All Chapters of The Bride He Wanted Was Never My Sister : Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

72 Chapters

60: Static

TheoThe man across my desk called himself Callahan. I had my doubts about the name though, he looked too raunchy and awfully stiff to bear the name. And his glasses were odd, a half thought given to a costume hoping it would mask his real character.Callahan definitely isn't the name on his birth certificate and neither was he a real blonde. The wig was ill fitting, if not for how irritated I'd been feeling since the incident with my wife and what ensued after, Harper, I would have cackled.I settled for a small repressed smile.In the field of work I do, Callahan was popular for scouting and looting cleanly. I'd done my own due diligence of knowing who approached me before they did.Word came to me that he was scouting for channels to loot and hide one of the most exquisite pieces from old Italia. I'd expected him to come sooner since the news of the loot had gone public but I was disappointed. I should've known better though, beca

61: pressed flower

MirabellaI checked my phone for the fourth time in less than ten minutes, the message still sitting there unanswered Dinner tonight? you've been distantThe two little ticks are grey instead of blue, delivered but not read, or read and ignored, I couldn't tell which was worse.When was the last time I was so hung up on a reply from someone, let alone someone who should hold an insignificant place in my life.I locked the screen, stuffed my phone into my bag and looked up to find Sergei watching me from across the atrium with an amused expression. I'd never been more irritated by a person's happiness. "What are you looking at?" I said, sharper than I intended and I didn't regret it."Nothing." He threw his face not quick enough because I caught his smile.I rolled my eyes at him "I'm allowed to check my phone, no?""You are." again, a faint, infuriating smile. "I'm simply observing.""Well, o

62: Dinner with you

TheoI smiled and greeted Benny as he took my coat as soon as the elevator chimed open, making me wonder if he'd been waiting there for me all night after I'd told him I would be late.There was no reason to be late, no late meetings, no emergencies, it was only my dread of having a conversation with my wife.I'd successfully kept my own ill feelings to myself, there was no telling how I would react or if I would be able to control it. I'd been nursing the green that spilled over my insides after watching Harper and my wife that day.How close they stood together, the way she'd drawn close.Harper hasn't been in the office since then, he'd been on a trip to Singapore for business.“Dinner is set young sir.” He fondly said.Benny's been bent on doing things like this for me despite my orders to leave a job that no longer served him and just act like an old man and retire to his grandkids up south. He never listened. Not e

63: Unworthy hands

MirabellaIt was like he'd disappeared even more into work since we had that dinner. He hadn't spoken to me and if he looked at me since then, I didn't notice. It's been three days.It felt like someone had cut the light of my life and what annoyed me the most was the effect his silence had on me. It was beyond annoying and even more reeling that he appeared completely unfazed.Some days he came home, some days he sent texts telling me not to wait up that he'd be late, which often ran into him dropping by in the morning and leaving soon after.I'd called Benny to seek some counsel since Benny literally raised him, perhaps he could have some ideas on how I could reach out to Theo, appeal to him. It would've helped if Benny could've done it in person but he wasn't coming in till the next week but all Benny could tell me was that Theo was like a rock when it was about his mother. It was a sore topic and anyone who brought it up with him was bound to

64: Unexpected Visit

Bella My hands found my mouth and covered it.Me? Right hands? For Hilda's painting of Theo.No no…noOh my God! I turned away from the painting, dropped my hand to my waist, and my mind ran a thousand miles.The earlier excitement had curdled into something closer to dread. What if I ruined it. What if my hands, however trained, however careful, weren't enough to finish honoring whatever she'd been reaching for when illness or exhaustion or whatever had actually taken her stopped her from finishing it herself. What if Theo ever found out I'd touched this without him even knowing it existed, on top of everything else neither of us had told the other lately.No way on earth was I going to do it. I'll pack it up, write up a note and send it over.It wasn't in my place to do any of this.I left the frame and walked back to the main house on shaky legs, needing water.I was still standi

