All Chapters of I Married My Enemy to Destroy Him: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

Seraphina barely remembered driving back to the estate.The city lights blurred beyond the windshield, dissolving into streaks of gold and white against the rain-soaked roads. Matteo sat silently in the driver’s seat, sensing better than to interrupt her thoughts. For the first time in years, the certainty that had fueled every decision she made had begun to crumble.Her childhood.Her memories.Her blood.Nothing felt reliable anymore.She tightened her grip on the worn leather journal resting in her lap. It was the same journal Lucien had quietly placed on her bedside table before dawn without a single explanation.Inside, tucked between faded pages, had been a photograph of her at seven years old.And standing behind her…Lucien.Watching over her.She closed the journal before the image could haunt her again.How was that possible?She hadn’t met him until weeks ago.Had she?The estate gates slid open as the car approached. Guards immediately straightened, offering respectful nod

The first thing I noticed was the silence.Not the ordinary silence of the Virelli estate.This was different.Wrong.The kind of silence that came when too many people were trying not to make a sound.I stood at the end of the hallway, staring toward the security corridor. The lights were still on, but two of the cameras above the archway had gone dark.My pulse quickened.“Matteo?”No answer.I took another step.The house was supposed to be secure.Lucien had made that clear from the moment I moved in.There were cameras at every entrance. Guards at every gate. Security personnel monitoring every corridor after the attack two weeks earlier.Nothing happened inside this house without Lucien knowing.Nothing.Except tonight.My phone vibrated.I pulled it from my pocket.One message.UNKNOWN NUMBER.Don’t trust the man standing beside you.I frowned.Slowly, I looked behind me.No one.I turned back toward the corridor.Then I heard footsteps.Someone was coming.My hand tightened ar

The first thing Seraphina noticed was the blood.It was too bright against the white marble floor.A single drop.Then another.Then another.She stood frozen in the hallway, staring at the trail leading toward Lucien's study.Her heart began to pound.“Lucien?”No answer.She moved faster.The mansion had been unusually quiet all evening. The guards had doubled after the last attempt on her life, and Lucien had spent most of the night in his study with Matteo.Something was wrong.She reached the study door.It was slightly open.“Lucien?”Still nothing.Seraphina pushed the door open.Her breath caught.Lucien was standing beside his desk.One hand pressed against his side.Blood soaked through the black shirt beneath his jacket.For several seconds, neither of them moved.Then his eyes lifted to hers.Dark.Calm.Far too calm for a man bleeding in his own house.“You shouldn't be here.”Seraphina stared at him in disbelief.“You're bleeding.”“I noticed.”Her anger flared immediate

I didn't sleep that night.Not because of the blood on Lucien's shirt.Not because of the gunshot that had nearly taken his life.And not even because of the image of him standing between me and the assassin without hesitation.I couldn't sleep because one question kept circling through my mind.What if Lucien had been telling the truth?I lay beneath the dark canopy of our bed, staring at the ceiling while rain tapped softly against the windows.The room was silent.Too silent.Lucien was asleep—or at least pretending to be.He had refused medical attention beyond having Matteo clean and bandage the cut along his side. The bullet had grazed him. That was what the doctor said.A graze.As if watching the man who terrified an entire city bleed because someone had been aiming at me was something ordinary.I turned my head.Lucien lay on his back, one arm resting across his stomach. Even asleep, he looked guarded. Controlled.But tonight, there was something different.Vulnerability.His

Seraphina woke before sunrise.For several seconds, she didn't know where she was.The ceiling above her was unfamiliar only because the darkness had changed its shape overnight. Rain tapped softly against the windows, and somewhere beyond the bedroom walls, the estate remained unnaturally quiet.Then memory returned.Lucien bleeding in her arms.The gunshot.Matteo shouting for the doctor.Lucien looking at her as if her fear mattered more than the blood soaking through his shirt.She sat up slowly.Her heart tightened.He had survived.The doctor had said the bullet missed anything vital by inches.Inches.That word had been haunting her all night.She pushed the blanket aside and stood.She should have been angry with him.He had hidden too much.He had manipulated her.He had known things about her family long before she entered his life.And yet, when the gun went off, none of those things had mattered.She had been terrified of losing him.That frightened her more than any enemy