damien burst into the room, panic flashing across his face."Althea... are you okay?" he asked, holding me close. I shivered, tears welling in my eyes. "They came... they came for me," I stammered. He pulled me closer, brushing wet strands of hair from my face. "Calm down... you're safe now," he soothed, his voice a low tone as he patted my back. The comfort was a need to my frayed nerves, and I leaned into him, clutching at his shirt. He gently cupped my face, his gaze intense. "I'm not going anywhere, Althea. It's okay Althea… you're okay.. You're safe here with me, I won't let anything happen to you, okay?" His eyes were mixed with sincerity and pain. I managed a shaky nod.It wasn't much at the time, but it gave me relief. I slumped on his shoulder holding him tight. He broke the hug and held my face. “I’m not leaving you again.. Okay?

Althea’s povIt was slow when consciousness finally seeped back in.My head throbbed, the kind of dull, heavy ache that comes from crying until the body gives up and forces sleep. My eyes felt swollen, my breaths uneven. For a moment, I didn’t know where I was.Then I felt the warmth beside me.Damien.He was asleep on the other end of the bed, lying slightly turned toward me, one arm resting loosely over his stomach. His hair was messy, his jaw shadowed, his chest rising and falling with the softest rhythm. And then I noticed it.He was smiling.Not wide. Not obvious. Just… a faint, peaceful curve at the corner of his lips.In all the time we were together, in every night he once held me, I had never seen him look this calm. This content. Even when he pretended to “move on,” even when he married her… I knew he never slept like this.Last night must have been the best night of his life.We kissed, and it was everything he’d ever wanted from me. Everything he thought he lost forever.