Lahat ng Kabanata ng From My Ex's Betrayal To His Father's Bed: Kabanata 51 - Kabanata 60

JULIA The moment I stepped through the front door of the mansion, I barely had time to set my bag down before something collided with me so hard I almost dropped to my knees.“JULIA!”“Phoebe—!”Her arms wrapped around me like she was trying to squeeze the life out of me. Honestly, for a second I thought she might. I stumbled backward, and she clung tighter, burying her face against my shoulder like I’d been gone for ten years instead of ten days.I laughed breathlessly. “Phoebe, I can’t breathe.”“You left me!” she wailed dramatically, even though I could feel her smiling. “Left me to DIE, ma’am! They threw all the chores at me! Do you know how many floors this house has? TOO MANY!”Her voice cracked halfway through, but it wasn’t sadness—it was pure, theatrical suffering.I wrapped my arms around her and squeezed back. “I missed you too.”She pulled away just enough to look up at me. Her eyes were watery, but it was the fake kind, the kind she used when she wanted sympathy points.

MARCUSThe door slammed hard enough to rattle the frame.The boy always did have a dramatic exit.I didn’t look up immediately. I let the silence stretch across the room while I tapped the cigarette once, twice, letting the ember fall neatly into the tray. The air still vibrated faintly with Nero’s anger which was raw, confused, unrefined. He hadn’t learned to mask it yet. Terra’s influence, perhaps. Or Julia’s.Especially Julia’s.I leaned back in my chair again, rolling my shoulders as the tension slowly melted off. Nero barging into my office was nothing new. But the look in his eyes today… that was new.Fear.Jealousy.Possession.All emotions he had no right to feel anymore.And yet he felt them anyway.“Pathetic,” I muttered under my breath.Not because he was weak, well he wasn’t. Nero had the potential to crush men twice his age. But his emotions… that was the leash he still hadn’t cut off. And Julia was the chain.I pressed a hand to my forehead, rubbing the bridge of my nose

JULIAThe Luchessi estate never looked smaller than when I walked through its front doors this afternoon. Everything was the same, the polished floors, the high ceilings, the quiet hum of servants moving just out of sight, but it all felt heavier somehow, weighed down with unspoken eyes and whispered words.I thought I’d be coming back alone, just Phoebe and me. My visit to Mother had been a short reprieve, a chance to breathe away from the constant scrutiny of this mansion. I hadn’t expected anyone else to accompany me, yet the sound of a car door closing nearby had me glancing over my shoulder.Marcus.I froze before even realizing it. The man’s presence was impossible to ignore. The same sharp jaw, the gelled black hair, the long sleeves folded up to reveal forearms that could crush a man if he wanted. And now, somehow, he was walking beside me, guiding me toward the front entrance with a careful hand at my elbow as though he were protecting me from the world.I didn’t ask. I could

JULIA I froze for a fraction of a second under his gaze, my bag tightening against my shoulder. Marcus didn’t smile, not in the usual teasing way, but there was something in his stance, the tilt of his head, the way he watched me, that made my stomach coil with nerves. “You got my message,” he said, voice calm, measured, but there was an edge under it that made my pulse quicken. “Yes,” I managed, my throat dry. My voice sounded smaller than I wanted it to. He pushed off the car lightly, walking toward me with deliberate, slow steps. I took a step back, though my mind screamed at me not to. He had no reason to corner me here, in the open air. And yet, something about the way he moved, the confidence in his every motion, made it impossible not to be drawn in. “You looked… distracted in class,” he said, stopping a few feet from me. “Something happen?” I shook my head quickly, forcing a laugh that sounded brittle even to me. “No, nothing. Just… tired.” He tilted his head, scrutini

MARCUS I saw her before she saw me.Julia stepped out of the school building with her head lowered, her shoulders drawn in tight like she wanted to fold into herself. People walked around her, past her, through the space she occupied as if she were nothing but air. And she let them.Pathetic little thing.But when she finally lifted her face—I froze.Redness bloomed around her eyes.Her lashes were clumped together.And the faint shimmer on her cheeks…Tears. She’d been crying. Hard.A violent spike of heat shot through my chest.Anger. Pure, murderous anger.Not the mild irritation I showed her earlier.Not the smooth, teasing mask she always fell for.This was the kind that burned slow and deep, curling in my ribs like smoke tasting of blood.Who made her cry?Who touched what was mine without permission?She reached the car and opened the door, trying to smile like nothing was wrong.“Sorry I’m late. My groupmates—”Groupmates.I didn’t need to hear the rest.I already knew.Some