All Chapters of THE WIFE HE BETRAYED, THE WOMAN HE FEARS: Chapter 201 - Chapter 209

Matteo’s POVThe city still had not stopped talking about the proposal. Everywhere I looked that morning, there it was. Videos online of Sofia gasping when I dropped to one knee on the ship deck. Photos of fireworks bursting behind us while she cried and laughed at the same time.Headlines calling it the most romantic proposal of the year. Comment sections full of strangers claiming they believed in love again.I read half of them while standing in the kitchen of the villa with coffee in my hand and a stupid smile on my face.Then I heard her footsteps. Soft, slow, and familiar.I turned, and Sofia walked in wearing one of my white shirts with the sleeves rolled up, her hair messy from sleep, no makeup, barefoot, and more beautiful than she had looked in the thousand-dollar gown from last night.Her left hand was lifted in front of her face. She was staring at the ring again.“You have looked at that ring more than you have looked at me since last night.” I laughed under my breath.“

Lucia’s POV The television flickered in the dark house. It was the only bright thing in the room, everything else had gone gray.The walls were stained with cobwebs and dampness. The curtains smelled like dust. The furniture was mismatched and cheap, dragged in years ago by one of her father’s forgotten caretakers and never touched again.The air carried the scent of stale cooking oil, and somewhere in the corner, water dripped in slow intervals.And on the screen, Sofia was laughing. I sat on the floor with my knees to my chest and stared at her as if hate could reach through glass.She wore silver, and Matteo stood beside her in black, looking at her the way men in movies look at women they would die for. Cameras followed them through flowers and chandeliers and fireworks. Reporters spoke in warm excited voices about the engagement of the year. Social media clips rolled one after another. Sofia smiling, Matteo kissing her hand. Guests applauding. Her family surrounding her like s

Sofia’s POVI woke before sunrise. Not because anyone called me, or alarms rang, or the house was noisy. I woke because my heart knew what day it was.For a moment I lay still in the white blankets staring at the ceiling while dawn painted pale gold across the room. The mansion was quiet, suspended in silence before celebration begins. Somewhere below, I could already hear distant movement, staff arranging flowers, doors opening, footsteps hurrying, and voices trying to whisperMy wedding day!The words felt even more unbelievable even now. Even though I had done this before, last time was nothing compared to this in such a way I can't even explain. After everything that had happened, after funerals and trials and betrayals and nights I thought life had ended for me, I was here. Alive, loved, safe, and about to marry the man who had held me together when I was falling apart.I covered my face and laughed softly into my hands. Then the bedroom doors burst open.“She's awake!” Julia

Sofia’s POVThe moment Lucia pressed the gun into my ribs and forced me through the servants’ corridor, I understood one thing with terrifying clarity.This was never about escape, or even money. This was about hatred so deep it had rotted her mind from the inside out.She shoved me forward with one hand twisted in my veil and the other gripping the gun. My heels had already come off somewhere behind us, so my bare feet slapped against cold tile as she dragged me through the back hallways of the estate. Staff had been kept away by the wedding preparations. Music from the garden drifted faintly through the walls, cheerful and beautiful and completely disconnected from the nightmare happening only meters away.“Move,” Lucia hissed into my ear.“You’ll never get away with this,” I whispered.She struck the back of my shoulder with the gun hard enough to make me stumble. “Today is not the day to threaten me, bride.” She laughed. We reached the service gate where delivery vehicles enter

Sofia’s POVThe morning sunlight poured through the stained-glass windows of the chapel, painting the marble floors in soft gold and rose. Outside, the gardens were full of white flowers swaying gently in the breeze. Music floated through the open doors, tender and elegant, wrapping itself around every heartbeat in the room.I stood at the entrance with my mother beside me.My hands trembled around the bouquet of ivory roses. My dress flowed around me in layers of satin and lace, fitted close at the waist before spilling into a long train.Tiny crystals had been sewn into the veil, catching the light like stars. My mother adjusted the veil with careful fingers.Her eyes were wet.“You are the most beautiful bride I have ever seen,” she whispered.“You have to say that. You’re my mother.” I laughed shakily. “No,” she said, brushing a tear from her cheek. “I say it because after everything... you are still standing here.”Emotion rushed into my throat so fast I could barely breathe.