Home / Romance / Forbidden: Claimed by My Ex's Father and Brother / Chapter 311 - Chapter 320

All Chapters of Forbidden: Claimed by My Ex's Father and Brother: Chapter 311 - Chapter 320

409 Chapters

Chapter 310

Lia’s POVMy head turned with the hit.Heat bloomed across my cheek, sharp and immediate, like the room itself had struck me. For a second I only stood there, stunned by the fact that she had done it here. In front of strangers. In a shop full of silk and mirrors. Like I was still the girl from the island. The one she could look up and down and put in her place with a smile.My ears rang.Someone near the fitting rooms made a small sound. A woman with a dress over her arm froze. Celeste’s friends stared, delighted and horrified at once.Then Celeste turned to walk away.She even smoothed her hair, as if slapping me had been a small correction and not an act of violence. Like that was the end of it. Like she got to hit me and leave with her friends and her perfume and her story.Oh no.Only I would decide when we were done.I grabbed her hair and pulled her backward.She lost her footing with a sharp cry. The sound was ugly. Real. She crashed to the floor hard enough that a display tab

Chapter 311

Lia's POVWe left the boutique.The door closed behind us and the street noise rushed back in, ordinary and too loud. Sun on stone. Someone laughing down the block. A scooter passing too close to the curb. My cheek throbbed. Joella’s fingers were still laced through mine, tight, like she thought I might turn around and go back inside.Callum walked us to the car without making a speech about it. He opened the back door. I got in. Joella slid in after me. The leather was cool. In the sudden quiet, I could still smell the shop on my skin. Perfume. New fabric. That thin metallic edge that meant someone had bled.Callum started the engine.“Ice,” he said. “Then you sit. Both of you.”Joella leaned her head against the seat. “I’m not dying.”“No one said you were. Your hand is split and her face is swelling. That is enough for one afternoon.”He drove us toward the water.I watched the town move past the window and tried to feel like the girl who had walked into that studio an hour ago. Br

Chapter 312

Lia’s POVWe all walked into the villa.The house was cool after the helicopter and the sun. Stone floors. Open doors. Somewhere deeper inside, a curtain moved in the breeze. The faint smell of coffee and the sea met us in the entryway, familiar now, like the place had already decided we belonged to it.From the sitting room came the sound of low laughter.Easy. Unforced. The kind that belonged to men who had known each other long enough not to perform it.Victor, Dante, and Cavern were sitting together.They looked like they were having a good time. Glasses on the table. Sleeves rolled. Dante saying something that made Victor shake his head, that almost-smile of his showing at one corner. Cavern laughed under his breath and reached for his drink. For one second I just stood there in the doorway and watched them, the photo box against my chest, my cheek still tight from the ice and the slap.It should have been a beautiful thing to come home to.Then they saw us.Victor and Dante stoo

Chapter 313

Lia’s POVVictor on one side. Dante on the other. The sheets cool, their bodies warm. Dante’s fingers moved slowly through my hair while he told us a story from his college days. Something about a stolen sculpture, a professor who never found out, and Cavern pretending he had nothing to do with it even though he had driven the car.Victor made a sound that might have been disapproval and might have been pride.“You’re smiling, babygirl,” he murmured.“I like hearing him talk,” I said.Dante kissed the top of my head. “That’s because you’re easy to please, baby.”“I am not.”“You are,” he said, softer. “In the best way.”When Dante finished the story, the room went quiet again.Victor’s hand was on my stomach, unmoving, thoughtful.“We need to talk to you about something, sweetheart.”I opened my eyes.Dante’s hand stilled in my hair.“Okay,” I said.Victor turned onto his side so he could see my face. The lamp on the nightstand made the silver in his hair catch. He looked at the bruis

Chapter 314

Lia’s POVTime on the island flew by so fast.One day I was still pressing ice to my cheek. The next, people started arriving. Then more people. Then flowers in rooms I did not remember asking to fill. The bruise faded from ugly purple to something makeup could hide. The villa filled with guests Victor and Dante had invited. Servers too. Trays. Glasses. Quiet footsteps in the halls at hours when the house used to belong only to us.And just like that, it was the night before my wedding.Matteo and Lola had arrived on the island that morning.I heard Matteo before I saw him. Small running feet on stone. His voice calling for Dante, bright and sure, like he already knew Dante would answer. When I came downstairs, he was already in Dante’s arms. He talked too fast about the boat and the water and whether there would be cake tomorrow. He asked if he could wear big-people shoes. Dante laughed and said we would see.Matteo was going to be our ring bearer.I could already see him in the litt

