All Chapters of His Runaway Queen: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

*Aria's POV*The doors didn’t explode.That’s what unsettled everyone the most.No violent crash. No marble shattering. No gunfire tearing the ceremony apart.Just a sound.Low. Mechanical. Distant at first—but growing louder, heavier, like thunder that knows exactly where it’s meant to strike.Helicopters.The music faltered mid-note, violins trembling into silence.I halted in my steps, but my uncle forced me to move forward. I felt it before I understood it — the shift in the air, like the atmosphere itself was holding its breath. Conversations thinned into uneasy murmurs. Perfume and candle smoke suddenly felt suffocating.My uncle’s hand tightened on my arm.Not protective.Possessive.Matteo turned his head toward the ceiling.For the first time since I met him… his smile wasn’t perfect.It slipped—not fully, just enough to show the steel beneath.The priest cleared his throat, voice wavering.“Shall we—”“No,” Matteo said calmly. “Continue.”But the word landed too late.Becau

*Aria’s POV*The tunnel swallowed us whole. Concrete walls, flickering orange lights. The roar of the engine echoing like we were being digested by something mechanical and merciless.I forced myself to breathe and not to panic. Matteo expects me to panic, and I will do exactly the opposite.Matteo climbed into the front passenger seat, slamming the door hard enough to rattle the frame. He was talking to someone on the phone.Two men occupied the front. Another SUV followed behind us – close enough that I could see the reflection of its headlights slicing through the rear window.It was a convoy, and definitely planned. I know that Matteo wasn’t desperate, and he knew that Lucian would stop the wedding. So he planned a strategy. He is smart, I give him that.“You should’ve said yes willingly.” Matteo mattered, wiping blood from his hand where I bit him. He looked at me through the rearview mirror. His calm had returned – but it was thinner now. Fractured. “This would have been simpler

*Aria’s POV*The forest devoured us.Branches lashed against my bare arms. Wet leaves slapped my face. The motorcycle tore through mud and roots like it had memorized the terrain, like this escape route had been prepared long before tonight.I screamed from fury. I have had enough being a toy in this game. This war.The sound was ripped away by the wind.Behind us, gunfire still cracked through the storm – distant now, swallowed by trees and thunder. I didn’t know if Lucian was winning. I didn’t know if my uncle had retreated.I didn’t know anything.Except that the man holding me was not part of either side.His arm was iron around my waist. Not desperate like Matteo. Not protective like Lucian.Efficient and calculated.The motorcycle swerved sharply downhill. My body slammed back against his chest. I felt the hard outline of a weapon at his side.“Let me go!” I shouted, clawing at his arm.He didn’t answer.He just adjusted, keeping me balanced as we flew over uneven ground.He was

*Aria's POV*In that moment, I wasn't afraid of the darjness. That wasn't what frightened me. What really did was the silence after his voice. It was the kind of silence that bends around a man like Lucian - thick, deliberate and suffocating. The masked man's grip on my wrist tightened instinctively. He was recalculating the situation, I could see it in his eyes. "Impressive." He said calmly into the black. "You move quickly."A single flashlight beam clicked on.I was still shaking from the cold, my heart sinking inside my stomach. The flashlight illuminated Lucian from the side - half his face in shadow, the other carved from somthing colder than marble. The scar on his left eyebrow was still visible even in the dim light. He wasn't breathing hard, he was focused. Predatory.Water dripped from his hair onto the concrete floor. Blood – someone’s, I didn’t know whose – darkened the sleeve of his shirt.His gun was steady.Aimed directly at the man holding me.“Let her go,” Lucia

*Aria's POV*The ride back to the mansion was silent. The kinf of silence that follows an impact. After all the chaos, I desperately needed this silence. Lucian sat beside me in the backseat, one hand resting on his thigh, the other loosely – almost unconsciously – wrapped around my wrist. Not restraining.It was anchoring me, preventing me from drowning in my own thoughts and feelings. Everything that happened was overwhelming. His thumb moved slightly against my pulse as if counting it. Making sure it was still there. I could see glimpses of the old Lucian. The one who had a soft spot for me. The one who was absent after my 4 years absence.Outside, the city lights blurred past armored glass. Sirens echoed in distant streets. Helicopters thudded somwhere far behind us. We didn't see my uncle again after we left. Surprisingly he left me go with Lucian. I don't know what happened to Matteo either. I didn't know if he was dead or alive. No one spoke, not even Nikolai who was in t