All Chapters of Owned By My Father's Rival: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

Chapter 81: The Silence After the StormThe motel room was dark.Not the darkness of night. The darkness of drawn curtains and pulled shades and the deliberate choice to shut out the world. Elena sat on the edge of the bed, her hands empty, her mind full. The folder was gone. The evidence was in Reyes's keeping. The confessions were recorded. The arrests were made.And still, she felt nothing.Lucien sat across from her.His shirt was untucked. His hair was disheveled. His eyes were fixed on her face, watching for a crack, a tear, a sign that she was still human."Elena.""I'm here.""Where's here?"She looked around the room. The peeling wallpaper. The stained carpet. The window that faced a brick wall."I don't know.""You need to eat.""I'm not hungry.""You need to sleep.""I'm not tired.""You need to feel something."She looked at him."I feel empty.""That's something.""That's nothing."He stood. Walked to her. Knelt in front of her."Then we'll fill it. Together.""How?""One

Chapter 83: The BaitThe warehouse smelled like rust and secrets.Mira stood by the window, her silhouette sharp against the gray light filtering through the grime. She had not slept. Neither had Elena. Lucien lay on the bed, his eyes closed, his breathing shallow. The wounds on his head had stopped bleeding, but the bruises were darkening, spreading across his face like storm clouds."Your plan," Elena said. "Tell me."Mira turned."Dmitri wants you. Both of you. You're the last loose ends. The only witnesses who can tie him to the empire.""So we're bait.""You're bait." Mira nodded. "I'm the trap.""How does it work?""We let him find us. We let him think we're alone. We let him walk into the room.""And then?""And then we don't let him walk out."Elena stood.Walked to the bed.Lucien's eyes opened."Hey," she said."Hey.""How do you feel?""Like I got hit by a car.""You did.""Same."She took his hand."Mira has a plan.""I heard.""You're not going to like it.""I never like

Chapter 85: The Last GoodbyeThe plane touched down at Heathrow at dawn.London was gray. The sky was low. The rain fell in sheets that blurred the windows of the taxi and turned the streets into rivers. Elena stared out at the city—the red buses, the black cabs, the old buildings that had stood for centuries—and felt nothing.Lucien sat beside her.His hand was in his lap. His eyes were on the window. His jaw was tight."You don't have to do this," Elena said."Yes, I do.""You can let her surrender alone.""I've been letting her be alone my whole life.""That's not your fault.""It's not hers either."Elena was quiet."Whose fault is it?"He looked at her."Does it matter?"---The police station was in Westminster.Old brick. Iron gates. A blue lamp above the door.Mira was waiting in the lobby.She wore a gray coat. Her hair was pulled back. Her hands were empty."Lucien.""Mira.""You came.""You asked."She walked to him.Stopped a few feet away."I'm not going to ask you to for

Chapter 87: The Blood That BindsThe visiting room fell silent.Isabella sat on the other side of the glass, her hands wrapped around the phone, her eyes fixed on Lucien's face. Elena watched them both—her mother and the man she loved—and felt something shift in the air between them. Something heavy. Something final.Lucien picked up his phone."Talk."Isabella nodded."Your mother, Mira, told you that Sergei Volkov was your father.""Yes.""She lied."Lucien's jaw tightened."Sergei was not your father. He was your uncle. Your father was someone else.""Who?"Isabella looked at Elena."William Black."---The room tilted.Elena grabbed the edge of the counter. Lucien's face went pale. His hand tightened on the phone until his knuckles turned white."My father?" he said. "William Black? The man who beat my mother? The man who killed himself?""The man who married Mira. The man who raised you. The man who loved you." Isabella's voice cracked. "He was not a good man, Lucien. But he love

Chapter 89: The Hours BetweenThe visiting room went silent.Elena stared at her mother through the glass. Isabella's face was calm. Too calm. The face of someone who had already made peace with death. The cancer was back. Six months. Maybe less."How long have you known?" Elena asked."Weeks.""Since before the trial?""Yes.""You didn't tell anyone.""I told my lawyer.""You didn't tell me."Isabella pressed her hand against the glass."I'm telling you now."Elena didn't press back."Why?""Because you deserve to know.""That's not an answer.""It's the only one I have."---Lucien stood by the door.His arms were crossed. His face was unreadable. But his eyes—his eyes were watching Elena, waiting for her to break.She didn't break.She sat in the chair, the phone pressed to her ear, and looked at the woman who had given her life and taken so many others."The doctors," Elena said. "Can they do anything?""Chemo. Radiation. Surgery." Isabella shook her head. "I've refused.""Why?""