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Lahat ng Kabanata ng Claimed By The Wrong Voss : Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

18 Kabanata

CHAPTER 1: The Wrong Man

ZARIA POV I knew something was wrong the moment he touched me.But I didn’t stop.─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──The car smelled like leather and something sharper underneath. My pulse hammered in my ears as I moved against him in the back seat, the city lights outside dim through the tinted windows.His hands gripped my hips—firm, almost bruising—and pulled me down harder against him.This is it. This is the moment.Weeks of planning. Watching Ethan’s schedule. Slipping the sedative into the right bottle. Every step had led here.I couldn’t see his face clearly in the dark. Good. I didn’t need to.“You’re… different tonight,” I whispered, my voice low, husky. I leaned down, lips brushing his ear. “But I don’t care.”A low sound left him—rough, almost unfamiliar—and his grip tightened.For a second, something in my chest shifted.I ignored it.Everything felt off when you were drugged. That was all.Focus, Zaria. This has to work.I kissed him before the thought could settle, hard and insistent. His r

CHAPTER 2: Run

ZARIA POV Who did I just sleep with?I looked at the stranger's face, and suddenly all I could think was, this wasn't my husband. Not even close.For one frozen second, my body refused to move. My heart slammed hard enough to hurt, each beat loud in my ears, drowning everything else out.Then instinct took over.RunI slipped out from under his arm slowly, carefully, holding my breath as if even that might wake him. His grip loosened in his sleep, but not completely—like even unconscious, he didn’t want to let go.My pulse spiked.I forced myself away anyway. My legs threatened to give out, but I locked my knees and forced myself upright.Clothes. Where were my clothes? I reached for my dress in the front seat, my fingers fumbling only once before I forced them steady. The zipper caught halfway up. I dragged it higher anyway, breathing tight, movements quick but controlled.Move. Just move.I eased the car door open. Cold morning air slapped my face. I stepped out onto the quiet str

CHAPTER 3: The House That Watches

ZARIA POV “Good morning, darling. You look tired.”Mirelle's voice was soft, but there was something hard under it. I stood at the top of the stairs a moment longer, fingers tight on the doorframe, then forced myself to descend.I came downstairs.She was already seated at the long breakfast table as though this were her home, cream blouse flawless, smile gentle and practiced. My mother-in-law sat across from her, sipping tea with quiet approval.I took my usual seat at the far end, spine straight. “Good morning.”Rowan arrived twenty minutes later, strolling in like he belonged here. He scanned the entrance hall and dining area with those sharp, inventory-taking eyes before dropping into the chair beside his mother.“Nice place,” he said, looking around slowly. “Ethan treating you well?”The question was light on the surface, but his eyes told a different story. He wasn’t really asking.“Well enough,” I replied, keeping my tone even.Ethan came down shortly after. He greeted Mirelle

CHAPTER 4: The Man at the Bottom of the Stairs

CAELUM POV I stepped through the front door of the main house after nearly a year away, the familiar weight of it settling over my shoulders like an old coat I never asked for.“Father,” I said, voice low and even as I crossed the foyer.The patriarch turned, face lighting up in that measured way of his. “Caelum. Good to have you back, son. London went well?”“Well enough.” I shook his hand, grip firm. My mind was elsewhere. Had been elsewhere for the last two days.Her.I moved through the familiar halls on autopilot while he spoke about business, quarterly numbers, and minor family matters. I gave the appropriate responses; the part of me trained for these conversations handled it without effort. The rest of me was still sitting in that car, replaying the same moments on loop.─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──Two nights ago.I had landed back in the city exhausted from travel and the endless politics I’d been escaping. I went straight to my private residence instead of announcing my return. One night.

CHAPTER 5: What He Knows

ZARIA POV I stood on the landing for a long time after he disappeared down the corridor, his words echoing in my head.We should talk.Two words. That was all it took. They wrapped around my throat like a hand and refused to let go.I retreated to my room, closed the door, and sat on the edge of the bed. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking as I dialed Nala.She picked up immediately. “Zaria? What’s wrong?”“He’s here,” I whispered.“Who’s here?”“The man from the car.” My voice cracked. “Nala… he lives here. He is Ethan’s uncle.”The silence on the other end was the longest Nala had ever been quiet.“Say that again,” she said slowly.“You heard me.”“Zaria.”“I know.”“You slept with your husband’s—”“I know, Nala.”“In his nephew’s car—”“I said I know!” I pressed my palm against my forehead. “He recognized me on the stairs. He looked at me like he already knew everything. And he said we should talk.”“Fuck,” she breathed. “Okay… okay, breathe. What are you going to do?”“I don’t know,” I

