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Todos os capítulos de He Ruined Me, Now I’m His Step Mother: Capítulo 1 - Capítulo 10

21 Capítulos

The truth

I was going to surprise him. I had just gotten back from the hospital where I was told I would be having a girl. My stomach looked so swollen and I felt so fat.But it didn't matter, because my husband, Marcus Blackwell said I looked just okay.“You might look ugly and fat now, but I promise that doesn't make you any less my wife,” he said once when I caught him flipping through a Vogue magazine filled with skinny models.I smiled at the compliment, feeling relieved.But if only I knew, oh God!I walked down the hallway of the Blackwell mansion, a folder clutched in my hands. Seven months pregnant and still trying to win my husband's love like some pathetic puppy begging for scraps.The marble floors were cold under my bare feet. I'd kicked off my heels an hour ago because my ankles were swollen and my back ached and Marcus hadn't noticed anyway. He never noticed. He was always too busy with work, he hardly even asked about my prenatal session.And I didn't mind. I always told myself

Survival

The contractions started at 3 AM in a London studio apartment I rented– it barely fit a bed. I was alone, rain hammering the window,and no one to call for help. I dialed emergency services with shaking hands."My water just broke. I'm alone,”I cried into the phone. A few minutes later, the ambulance came and I was rushed to the hospital.At the hospital, when they asked about the father, I said, "He is dead. I'm her only parent." Because well, Marcus might as well be.At 6:47 AM, I gave birth to my baby girl. Tiny, perfect, and shiny dark hair that looked like his."Name?" the nurse asked."Lily Thomas," I whispered, severing her ties to the Blackwell family forever.Six years blurred together. Waitressing with Lily on my back, night classes, working at a fashion house, and sketching designs during lunch. And finally, my work got noticed.A boutique picked up three pieces, then a department store, and soon I had a magazine feature. It all seemed like a miracle, but I knew it was mostl

The Return

The plane touched down at JFK and my stomach turned inside out.Six years. Six years since I'd set foot in this city that had broken me. Since I'd run with nothing but a bag and Marcus's baby growing inside me."Mommy, look!" Lily pressed her face against the window. "Is this where Daddy lives? Does he fly like Superman or—"Her voice faded into the background as my mind drifted somewhere else entirely to a week ago. To a man whose last name I didn't even know.We'd exchanged numbers that night, and he'd been texting me ever since. Good morning messages, questions about my day, and even an invitation to dinner when I got to New York.But I didn't reply to any of them.Moving on felt too fast— too reckless. But God, I couldn't stop thinking about him. About the way he'd looked at me like I was the only woman in the room. The way his hands had felt on my body. The way he'd made me forget about the burden I carried on my shoulder."Mommy!" Lily tugged my sleeve. "You're not listening!"I

Preparing

CHAPTER FOUR"Every single word,” I seethed, my voice hard. “Every single insult and shame you painted on my name. I heard every bloody thing, Marcus.”"Aria, please. I know what you're probably thinking, but I swear– I regret every single thing. Let me explain—""Explain what? That you married me to breed an heir? That you were going to throw me away after, when I was of no good use to you again ? That everything was a lie?" My voice cracked, increasing with each word I said. "There's nothing to explain, Marcus. I understand perfectly.""What about the ba– baby?” He questioned, his hand moving to hold me but I stopped him.“What about it?”"Did you... is it..."He thought I was still pregnant when I left. He didn't know about Lily.Good.I folded my hand under my bust and looked straight in his eyes. I wanted to see his face when I revealed it to him."There is no baby, Marcus." The lie slipped through my mouth easily. "I lost it just a month after I left. The doctor said it couldn'

Chapter Five

The message was sent and my heart was hammering in my chest like I’d just run a mile in heels. 8 PM. Tomorrow night. Dinner. I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t know James’s last name, I didn’t know if he was safe, I didn’t know if this was a mistake. But I knew I was tired of being the girl who only said no because she was scared of what would happen if she said yes. I sat on the floor of my dressing room for a long time after that, back against the door, dress wrinkling around me. The building was quiet now. No Marcus. No Natalia. No screaming about heirs and bloodlines. Just me and the sound of my own breathing and the faint hum of the city outside. Luminère was still standing. Still mine. Every stitch, every sketch, every sleepless night had been me. Not Marcus’s name. Not his family’s money. Me. That thought should have made me feel strong. And it did, a little. But underneath it was something else, something shaky and new. Hope. The kind of hope that hurt because it had

