Broken: Claiming her place のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 31 - チャプター 40

Ariana’s POV“She’s back and I wonder how she feels seeing her ex-boyfriend getting married to her stepsister.”The words were hushed, careless, thrown into the air like they couldn’t cut skin.“Awful,” another maid replied softly. “I cannot even imagine being in her shoes right now. I wouldn’t be able to watch it happen”Of course, they couldn’t.I slowed my steps, my fingers curling into the fabric of my dress. For a brief moment, I considered walking away, letting their voices fade into the background like every other cruel whisper I had endured since my return. But a Valenti always had something in-bred, pride, and this made me stop.It took a lot of willpower to turn around.When I did, I smiled.A soft, composed smile. The kind that hid storms and made people uneasy because they couldn’t tell what it meant.“You sure don’t want this to flop, right?” I said lightly, my tone almost cheerful. “Let’s get to work. Chop chop" I said as I clapped my hands matching the rhythm in my tone

Fernando’s POVDays had passed since Ariana pulled off that reckless act, slipping out of reach like smoke through clenched fingers. And in all those days, there had been nothing. No signal. No coded message. No whisper carried through the channels I’d memorized like prayer beads.Silence.I never knew silence could be this loud.It gnawed at me during council briefings, crept into my training sessions, dulled the edge of my blade. I would start a thought and lose it halfway, my mind wandering back to the same questions over and over again.Was she alive? Was she being treated properly?I told myself she was smart. Smarter than most of us. Ariana didn’t survive the Valenti pack by luck. She survived because she learned how to disappear when it mattered. Still, knowing that didn’t stop the unease curling in my chest like a slow poison.My concentration span reduced gradually, slipping through my grasp like oil no matter how tightly I tried to hold on. The elders noticed. Raymond defini

Fernando’s POVThe moment the truth left my mouth, I saw the immediate change in her demeanorAriana’s eyes lost their sharpness, like a flame deprived of oxygen. She stared at nothing for a second too long, her fingers clutching the sheets as though she needed something solid to remind her she was still here. Anyone else might have thought she was angry. I knew better.She was calculating loss.I shouldn’t have told her so bluntly. But lies, even gentle ones, had no place between us anymore.“You look like you’re about to convince yourself all of this was for nothing,” I said quietly.Her lips parted. Closed again. When she finally spoke, her voice was hoarse. “If the ledger is fake… then what exactly did I almost die for?”I exhaled slowly. “Time.”She frowned. “Time?”“Time to destabilize the Valenti pack. Time to force people like Victoire and Liam to move when they weren’t ready.Before she could respond, the door opened.One of my guards stepped in, posture rigid. “Alpha.”I tur

Fernando’s POVThe moment I stepped fully into the corridor, the air shifted.I saw it in the way Raymond moved his shoulders, they stiffened before he even turned to face me. Hostility lingered thickly between him and Ariana, sharp enough to taste. Whatever had been said before I arrived, it hadn’t been harmless.“My brother is here!” Raymond said with a laugh, spreading his arms as if the tension were nothing more than a misunderstanding. “Perfect timing.”I didn’t return the humor.My eyes stayed on him, steady and cold. “Step away from her.”Raymond blinked once, then chuckled. “Relax, Fernando. We were just talking. We were just…getting to know each other.”Ariana said nothing, but I could sense how tightly she was holding herself together. That alone told me enough.“I gave orders,” I said quietly. “Clear ones. She is not to be questioned. Not to be cornered. And certainly not to be intimidated.”Raymond’s smile faltered for a fraction of a second. “Intimidated? That’s rather ha

Ariana’s POVWe looked further into the shadows and I instantly recognized that build.Liam.He stood by the stone pillar like a ghost dragged out of my past, his posture rigid, his eyes fixed on me. Not just on me, but on how close I was to Fernando. On the way Fernando’s body angled subtly in front of mine, protective without even trying. The look on Liam’s face twisted into something ugly, something that made my stomach drop. Heartbreak was clear, but beneath it, something far more dangerous. Jealousy sharp enough to kill.“So this is where you’ve been,” Liam said as he stepped forward, his voice trembling with rage. “Brainwashed. Paraded around like a trophy.”Fernando didn’t move. His presence alone felt like a wall. “Choose your next words carefully,” he said coldly. “You’re trespassing.”Liam laughed, harsh and broken. “You kidnapped her, poisoned her mind. You’re keeping her here like a prisoner.”“That’s a lie,” Fernando replied, calm but lethal. “And you know it.”The air sn