Serafina MarazonaThe first thing I felt upon regaining consciousness was a sharp, throbbing pain pulsing relentlessly behind my eyes, as though my skull had been cracked open and carelessly stitched back together. Nausea followed swiftly, twisting my stomach into violent knots that made me gag even before I could fully surface from the heavy layers of darkness. I coughed hard, the sound echoing strangely in the sterile space around me, and forced my eyes open. White ceiling. White walls. White floor. A barren, windowless room stripped of any warmth or personality, like a cage designed to break the spirit before the body. For several long, disorienting moments, I simply lay there staring upward, my mind struggling to piece together the fragments— the wrong turn in the taxi, the locked doors, the driver’s cold eyes in the mirror—until panic slammed into me like a tidal wave.I sat up too quickly, the room spinning wildly around me as my vision blurred with dizzying streaks of white.

Serafina MarazonaTime lost all meaning inside that sterile white room. It stretched into an endless, suffocating blur, marked only by the arrival and removal of untouched food trays and the growing ache in my muscles from a bed that was never meant for rest. No windows. No clocks. Nothing to anchor me to the outside world except the muffled sounds drifting beyond the heavy metal door—distant footsteps, low voices, the occasional metallic grind of locks. At first, every noise jolted me upright, heart seizing with desperate hope. Vincenzo had found me. His men were coming. The door would burst open any second and this nightmare would end. But it never happened. The hope curdled into something heavier, colder. Cassandra returned at irregular intervals, her presence as calculated as it was unnerving. Sometimes she fired sharp, probing questions meant to peel back my defenses. Other times she simply sat across from me, cigarette smoke curling from her fingers while she studied m

Don Vincenzo MarazonaThe boardroom emptied gradually as the final meeting of the day dragged to its conclusion. Contracts worth hundreds of millions lay signed on the polished mahogany table, awaiting my final execution. Men twice my age had spent three grueling hours arguing over shipping routes, investments, and acquisitions, all while pretending they didn’t live in fear of the reality that every signature ultimately required my approval. By the time the last executive filed out, silence settled heavy across the top floor of Marazona Holdings. The city stretched beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, bathed in gold and orange beneath the dying sun. I loosened my tie and turned my attention to the reports waiting on my desk. Three financial summaries. Two political updates. One intelligence briefing. A normal day. The office door opened without a knock. Only a handful of people dared. Adriano Matteo stepped inside. I didn’t look up immediately. “Something important?” A lon

All Chapters of SUBSTITUTE BRIDE FOR THE MARAZONA HEIR [ Series]: Chapter 21 - Chapter 23

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