All Chapters of The Twisted Wedding Night: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

I knew he was back the moment the house shifted.It always did when Ace came home—like the walls straightened, like the staff inhaled all at once and forgot how to exhale. The quiet became deliberate. Purposeful. Everyone moved faster, sharper, afraid of being in his way.I smiled.Perfect timing.I left the sitting room immediately, smoothing my dress as I walked, slowing my steps just enough to make them intentional. I’d chosen this dress for a reason—silk, dark, cut just low enough to remind him of things he’d forgotten. Or pretended to.It had been a very long time since Ace Grant had looked at me.Longer since he’d touched me.Once. That was all. One night. Alcohol-heavy and blurred at the edges. If I closed my eyes, I could still remember how detached he’d been even then, like his body had shown up without his mind.I clenched my jaw.He was only keeping me around because of his mother. We both knew it. Willow adored me. Trusted me. Thought I was suitable. Presentable. A woman w

The front door slammed with such force that the chandelier trembled.Alice startled in Lily’s arms, a sharp gasp leaving her as her fingers tightened in the fabric of Lily’s shirt. Lily instinctively turned her body, shielding her, one hand already moving in slow, soothing strokes along Alice’s back.I didn’t need to look to know who it was.Ella.Her heels struck the marble floor like gunshots as she stormed inside, the faint smell of wine and expensive perfume trailing behind her. Her dress—once pristine—was ruined, an ugly stain splashed across the front like a badge of humiliation she hadn’t yet processed.Her eyes locked onto us immediately.“So,” she said, her voice trembling with fury, “this is it? This is how you handle things now?”“Lower your voice,” I said sharply.She laughed, a brittle sound that cracked down the middle. “Why? Afraid I’ll scare her?” Her gaze slid to Lily. “Or maybe you’re afraid I’ll finally say what everyone’s thinking.”Lily stayed silent. Her grip on

I watched Lily from the top of the staircase, her small form moving slowly across the living room, Alice’s tiny fingers gripping the edge of the sofa. She hummed quietly, oblivious to my gaze, completely unaware that every step she took in this house—every decision, every glance—was now under my control.I smiled faintly. This was why I was here. Why I had to be the one in this house. Everything that mattered—Ace, Alice, the family, the legacy—was slipping through my fingers, and it was all because of her. Lily. A soft-spoken, obedient little nothing who somehow wormed her way into the heart of everything I’d worked for.I tilted my head as she bent down to straighten Alice’s blanket. The girl’s small back curved like a question mark. That child… so innocent. So irritatingly trusting. And yet, so powerful in her ability to unravel me without even trying.I had an idea. A plan. Something subtle. Something perfect.Alice was usually safe—so safe that it bored me. I had to change that. N

I closed Alice’s bedroom door quietly and stood there for a moment, my hand still resting on the handle.She had fallen asleep faster than I expected. Her knee was cleaned, bandaged, kissed. She had cried herself out against my chest, fingers fisted in my shirt like she was afraid I might disappear if she let go. I had stayed until her breathing evened out, until the tension finally left her small body.Only then did I leave.Now the house felt wrong. Too quiet. Too heavy.I walked down the hall toward my room, my thoughts tangled and sharp, refusing to settle. The image replayed again and again, unwanted and vivid. Alice on the ground. Her scraped knee. Lily holding her, pale and shaking.And the gate.I shut my door behind me and ran a hand through my hair, exhaling slowly. I did not sit. I could not. I paced instead, my steps restless against the floor.Careless.That was the word that kept circling back.Lily had been careless.The thought sat wrong in my chest.She had never been

I stayed where I was long after the door stopped rattling in its frame.The house had a way of holding onto moments like that. Anger lingered in the air, thick and sour, as if the walls themselves were waiting to see what I would do next. I rubbed a hand over my face and let out a slow breath, trying to steady the churn in my chest.I still could not fathom it.Ella had always been ambitious. Possessive. Calculating. I had known that from the start. She liked control, liked proximity, liked the illusion of influence. She had never hidden that part of herself from me. I had tolerated it because it was predictable, because I knew how to manage it.But Alice?Hurting Alice had never crossed my mind as something she would do. Manipulate me, yes. Lie, yes. Push boundaries until I noticed her, demanded answers, gave her the reaction she craved. But putting my daughter in danger, even indirectly, felt like a rupture in reality. Like discovering a fault line beneath ground I had trusted.I wa