65: Sacrifice

Mirabella"What about my marriage?" My voice came out hollow, my cheek still stinging from the slap. "Sit down, Mirabella.""I'll stand." He didn't argue, dropping into the armchair, elbows on his knees, studying me like I was some failed investment. "Zoya Voss came to see me. A few weeks back.""Zoya?" The floor tilted slightly. "Why would she come to you?""Apparently a lot of people are concerned for you. She was concerned for you.” He flashed a smile. My stomach twisted.“She implied there were things about the Hartleys we should have made sure you understood before the wedding." His jaw tightened. "I didn't like being lectured by a stranger about my own daughter, but she wasn't wrong that you deserved to hear it eventually. She made it plain she'd tell you herself if we didn't."I swallowed the boulder sitting on my throat. "Tell me what, exactly?""The company faced trouble last year. Somet

66: Stay Put

TheoShe lifted the corners of her lips but her smile trembled. “It's nothing” she said and made an attempt to side step.I drew her back to me and she clasped against my chest. My perfect fit."It's not nothing, Cherie." I had no control of the way my voice dropped when it came to my wife but seeing her shaken up made a thousand dreadful thoughts run wild in my head. "That's a mark on you, Bella. Someone touched you.""Theo—"I tilted her jaw upwards. "Who?” That was all I could trust myself to say.She stepped back, putting deliberate space between us and something about the way her eyes dropped unsettled me."I'm not telling you." She said firmly. "I'm not telling you who, and I'm not telling you why, because the second I do, this stops being about what happened to me and starts being about what you're going to do about it. And I have had enough, Theo.” The pain in her voice tore at my heart. “...of men deciding what to do about me without asking first.""I'm your husband." It cam

67: Maybe I did

Bella An odd memory startled me out of sleep, pulling me back to reality alongside the sunlight filtering through the sheer curtains. I sat up immediately, my heart thumping a heavy rhythm against my ribs.The fog in my head pieced into recognizable figures in my head.Theo.A hand— his hand, holding mine. A comforting warmth pressed along my side throughout the night. I squinted around the room, sorting through the fragments pouring into my mind. All I knew for sure was that I had been completely knocked out and that I had somehow allowed myself willingly climb into his bed.Wait. Wait. Wait. Rewind.A wave of realization hit me. How on earth did I allow myself get comfortable enough to sleep beside him?Last night rolled through my head like a film rewind. Clearer, vivid. Theo was the one who had put me to sleep, tucked me in, and held me. He held my me? Laid beside me?I jerked, casting a look at the other side of his bed. It was empty, the sheets where he had laid barely wr

68: Protect me

BellaThe air in the music room turned instantly suffocating. The ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner sounded deafeningly loud, each second striking like a hammer against my temples. My head spun.I jerked to my feet, driven by the instinctual urge to run, to hide the cracked, broken pieces of myself from his sharp eyes as I always did. That horror was mine to carry alone. Having him openly strip away my defenses and ask about the one topic no one else spoke about was terrifying.I barely made it past the wooden bench before his hand clamped around my wrist once more."Bella,"I turned back, my vision already blurring with hot, unshed tears.With a sudden, firm tug, Theo pulled me backward. The sheer force of his movement landed me with a sharp gasp directly on his lap, my body flushed against his chest. His arms wrapped around my waist sturdy, locking me in place.His eyes swept over my face, searching every inch. "I want to be better for you, Mirabella," he gritted out, h

69: Take one look

Theo It was my turn to stand up and storm off but she shocked me with how swift she moved, keeping me in place, her small hands gripping my arms, fingers digging into my flesh. “Hear me out first.” She urged softly. But I didn't want to, just the mere thought of it made my skin crawl. “Bella you have no business doing that. You have no business with the charity. That charity is dead.” Gall spilled over my tongue. “Perhaps your mother wanted you to keep it alive even in her absence.” I jammed my teeth together. “And you know that how? Is that what someone else told you, or did you hear it from my mother?” Her hands moved up and down the length of my arm, the calmness it brought me threatened my resolve. She glanced at the easel then back at me “When I received that portrait, I knew you had to see it for yourself.” She smiled at my rigid face. God. Whenever she smiled at me, trumpets went off and she doesn't smile at me often , not like I deserved it. “In fact,” s

...

3 4 5 6 7 8

SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP