All Chapters of Contract marriage: I am the daughter of my husband's enemy: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

65 Chapters

31. The family heirloom

Elara’s POV,I exhale heavily and dab under my eyes. That life is over. This is a new life. No more Dorine, Anya, or Matteo. Just me, my son… and my husband.“Solis?”I freeze when I hear his voice and immediately grab a shawl to cover my back. My hair wasn’t long enough yet. Speaking of, I needed to dye it again. “Yes?” I called back out. “I’m almost finished.”The door flings open, and I jump in surprise when I see his wide, frantic eyes. I give him a once-over, and to say I’m impressed would be an understatement. He cleans up real nice. The tuxedo hugs his chest and biceps, and I have this sudden desire to hold them to me. Interesting.“What is it?” He asks, taking long strides towards me. “Is it Asher?”“What are you talking about?”He pauses, then looks at me with a tilt of his head. “Your voice. It’s low and…”I scoff dismissively, “It’s nothing. I haven’t drank some water in a while.”He doesn’t reply, just looks around. That’s when I notice a red box in his hand. I raise m

32. The dagger on my thigh

Elara’s POV, For the past twenty minutes, the car was heavy with silence. None of us says a word and just stares at our respective phones. I am already prepared for whatever will come at the gala. Even prepared against him. I roll back my shoulders and look out the window. The city is so beautiful, I think, and I check the number of minutes left for us to arrive. Six, thank goodness. “When we arrive, we’re going to be the center of attention.” Lucien broke the silence, adjusting his cufflinks. “Many will smile at you. None of them is harmless.”Neither am I.I don’t say a word. I just nod. I suddenly feel awkward around him. He’d seen my scar. Only a bit, but he’d still seen it. I want so badly to kill him. I placed a hand on my shaking knee. Patience. “You’re unusually quiet.”I give him a side-eye. “I’m calm. There’s a difference.”“Just stay close to me.”“Don’t tell me what to do.”“Solis.”“Lucien.”We glare at each other, then he exhales through his teeth. “I’m serious. Y

33. The partnership

Elara’s POV, “She doesn’t look like she belongs here…”“I heard she lives in his house.”“Not married… but not just a mistress either.”“The young wolf doesn’t do public appearances like this.”“Give it time. He’ll get bored.”“Yeah, she’s temporary.”“If Kòrvac brought her… she’s obviously important.”They aren’t even bothering to hide their whispers. I frown deeper and take another sip of my champagne. Lucien had left me to attend to “business” when he was the one who told me to keep to his side. Now, I am fodder for the public eye. They look at me like I don’t belong here, and I keep my chin up. They don’t get to judge me. Bitches and asses. “You look like you want to murder someone.” My jaw tightens, and I turn with a smirk to the gentleman standing beside me. Except he wasn’t really. Dante Abbruzzo. A rival mafia family of the Kórvacs. But if I remember correctly, they’d been going head-to-head trying to have a partnership. The original deal had failed because of Lucien’s

34. Take me home, Lucien

Lucien’s POV, Elara is nowhere to be found. After miraculously salvaging the remaining crumbs of our shattered partnership with the Abbruzzo, she mumbled an excuse to herself and left. I shake my head once. I shouldn’t care. I asked her to stay in my sight. When I turn to get another drink from the busboy, someone beelines towards me. I grimace and try to avoid his eyes. “The young wolf!” He spreads his arms in greeting, and I raise my glass. “It’s been, what, five years?”“Not long enough, Virelli.” I mutter, “Where’s my money?”He tries to laugh it off. “Haha, we heard about the wife. Where’s she?”For some reason, the new heir of the Virelli Mafia dynasty pisses me off. I sigh when I remember Alvin Virelli, his brother, who died in a suspicious car crash. How far the apple falls…“None of your business.” I turn, clearly ending the conversation, but he blocks my path again.“Come on, don’t be like this.” He grins. “We were almost in-laws; I supposed we’d have some…”“You suppos

35. The heir is alive

Elara’s POV, I’m lost in the chatter all around me, still thinking of the night a week ago. I was so drunk, I barely remember anything I said to him.I do remember running to the balcony with a whole bottle of wine to escape the Virellis, having a minor anxiety attack and drinking like my life depended on it. I also remember peeking to see Lucien talking to my father and then punching him in the nose.I remember being impressed, promising myself that I wouldn’t leave, and I remember him coming up to me. After that, I draw a blank. I just hope I did nothing to embarrass myself in front of him. Like…kissing him. I groan slightly, running my hands down my face. The thought even sends shivers up my spine. After that night, it’s like he just disappeared completely. I didn’t see him at work, with Asher, or even looming about in the house after midnight when he came back from his operations. It’s like he vanished without a trace. “...this or this one, ma’am.”I snap back to reality whe