Chapter 315

Lia’s POVShe hugged me back just as hard, champagne and perfume and that old familiar Joella smell, vanilla and trouble.“I’m going to miss you when you go on your honeymoon,” she said into my shoulder.“I’m not going away forever,” I said. “I’ll come back soon.”I pulled back enough to see her face and smiled through the tears.“Besides. You have Callum and Cavern to occupy your time. Or even better… occupy you.”She smacked my arm.“Lia.”“What? I said what I said.”She tried to look offended. She failed. Her ears went pink.“Drink your champagne and shut up.”I did, laughing.The box sat open between us, red lace and fur and all her love dressed up as filth. Outside, the island was dark. Tomorrow I would put on a white dress and walk toward the rest of my life.I woke up the next morning to the feeling of someone jumping on my bed.The mattress bounced. Once. Then again. Harder. A spring complained under us. I made a sound that was not a word and tried to pull the blanket over my

Chapter 316

Lia’s POVI put on the robe she had laid out. It was white and soft and too fine for how nervous my hands felt. Joella tied the belt for me like I could not be trusted with knots. Then she pushed me into the chair by the window and told me not to touch my face.“The artists are coming,” she said. “If you start crying before they get here, I will be forced to ruin my own morning.”“I am not going to cry.”“You always say that. And then you cry. And then I cry. And then we both look crazy.”A knock came at the door not long after.The makeup artist and the hairstylist arrived together, rolling black cases behind them, polite and quick, already looking at my hair like it was a problem they were happy to solve. They set up near the window where the light was best. Brushes lined up. Palettes opened. A steamer hissed once. The smell of clean powder and warm tools filled the room.Joella watched them like a sergeant.She stood with her arms crossed at first, then circled. She asked if they h

Chapter 317

Lia’s POVThe screen was full of messages. Patricia. Monica. Rachel. People from Meridian Global sending congratulations in a chain that made my chest feel tight in a good way. Someone had sent a photo of a sad-looking plant in the office with a note that said the plant missed me. Rachel wrote, I still cannot believe this is your life, and also I can. I typed back thank you to each of them, slow, because my hands were a little unsteady and I did not want to send half a sentence to my boss on my wedding morning.Joella talked through her makeup.“If they put too much on me I will look like I am trying to compete with the bride.”“You could not compete with me today if you tried,” I said.“Rude.”“True.”When they finished with her, I stood up and looked at her properly. Her hair was swept to one side. Her face was glowing. She looked like herself, only sharper around the edges.“You look so beautiful,” I said.She pretended to blink away tears.“I know. I am a gift.”The makeup artist

Chapter 318

Lia’s POVShe walked closer until she was in front of me. The sea light made the white of my dress even brighter between us. I could hear her breathing. I could see the pulse jumping in her throat. Her perfume was different from Joella’s. Lighter. Almost powdery. It mixed with salt from the open window and the sweet oil on my skin.“Can I speak with you alone?” she asked.Joella spoke before I could answer.“No.” Her voice was polite only on the surface. “I am not leaving her alone with you.”She looked at Lola as she said it. Not blinking. Not smiling.Lola’s hands tightened around each other. I heard the faint rub of skin.“Please,” she said. “Just for a few moments.”Joella stared at her for a long second.Then she looked at me.I gave a small nod.Joella exhaled through her nose. I felt that sound more than I heard it.“Fine. On one condition. The door stays open. I will be right outside. If I hear anything I do not like, I am coming back in.”“That is fair,” Lola said.Joella squ

Chapter 319

Lia’s POVIt was finally time to walk down the aisle to the men I loved.Joella stood in front of me in the hallway and fixed a piece of hair that did not need fixing. Her hands were careful. Her eyes were wet already. I could smell her perfume and the gold oil still on my shoulders. The dress felt heavier now that the door was open. Not in a bad way. In the way a promise feels when you finally have to walk toward it.“Ready?” she asked.I nodded.My mouth felt dry. My hands felt too empty without someone older to hold them. For one second I thought of my father. I thought of his big palm around mine. I thought of him clearing his throat and telling me I looked like my mother. The thought hurt and warmed me at the same time. Then I took Joella’s arm and let her lead me outside.The light hit first.Then the smell of flowers.Then the sea.The courtyard had been turned into something I did not have words for.It looked heavenly.White flowers spilled from tall stands along a stone path

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