All Chapters of One Shift, One Night : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

44 Chapters

Chapter 30: Gabriel's pov

Marriage.The word tasted like poison.I stared out the tinted car window as Chicago blurred past in cold gray streaks, my jaw tight enough to ache.Beside me, Lyra sat silently.Far enough to make the distance obvious.Good.That was exactly how it should be.The lawyers had finalized everything less than an hour ago.No wedding.No vows.No smiles.Just signatures.A legal transaction designed to stop the Kane empire from bleeding publicly.And now Lyra Olson was officially my wife.The thought made something dark twist inside my chest.Across from us, Lucas loosened his tie dramatically before muttering, “Well. That was the least romantic thing I’ve ever witnessed, and I once watched a billionaire propose through PowerPoint.”Neither of us answered.Lucas sighed heavily.“Tough crowd.”The silence inside the car became suffocating again.I looked away from Lyra instinctively.Because every time I looked at her now, my mind became a warzone.The woman from that night.The woman I se

Chapter 31: Trust is expensive here

♥Short note before you proceed: Yeah, I changed my writing style. Got some pointers during a proofread. I hope you enjoy this new change....♥Lyra♥Kane Manor terrified me.Not because of its size.Not because of the towering gates, the endless marble halls, or the staff lined up like statues the second we walked inside.It terrified me because nothing here felt real.Everything was too polished.Too perfect.Like one wrong move from me would stain the entire place forever.Maya tightened her grip on my hand as we entered the mansion while Leo stood quietly beside Lucas, pretending not to stare at the enormous crystal chandelier above us.Lucas grinned. “Careful, kids. One vase in this house costs more than my emotional stability.”Maya giggled immediately.Even Leo smiled faintly.Meanwhile, Gabriel kept walking ahead without looking back once.Cold.Distant.Untouchable.My chest tightened painfully.The wedding ring still felt unnatural on my finger.Heavy.Like handcuffs.A middle

Chapter 32: Nosy Lyra

Kane Manor became quieter after sunset.Too quiet.The kind of silence that made every footstep echo.By dinner, Lucas had somehow managed to turn the twins completely against me.“Uncle Lucas says rich people eat snails,” Maya announced suspiciously while staring at the elegant dishes placed across the dining table.Lucas looked deeply offended. “I said French people eat snails. Wealth has nothing to do with it.”Leo looked at him seriously. “You dated a French person.”Lucas pointed triumphantly. “Exactly. See? This child respects lore.”For the first time all day, Gabriel actually looked mildly irritated in a normal way instead of terrifyingly cold.“You’re teaching them nonsense.”Lucas shrugged lazily from his seat. “I’m building character.”Dinner itself felt strange.Domestic.Unnatural.Gabriel barely spoke unless it involved the twins. But every time Maya asked him a question or Leo quietly showed him something from his tablet, he answered with surprising patience.Not warmth

Chapter 33: Only he can hurt me

I avoided Gabriel the next morning.Deliberately.After the humiliation in his study last night, I had no interest in seeing that cold expression again.So I stayed busy helping Maya unpack her toys while Leo sat on the floor organizing books with terrifying seriousness for a five-year-old.“You alphabetized them,” I said slowly.Leo looked up calmly. “That’s how libraries work.”Sometimes I genuinely forgot he was a child.Maya meanwhile shoved stuffed animals into random drawers while singing loudly off-key.Balance.The twins were balance.A soft knock interrupted us before Mrs. Dalton stepped inside carrying folded clothes.“Mr. Kane asked for the children’s sizes,” she said kindly.I blinked. “Why?”“He had wardrobes prepared.”My chest tightened unexpectedly.Already?Mrs. Dalton smiled softly at the twins. “The shopping team delivered everything this morning.”Maya gasped dramatically. “Princess dresses?!”Mrs. Dalton chuckled. “Several.”Leo immediately looked suspicious. “Did

Chapter 34: your temporary

The tension in the mansion lingered long after Gabriel’s grandfather and Julian left.I could still feel it in the air during lunch.In the way the staff moved quieter than before.In the way Mrs. Dalton kept nervously glancing toward Gabriel’s study.And especially in the way Gabriel barely spoke at all afterward.He had disappeared into his office almost immediately after the confrontation downstairs.Locked door.Cold silence.The twins thankfully remained oblivious to most of it.Maya was busy trying on dresses from her new wardrobe while Leo sat beside her reading quietly like a tiny exhausted professor.I watched them from the couch, my chest aching softly.They looked happy here already.Too happy.That scared me.Because if this arrangement collapsed…Would they get hurt too?A knock interrupted my thoughts.Before I could answer, Mrs. Dalton entered carefully.“Mr. Kane asked if the children would like to have lunch with him.”Surprise flickered through me instantly.“With Ga

