Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 1 - Chapitre 10

CHAPTER 1I felt nothing as I stared at my reflection in the full length mirror to see the stranger in a white silk wedding dress staring back at me.“You look really beautiful, Mariah,” my mother said, her voice cracking as she teared up and adjusted my veil.“Stop,” I wanted to tell her. I wanted to let her know that no amount of fussing around with the dress would make it feel less like a costume and more like a wedding dress. I wasn’t getting married as far as I believed. I was just putting up a show.“The Langfords are seated,” my father announced at the doorway. The desperation in his voice was so obvious to me. “It’s time.”As I smoothed the front of my dress and forced my lips to curl into a smile, I told them, “I’m ready.”As I walked out of the house, it felt more as if I was walking to my execution than my own wedding.But I had made this decision, and I would see it to the end.~The church was smaller than I had expected it to be. I hadn’t planned anything related to the

CHAPTER 3I didn’t know how long I stared at the text message on my phone, contemplating how to respond to it. My hands trembled as I texted a response.Who is this?I stared and waited, hoping that I would get an immediate reply. Finally, the bubble showed that the person on the other end of the phone was typing.Someone who knows what happened to the last woman who got too close to Ashton Langford.What did that even mean? An ex? Was he married before just the way he was married to me now?Maybe something worse?I stared at my phone, hoping for answers as I asked the person what they meant by that. There was no reply.I stayed in and out of sleep until a knock on my door made me jump.“Mrs. Langford?” Marie, one of the housekeepers, called. “Breakfast is ready.”“I’ll be down in a minute,” I replied as I got out of bed and headed for the mirror in the bathroom to see if I looked as tired as I felt.There were dark circles under my eyes, my hair was a tangled mess, and exhaustion may

CHARACTERIZATION:1. MARIAH THORNE: She is 26 years old with light brown hair and deep blue eyes. She stands at 5’7” with a slim but slightly curvy build. She is smart and composed, but she hides her manipulative side perfectly.Background: She was trained by her father about finance and business, and she is surprised when her father’s company goes bankrupt and all the investors start to pull out. She gets married to the heir of her father’s rival just to save his business, and she finds a secret about why her family turned bankrupt, leading her to get revenge. She is torn between her quest for revenge and her growing feelings for her husband.2. ASHTON LANGFORD: He is 28 years old. He’s 6’3” tall with black hair and light brown eyes. He has a toned and muscular build. He is known by the public as a ruthless control freak who doesn’t believe in love and thinks emotions are liabilities.Background: He found out about his father’s plan to destroy the Thorne family and their business, an

CHAPTER 6 Wow! I exclaimed as I fell on the bed, smiling and feeling really good for the first time since I moved into Ashton's mansion. "Mrs. Langford, dinner is served." These words, accompanied by a knock on the door, jolted me out of my sleep. I stretched and looked at the clock by my bedside, and it was indeed dinner time. "I'll be down soon," I muttered. Ashton and I ate dinner quietly as usual, him staring into his phone and munching, me minding my business and eating my food while planning and scheming in my head. I needed to start executing my revenge the next morning; there was no room for any delay at all. Dinner was over; I stood up and made for my side of the house immediately. I detested breathing the same air as Ashton; the more I look at him, the angrier I become. "Good morning, Ashton," I said. I tried not to sound as excited as I felt inside because I couldn't wait for him to leave the house! He simply nodded without even raising his gaze from his d

CHAPTER 8The atmosphere inside the mansion shifted from a cold, distant quiet to something far more volatile over the next few days.Ashton was hardly sleeping. Every morning when I came down for breakfast, he was already sitting at the long dining table, surrounded by stacks of financial reports, tablets, and printouts. The immaculate, unbothered air he usually carried had completely vanished. Dark circles bruised the skin beneath his eyes, and the sharp lines of his jaw were perpetually set in a hard, rigid line.I took my seat across from him, quietly pouring myself a cup of black coffee."You didn't come to bed last night," I said, keeping my tone mild, almost conversational.Ashton didn't look up from the document he was reading. "I had work to finish.""You've been saying that every night this week," I noted, taking a slow sip of coffee. "Is something wrong at the office?"His hand tightened around his pen, the knuckles turning white, but his voice remained flat. "Everything is