Chapter Six

I woke up before my alarm. That never happened. For six years my body was trained to wake up at 4:30 AM, heart pounding, checking the locks, listening for footsteps, for the sound of a car that shouldn’t be there. But this morning I opened my eyes at 6:12 AM because sunlight was hitting my face and Lily was climbing onto my bed with a crayon in her mouth and a paper flower behind her ear. “Mama you’re awake!” she whispered like it was a secret even though she was shouting. I pulled her into my arms and breathed her in. She smelled like toothpaste and the strawberry shampoo she insisted on using even though it made her hair tangle. “I’m awake, baby. Did you sleep good?” She nodded serious, like it was important business. “I dreamed about the restaurant you went to. Was the cake good?” I froze for half a second. I hadn’t told her about dinner. But kids notice everything. The late night, the different energy when I came home, the way I’d smiled at my phone before putting it down. “T

Chapter Seven

The next morning I woke up with James’s last text still in my head and the taste of rain on my lips and it felt dangerous to be that soft before coffee. Lily was already awake when I opened my eyes, standing next to my bed with the cupcake she’d saved from Miss Amina’s and her serious face on like she had important news. “Mama, you smell like the restaurant,” she said, holding the cupcake out to me. “And you’re smiling in your sleep.” I took the cupcake because I didn’t know what else to do with my hands. “Did I?” She nodded and climbed onto the bed beside me, tucking her legs under her like she was settling in for a long talk. “Miss Amina said when grown-ups smile in their sleep it means something good happened. Did something good happen?” I looked at her, at the way she trusted me with all her questions, at the way she believed I had answers. For years I’d lied to her about Marcus, about why we left, about why we didn’t have a dad in pictures. I told her stories about brave wome

Chapter Eight

Marcus standing on the sidewalk across from my building didn’t leave my head for days. Even when he wasn’t there, I kept seeing him in every shadow, every car that slowed down too long, every man in a suit who looked at me a second too long. My body remembered him even when my brain was trying to forget. That’s what six years with him did. He got under your skin and stayed there like a splinter.But this time was different. This time I didn’t go down. This time I called security. This time Lily stood behind me with her hand in mine and I didn’t shake when I looked at him through the glass. I was scared, yeah. But I wasn’t powerless. Not anymore.James kept showing up at night. Not inside, never inside unless I asked. He’d park across the street and sit in his car with the light off, like a guard dog who didn’t need to bark to let people know the house was protected. I’d see him from my window and my chest would stop hurting so much. He never asked me to come down. Never texted “let m

Chapter Nine

The restraining order was just paper but it felt like a wall finallyly went up between me and Marcus and for the first time in six years I could breathe without looking over my shoulder every five seconds, though my body didn’t believe it right away because bodies remember fear longer than minds do and mine still flinched when a car slowed down outside Luminère or when a man’s voice got too loud in the elevator, but James was there for all of that without making me feel broken for it, he just stayed, steady and quiet, like he understood that healing wasn’t a straight line and that some days I’d be strong and some days I’d be a mess and both were okay with him. Lily took to him faster than I expected, which should’ve scared me but didn’t because the way she looked at him was the way she looked at Miss Amina and Tayo and the few people I’d let close, like she could see the good in them without me having to explain it, and when she handed him that crumpled paper flower on the night of h

Chapter Ten

Freedom didn’t feel the way I thought it would. I thought it would be loud, like fireworks or a door slamming shut behind Marcus forever, but it was quieter than that, softer, like the first morning I woke up and didn’t check the locks before I checked on Lily, like the first time James texted me good morning and I didn’t read it three times looking for a hidden meaning, like the first time I designed something without wondering if Marcus would think it was good enough. It was small things stacking up until one day I realized the weight in my chest was gone and I could breathe all the way down to my ribs without hurting.The weeks after court moved slow and fast at the same time. Slow because I was still learning how to live without waiting for the next bad thing, fast because Luminère was growing in ways I hadn’t planned for and Lily was growing too, shooting up overnight like kids do, and James was growing into my life in a way that didn’t feel forced or rushed but natural, like he’

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