Chapter 35: new friend

Six weeks later.I still wasn’t used to waking up inside Kane Manor.Some mornings, I opened my eyes expecting my tiny Chicago apartment ceiling only to find silk curtains, marble fireplaces, and a closet bigger than my old living room.Other mornings,I remembered I was Gabriel Kane’s wife before I even fully woke up.Those mornings were worse.The mansion had settled into an uneasy rhythm lately.Gabriel left early for work.The twins slowly adapted to their new life.And I learned exactly how lonely luxury could be.Because despite living under the same roof, Gabriel and I barely crossed paths unless it involved Leo and Maya.And honestly?Part of me preferred it that way.The other part…Didn’t.I hated that second part.“Mommy! Uncle Lucas is here!”Maya’s excited scream echoed through the hallway before she ran into my room wearing mismatched socks and glitter somehow already in her hair at nine in the morning.I blinked sleepily. “Why is there glitter on your face?”She gasped

Chapter 36: Victoria Sterling

Third person pov:“You’re being too calm about this.”Lucy Kane, Julian's sister threw the stack of reports onto Julian’s desk with visible frustration.Paper scattered slightly across the polished wood, but Julian barely reacted.He remained seated comfortably in the leather chair behind his desk, lazily scrolling through stock reports on his tablet like his cousin’s scandal wasn’t dominating every financial headline in Chicago.Lucy stared at him in disbelief.“Did you even listen to the board meeting recap?”Julian finally looked up.“I listened.”“Then why are you acting like none of this matters?”Because it should have mattered.Gabriel Kane should have been cornered by now.The hidden children scandal alone should’ve weakened investor confidence.Then came the sudden marriage.The hospital collapse.The media frenzy.Everything should have created instability inside Kane Enterprises.Instead,Gabriel’s approval ratings somehow increased.Lucy paced across the office angrily.“T

Chapter 37: she's here

The morning started normally.Which, in Kane Manor, usually meant something was about to go terribly wrong.Maya was in the garden chasing butterflies with Mrs. Dalton supervising like a nervous bodyguard.Leo was inside the library, already reorganizing books Gabriel had promised he didn’t care about but somehow kept correcting Leo’s labels.And me?I was trying to convince myself I wasn’t slowly becoming part of this house.That was the scariest part.Because routines were forming.Breakfast together when Gabriel wasn’t at work.The twins calling for him instinctively.Staff greeting me without hesitation anymore.Even my name had started sounding normal in this place.Mrs. Kane.I still didn’t like it.But it didn’t shock me the way it used to.I was in the kitchen pouring water when footsteps echoed behind me.I turned slightly.Gabriel.He was already dressed in a dark suit, phone in hand, eyes scanning something on the screen.He didn’t look at me immediately.He rarely did thes

Chapter 38: she's staying here?

Chapter 44Lyra’s POVSienna had insisted I leave the house.“Fresh air,” she’d said firmly, tugging me toward the car like I was a patient recovering from something I refused to name.Honestly, I didn’t argue.Kane Manor had started feeling like it was shrinking around me lately.Like the walls were quietly learning my name.So I went.We spent most of the afternoon in a quiet café downtown, far enough from the mansion that my shoulders finally relaxed for the first time in days.Sienna talked about something funny Lucas had done at a charity event.I tried to laugh.And I did.A little.But even then, my mind kept drifting.To Victoria.To Gabriel.To that smile she gave him.Like she still knew him in a way I didn’t.By the time I returned home, the sun was already dipping low behind the estate gardens.The house was unusually quiet.Too quiet.Mrs. Dalton greeted me politely. “Mr. Kane is in the study with a guest.”My chest tightened slightly.A guest.I nodded slowly. “Who?”She

Chapter 39: Conniving

♣ Victoria Sterling's pov♣ They always remembered me as elegant. Soft and controlled. The kind of woman who smiled instead of fought. It was useful. People rarely fear what they believe they understand. I adjusted the sleeve of my coat as I walked through Kane Manor’s upper hallway, listening to the quiet hum of servants pretending not to notice me. Two days. That’s what Gabriel had said. Only two days. I almost smiled at that. He still believed in temporary solutions. Still believed things could be neatly contained. Like me. A door opened ahead. And Lyra Olson stepped out. We stopped at the same time. For a second, neither of us spoke. She was… different in person. Less polished than the women Gabriel usually entertained in elite circles. But not weak. That was the interesting part. Her eyes held something stubborn. Something that didn’t belong in a world like this. “Victoria,” she said cautiously. I smiled politely. “Lyra.” Awkward silence stretched between us.

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