Dance with me

Elara’s POV, I didn’t know so many people gave two shits about two other people getting married until now. I have been pulled, tugged, and hugged so many times that I thought my mind would explode. Everyone feigned happiness for Lucien and me. Even Asher was the centre of attention. No one could keep their eyes off him as he stood and chatted with his grandmother and Lucy. “Hey, babe!” Noemi materialises beside me. “You don’t look like you’re enjoying yourself. At least pretend. It’s your engagement party, for Christ’s sake!”“I am enjoying myself.” I pop a cherry into my mouth. “I’m just tired.”Which is true. I had stayed until past midnight, trying to find the missing heir, only to come up with a blank. “Girl, you can’t be tired at your engagement party.”“Noemi, leave the poor girl alone,” Camille says, coming to my rescue. She places a glass of white wine in my hand and winks. “By the way, your world is surrounded by the best of the best women.”I nod, taking a sip of the wi

37. A fire from her room

Elara’s POV, When our dance ended, the party continued, but people looked at us differently now. Some were in awe, and others were just surprised. I even heard some whispers, such as, “They looked so much in love. A rare word in our world.”I walk over to the balcony to escape the eyes of everyone and look at the stars. But on my way, I bump into an older man about the age of my father, but he looked sturdy and well-fit. “My apologies, Mrs Elara.” He bows his head, refusing to look at me, and normally, I would brush it off, but the guy felt off.“It’s alright,” Then I stop him with a hand before he bypasses me, “What’s your name?”He raises his head, and my brain scans if I’ve seen him before, but I come up blank. Maybe he’s a recruit for Lucien.“Viktor Halev, ma’am.”“And how did you get in, Viktor Halev?”It irks me that I don’t know who he is. I know everybody on the guest list since I specifically oversaw it, and I didn’t see any Viktor Halev. My left hand goes to my brooch, d

38. The explosion

Elara’s POV, I stand outside with the remaining house staff, fingers in my teeth and eyes twitching. When they informed us of the fire, we evacuated all the guests, telling them the party was over. I ran to Asher and Lucy to take them out, then told Noemi and Camille to follow me.I didn’t really care about Celene, but she also followed. Luckily, the fire didn’t spread to the main wing of the house, but it burned down about five different rooms. Coming from my room.I don’t have any fire-hazardous items in my room, and it’s always locked when I leave, so except for an intruder, they’d have to break down the door or window.And I can’t think of any person who knows about that room except Seraphina, who I heard is halfway across the globe for a fashion show. Aside from that, I have no idea…I dig my hands into my dress pocket and touch something. I bring it out, and my eyes darken.“...Viktor Halev.”I access the blank white card, looking for some sort of clue. He didn’t seem like a c

39. Elara Virelli

Elara’s POV, FLASHBACKMy back still burned like hell from where Dorine flogged me yesterday. I couldn’t even have a bath. Then, someone barges into my room. No, not room. A shack is a better word. I don’t get up from my straw mat because of how weak and feverish I am. “That’s her.” I hear my father’s voice. I don’t even call him father anymore. Matteo. “A million dollars, right?”“This scrawny thing?” A brawny hand pulls me up to my feet, and I whimper. The rags I’m wearing slip off my shoulder, showing the deep injury. “She’s even broken. Half a million dollars at best.”“No, you don’t understand.” Matteo frantically tries to explain. “She’s legit. Look at her birthmark.”He pulls my hair to the side to reveal the blotch on my neck, and the huge man grunts. “I can’t believe this is the three-year-old girl. What the fuck did you do to her?”“Not important,” he waves off, and my vision blurs. “So you bring her back when she turns eighteen. I still need her fingerprints, but by then

40. I don't want to die

Elara’s POV, I touch the painting to find it’s still wet, and I hum.“When did you paint this?”I hear him stand up from his stool and feel him stand behind me. His presence unknowingly overwhelms me. “After the night of the gala.”I look back at the canvas and twist my lips. There’s a hand.Not a human one, not entirely. It’s large and suspended in the shadows like it belongs to something that exists above consequence. From its fingers, thin, barely visible strings fall, and they stretch downward into the bodies below.Men and women. Figures dressed in power, in wealth, and in elegance.My eyes narrow and then widen in horror.The strings are attached to their wrists and their throats. Some even to their spines. Intentional and cruel.And the worst part?They don’t even look trapped.They look… calm.Like they believe every step is theirs.A quiet scoff leaves me before I can stop it.“Disgusting.”I step closer, folding my arms and tilting my head slightly as I study it. My gaze

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