บททั้งหมดของ Once His Wallflower, Now His Biggest Mistake : บทที่ 101 - บทที่ 110

Chapter 102The walk from the Grand Ballroom to the master suite felt like a march to the gallows, only the gallows were draped in velvet and smelled of expensive jasmine. Evelyn didn’t let go of my arm; her grip was a steel manacle hidden beneath the grace of a Sterling princess. Every step we took away from the flashbulbs and the roar of the crowd felt like a step deeper into a trap I had set for myself, one where the walls were slowly closing in.As we reached the massive mahogany doors of the master suite, two maids stood ready to assist. Evelyn didn't even look at them."Leave us," she commanded. Her voice was flat, devoid of the theatrical sweetness she had displayed on the floor."But, Señora, the hair, the makeup…" one of them began."I said, leave," Evelyn snapped. The authority in her voice was so absolute the maids bowed their heads and practically vanished into the corridor.The doors clicked shut behind us, the heavy sound echoing like a tomb sealing. I stood in the cent

Chapter 104"If I didn't know better, Lucien, I’d say you actually enjoyed that kiss. You looked a little too comfortable pressed against a woman who probably remembers the invention of the wheel."Marcus Sterling leaned against the mahogany sideboard of the private VIP lounge, swirling a glass of amber liquid that cost more than a mid-sized sedan. His signature smirk was firmly in place, though his eyes, sharp, observant, and perpetually restless were scanning the door every few seconds.Lucien didn't even look up from his own drink. His knuckles were still white from the grip he’d maintained on Antonella down in the ballroom. "It was a tactical necessity, Marcus. You saw the crowd. They were ready to tear the roof off after Evelyn’s little show. Nothing kills a scandal faster than a surprise wedding announcement.""A surprise wedding to a grandmother," Marcus chuckled, taking a long sip. "I mean, God, Lucien. I knew you had a thing for wisdom and experience, and being the fucking f

Chapter 106The sound of the slap still seemed to bounce off the marble walls, a sharp, crystalline crack that lingered in the air long after the physical impact had faded. Caleb lay on the floor, the cold stone pressing against his hip through the thin, midnight-blue silk of the gown. He could feel the pulse thrumming in his cheek, a hot, rhythmic throbbing that matched the frantic beating of his heart.He tasted copper. A thin metallic tang coated his tongue where his teeth had grazed the inside of his cheek. He didn't move for a long moment, his broad shoulders rising and falling with shallow, ragged breaths. From this vantage point, staring at the hem of Evelyn’s gown, she looked like a vengeful goddess carved from ice and shadow."Evelyn..." he rasped. His voice was his own now, the deep, resonant baritone of Caleb Knight, the man who had once commanded the respect of thousands with a single word in a boardroom. Now, that voice sounded small, shattered."Get up." Her voice wasn

Chapter 108The silence in the ballroom was absolute, a vacuum that sucked the oxygen from Caleb’s lungs. Marcus’s shark-like grin remained fixed, his finger poised over the tablet as if he were about to detonate a bomb. Every eye in the room was a needle, pricking at the seams of Caleb’s midnight-blue gown, waiting for the fabric of the lie to tear.“I think you’ve been mistaken, Marc,” Evelyn’s voice sliced through the tension, sonorous and steady.She moved through the crowd like a queen reclaiming her court, the train of her dress whispering against the marble. She didn’t look at Caleb. She didn’t offer him a reassuring glance. She simply stepped into the center of the storm and took the tablet from Marcus’s hand with a flick of her wrist.“Genealogists are such dreary people, always looking for roots in dry soil,” she said, her tone dripping with bored condescension. “The reason your specialist found nothing in that village is that Mateo Navarino wasn't born there. He was born

Chapter 110The dawn did not bring light to the Sterling estate; it only brought a colder, sharper kind of gray. Caleb had spent the night on the floor of the nursery, the midnight-blue silk of the gala gown now wrinkled and mocking, a reminder of the night his children had looked through him as if he were a ghost. He had eventually retreated to his small, cramped servant’s quarters to change into the drab, high-collared gray dress of Antonella, but the heaviness in his chest remained.He was adjusting the matted gray wig in the cracked mirror of his room when a commotion erupted in the main hallway. The sound of heavy boots and the sharp, authoritative voice of the Sterling Patriarch, Silas, cut through the morning silence like a serrated blade."Search everything! I will not have a thief under my roof, especially not on the day of the merger finalization!"Caleb stepped out into the corridor, his heart hammering against his ribs. Silas Sterling stood in the center of the grand foy