CHAPTER 6: What He Decided

CAELUM POV I left her standing there with the charm still in my hand and no answers.She needed the silence more than she needed my words right then. So did I.I walked out of the room and made my way across the estate to my private residence, the quieter wing away from the main house where I could actually think. The door shut behind me with a soft click. I didn’t turn on the lights. I just sat in the dark leather chair by the window with the charm resting in my palm.It was small and light, but it didn’t feel like it.She had drugged the car. That part was clear. She thought she was dealing with Ethan. She had timed everything around him, watched him, planned it down to detail, and still ended up with the wrong person.I turned the charm slowly between my fingers. I kept thinking about her face when I held it out to her. The way her expression changed for a second before she fixed it again. Like she was trying to catch up with something she didn’t plan for.She always did that. Even

CHAPTER 7: Camille

ZARIA POV I was in the garden when I heard the car pull up the long driveway. Gravel crunched under tires. I didn’t think much of it. Deliveries came and went. The staff rotated. Nothing in this house ever stayed still long enough for me to feel like I belonged to it.Then I heard Ethan’s voice.I had lived here long enough to know every version of it. Professional: clipped and distant. Polite: surface-level charm for guests. Obligatory: the flat tone he used when he had to acknowledge I existed.This was none of those. Something about his tone made me pause longer than I should have.This was warm. Light. Almost eager.I set down the book I hadn’t been reading and walked back inside.─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──She stood in the entrance hall like she had never left.She greeted my mother-in-law first, and the reaction was immediate, like something missing had been returned.Even the servants shifted around her differently, like they already knew her place in the house.“I’ve missed this house,” she

CHAPTER 8: The Invisible Wife

ZARIA POV Three days since Camille arrived, and I had already started keeping a mental list.Not because I wanted to be dramatic. Because patterns mattered. And I had always tracked patterns.Day one: my usual chair at breakfast disappeared under her. She sat there like it had always been hers.Day two: a household account query I had been handling was quietly redirected through Camille. Small. Surgical. Nobody even told me.Day three: the mother-in-law referred to Camille as “practically family” in front of two servants and didn’t look at me once while saying it.I was being edited out of my own marriage, one polite smile at a time.─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──I walked past the sitting room and caught them, Serena and Camille, heads close together with their tones softened. They stopped the moment I appeared in the doorway.Camille recovered first, offering that warm, effortless smile. “Zaria. We were just talking about the charity event next week. You should join us. It would be good for you to be

CHAPTER 9: Close

CAELUM POV I found her in the library late in the afternoon.Zaria sat in one of the deep armchairs near the window, a book open on her lap. Her eyes weren’t moving across the page. She had been staring at the same spot for a while. The late sunlight caught the side of her face, highlighting the exhaustion she tried so hard to hide from everyone else.I walked in and sat across from her without asking permission.She looked up. For a moment I thought she might tell me to leave. She didn’t. She simply watched me, guarded but too tired to fight.I picked up a book from the side table, opened it, and read. Or pretended to. Twenty minutes passed in silence. It wasn’t uncomfortable. That fact interested me more than it should have. Nothing about our situation should have allowed for comfortable silence.I closed the book.“Walk with me,” I said.She studied me carefully. “Why?”“Because you’ve been inside these walls for weeks, and it is starting to show.”Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Is t

CHAPTER 10: What Serena Knows

Serena had already stepped away from Caelum’s door before the house fully settled into its morning rhythm. She did not stop again, and she did not look back, even though the image she had seen stayed sharp in her mind.A small silver charm sat on the corner of his desk.Not hidden. Not forgotten. Placed.That alone was enough to slow her thoughts.She walked through the corridor with the same calm pace she always used, her expression carefully controlled, her steps soft against the polished floor. Anyone passing her would have seen nothing unusual. Serena had always been good at that. Looking normal while her mind worked through everything at once.When she reached her room, she closed the door gently behind her and stood still for a moment before moving. Then she sat at her dressing table, facing her reflection. The woman in the mirror looked calm, composed, and familiar. The same face people in this house trusted without question.But Serena did not look away.She had known Caelum Vo

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