VENGEANCE AS CRUEL AS HIS LOVE의 모든 챕터: 챕터 21 - 챕터 30

Jennifer's POV After the meeting with Alistair Croft, I felt a little burden lifted off my shoulders. Lucy had come to stay until the wedding was over.The world outside was a storm of whispers, but inside my apartment, Lucy had built a bunker of bliss. For three days, we’d lived in a bubble of greasy takeout, terrible movies, and her relentless, loving mockery.“Okay, but if you had to choose,” she said, her mouth full of popcorn, “which of Stanley’s hideous ties would you use to strangle him if you had the chance?”I laughed, a real, unforced sound. “The pink one with the tiny ducks. It would be humiliating.”This was the therapy I needed. Not silence, but this: loud, messy, real life.Then, the first wedding planner arrived. Then the second. They brought fabric swatches, floral arrangements, and a suffocating wave of perfection. Their smiles were polished, and their questions were endless. I felt myself shrinking, the old instinct to please, to be the perfect accessory, rising lik

Jennifer's POVThe morning of my wedding dawned not with nerves, but with a profound, quiet certainty. The suite at The Austerlitz was flooded with soft, golden light, a world away from the sterile silence of my old apartment or the oppressive grandeur of Stanley’s mansions.I stood in the center of the room, already in my silk robe, when Lucy came and stood before me. She placed her hands on my shoulders; her eyes, usually so full of mischief, were serious and deep.“Look at me, Jen,” she said, her voice soft but firm. “Today is your day. Not Croft’s. Not Texas’s. Not a day to think about prisons or the past. It’s yours. You walked through hell to get here. So today, you will be happy. Take every second of this glorious, beautiful day and soak it in. You deserve this. All of it.”Tears pricked my eyes, but they were tears of light, not of grief. “I am happy, Lucy,” I whispered, and the truth of it settled deep in my soul.The door burst open then, and the room exploded with noise.“J

Ben POV At exactly 7 AM, I drove the black Jeep out of the garage where I had packed it last night. I drove to my co-worker's apartment to pick them up before we drove to the hotel. Every mile that brought me closer to The Austerlitz Hotel felt like a mile deeper into a grave I was digging for myself. The morning sun was a lie; it felt like I was driving through midnight.My mind was a prison, and Stanley’s voice was the warden, replaying the plans he had carefully strategized to kidnap Jennifer.“You’ll be driving one of the cars,” Stanley had snarled during that last, terrifying visit in the prison. “When you get to that lonely stretch of the road on the way to the church, you pretend the engine’s failed. You pop the hood.”“Stanley, it’ll be impossible,” I’d argued, a last, feeble attempt at reason. “Croft’s security… it's a fortress on wheels. They’ll swarm the car in seconds.”His face had contorted, a mask of pure, ugly rage. “I DON’T CARE IF A HUNDRED OF HIS MEN ARE THERE!” he

Jennifer's POV The journey to the church seemed so far. Lucy was at the wheel. My mother, ever dramatic but always sweet, sat beside me, clutching her handbag like a life preserver. Happy and Peculiar were in the backseat, whispering to each other like conspirators planning some mischievous prank, and I tried to focus on their chatter to keep my mind off the dread creeping up my spine.The staff cars were in front of us. I spotted Ben in the lead vehicle, his face set in that controlled, unreadable expression I used to trust. But today, every muscle in my body screamed at me to look closer, to notice something wrong. My stomach twisted in that familiar way it had every time Stanley’s name crossed my mind.I leaned back in my seat, adjusting my veil and pretending I was calm. “Everything will be fine,” I whispered under my breath. “Everything has to be fine.”Lucy glanced at me briefly in the mirror, her grip on the wheel tightening. “Jen, you okay?”I forced a nod. “Yeah… just… nervo

~Jennifer~~We had barely moved a few miles from the gas station when the car in front of us Ben’s vehicle, suddenly slammed on its brakes.“Ben! What…?” Lucy’s hands were already gripping the wheel, trying to maintain control.The car lurched violently, throwing us forward, my mother clutching her chest, and Happy and Peculiar shrieking in the back. My heart skipped, slammed, and stopped all at once. Something was very, very wrong.Through the rearview mirror, I caught sight of shadows moving faster than they should have—too fast, too precise.“Lucy stop!” I screamed, but it was too late.The attackers descended like a storm. Masked figures leapt from the sides of the vehicles ahead. Weapons flashed. My stomach dropped, a screaming, twisting knot of terror.“Duck!” Lucy yelled, swerving to avoid a sudden figure lunging at our car.I slammed against the seatbelt, twisting to see what was happening outside. The world had exploded into chaos. Ben’s car was surrounded. I could see shouts