CHAPTER 1 THE SUBSTITUTE BRIDE CHIARA “What the—” The water hit me like a fist. I didn't just wake up… I drowned. Gasping and choking, I scrambled upright as the freezing water flooded my nose and mouth, and for a moment I forgot how to breathe. Mum stood over me, the empty bucket swinging from her hand. "Get up; your sister is gone." I pushed sopping hair from my eyes, swallowing the hurt like broken glass. "Gone?" "She ran away last night." Her lip curled as she looked at me like I was a stain that had learned to speak. "Valentina left a note and climbed out her window. Your father is beside himself." I forced my shaking legs over the edge of the bed. My nightgown clung to my skin, the morning cold biting deep as I stood. "Why would she run?" She scowled. "That's not your concern. What matters is tonight there needs to be a bride, and you're the only one left." Bride? Who's getting married? "Your father made arrangements," she continued with an impatient voic

Last Updated : 2026-06-03

CHAPTER 2 NO ESCAPE The barrel was the coldest thing I've ever felt on my skin. Is this how I die!? His green eyes didn't blink, and the gun didn't waver either. My knees went liquid, and my lungs seized, but the only sound in the room was my own heartbeat trying to punch through its ribs. "Where are the drives?" I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. Just a strangled breath that tasted like fear. "I—I don't k—now wh—at you're talking about." The silence stretched so long I felt it pressing against my skull. He didn't react or move; he just stared at me with those frozen eyes. And I understood for the first time what it meant to be truly hunted. "I don't like to repeat myself." "I'm not—" My voice cracked. "I swear, I don't know. Whatever you think I have, I don't have it." Something flickered in his expression, and from the fear of having a gun to my head, I couldn't figure it out. He lowered the gun slowly, tracing the muzzle down my cheek as the coldnes

Last Updated : 2026-06-03

CHAPTER 3 THE PRICE OF DEFIANCE The silence after her scream was worse than the scream itself. I pressed my forehead against the cold marble floor as I curled myself into it. Until eventually, my mind became exhausted and my body shut off. The lock turned what felt like years later. The housekeeper stood in the doorway, her black dress swallowing the light. She looked at me with a blank look like I was nothing more than a chore. "Mr. Moretti will see you now." Two guards appeared behind her, seized my arms, and hauled me upright. My legs buckled immediately as pins and needles shot through my feet, knees, and thighs. They dragged me down the hallway, my heels scraping against the marble. Focus and breath, Chiara. Survive this. Stopping in front of a food made with dark wood panels and painted with faded frescoes, they knocked thrice before dragging me in. Lucien sat behind his massive desk, the orange light from the fire in the grate casting shadows across h

Last Updated : 2026-06-03

CHAPTER 4 I’M NOT HER. The new room was smaller… I realized it the moment I opened my eyes. It had a smaller bed, a smaller fireplace, and smaller walls closing tighter around me, like the house itself had grown tired of my attempts to escape. And oh… the windows no longer opened. I stood in front of them anyway, my fingertips pressing uselessly against the cold glass while the lake stretched endlessly beyond it. My reflection stared back faintly at me through the window. Pale skin, hollow eyes, tangled dark hair… I barely looked human anymore. Only three days inside this house, and already it felt like pieces of me were disappearing quietly into the walls. Everything here ran with terrifying precision. Breakfast arrived at eight, lunch at one, and dinner at seven. The guards rotated every four hours, and every night, just before midnight, footsteps stopped outside my door and remained there for exactly thirty seconds before walking away again. At some point, I st

Last Updated : 2026-06-03

CHAPTER 5 WHO THE HELL ARE YOU? "You're not Valentina." At first, my mind refused to register what he just said. It didn't feel like a sentence meant for me. It just hung in the air between us while my heartbeat turned erratic inside my chest. Lucien stood watching me like he was waiting for reality to catch up with his conclusion. His expression hadn't changed, but something in the room had shifted. The air felt thinner. I tried to laugh, but it came out forced and hollow. "That's impossible. I am Valentina." Even as the words left my mouth, I didn't believe it myself. Lucien's eyes didn't change; they stayed fixed on me with unsettling precision. "I don't work with assumptions," he said quietly. "I work with facts and patterns. And you don't match any of hers." My throat tightened until it hurt to swallow. "You're wrong." He tilted his head slightly as if listening to something I couldn't hear. "Valentina Rossi is loud even when she's silent. She reacts bef

Last Updated : 2026-06-03

All Chapters of BLOOD AND VOWS: THE MAFIA WRONG BRIDE : Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

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