VENGEANCE AS CRUEL AS HIS LOVE의 모든 챕터: 챕터 31 - 챕터 40

BEN’S POVI don’t remember how I survived the drive out of the scene. One moment, I was stumbling into my car with blood pouring down my arm, sound of gunshots still ringing in my ears, screams echoing in my head… And the next, I was on a long, winding road leading out of Dallas, the lights fading behind me like a nightmare shrinking into darkness.My arm was badly injured, blood gushed out violently where the bullet grazed it. Not deep enough to kill me, just deep enough to remind me that death had brushed past me.I didn’t stop until the city felt like a distant planet.I headed towards the Marble Falls, a quiet, small lake town in Texas where my mother lived. A place so peaceful that seems wrong to arrive with blood on my shirt and terror in my bones.By the time I pulled into my mother's driveway, my wife had already opened the door. She must have heard the car sound. I was surprised to see her there, maybe she paid mom a visit. The moment she saw me, she gasped and ran toward me

Croft’s POVI have always believed I was a man forged from steel: unyielding, composed, and untouchable. Billionaires don’t get the luxury of weakness, and Alistair Croft bleeds only behind closed doors, if at all. But sitting in the harshly lit hallway of the hospital, with Jennifer trembling in my arms, the news of Peculiar’s death shattered me. And I realized steel can shatter.Jennifer’s sobs quieted to ragged breaths, her cheek pressed to my chest. I kept one arm wrapped around her waist and the other gently cupping the back of her head, as if by holding her tight enough, I could keep the world from taking anything else from her.Her pain was a physical thing: raw, violent, ripping through the air. She blamed her existence, the world's cruelty, and cursed the day she was born.And for the first time in my life… I shed tears.Not loud ones. Not collapsing into myself like a broken man. Just silent tears that slid down my face. tears I couldn't control or resist, landing in her hai

Croft POV I swiped to answer the call.“Croft Alistair,” I said sharply.A high-pitched, mocking, laugh spilled through the speaker.“Crofty!” she called my name.It was my ex wife, Precious. “Oh my God, darling, I just saw the news!!!.” She exclaimed. “I didn’t know today was the big day,” she said giggling like someone watching a comedy show. “You didn’t invite me to your wedding. I’m offended.”This… witch did allow me to reply she kept talking, completely thrilled. “As I understand, things didn’t go quite as planned. Poor Jennifer. Poor Croft. Such… tragedy,” she said.The laugh that followed sliced through me, a slow, cruel sound dripping with satisfaction.“You sound amused,” I said.“Oh, I am,” she said. “A wedding ruined so spectacularly? Blood everywhere? A sister dead? Darling, that’s practically cinematic.”“Precious,” I said quietly, “if you had anything to do with what happened today….”“Oh, Croft, please,” she cut in. “I’m thousands of miles away. What could I possibl

Croft POV The moment I stepped into the room with my father, the tension was thick enough to taste. I had barely closed the door behind me when I heard the unmistakable hum of authority approaching. The investigation team consisted of men I didn’t know personally, but they came highly recommended.I had been pacing, trying to process and snatch the truth from my father. But the investigators didn’t care about my thoughts. Their shoes clicked across the marble floor, their eyes scanning every corner of my private study. They had an air of urgency, the kind that implied they were following a lead that might collapse in a heartbeat if mishandled.My father glanced at me once, just enough for me to catch the subtle shift in his expression. There was guilt there, but also something else: a controlled defiance that I recognized all too well.The lead investigator, a tall man in a gray suit, stepped forward immediately. His eyes flicked between me and my father. “Mr. Alistair Croft,” he b

Jennifer POV I didn’t know how long I’d been lying there, half-conscious, half-drifting, lost between the heaviness of grief and the strange, echoing numbness that followed true heartbreak.The room was dim, curtains half-drawn, a soft lamp flickering somewhere behind me. The sheets smelled clean, steady, and expensive, but even that didn’t comfort me. My chest felt carved open. My head pounded with a deep, persistent ache.Peculiar, my sister, my peculiar, wild, stubborn, irreplaceable Peculiar. Gone. Dead.The word kept bouncing around in my head, but it didn’t sit. It didn’t fit. It didn’t make sense. Reality felt like a nightmare someone forgot to turn off.My vision blurred again as fresh tears pooled. My throat burned from crying so long that I lost track of time. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her face, the fear, the blood, the way her body went limp in my arms.I pulled the blankets tighter around me, curling into myself. My mother was somewhere in this mansion, broken in