Lahat ng Kabanata ng I Married My Enemy to Destroy Him: Kabanata 81 - Kabanata 90

Seraphina couldn’t move.She stood beneath the broken doorway, rainwater dripping from her hair and down the side of her face, staring at the man she had spent ten years mourning.Her father.The man she had watched disappear.The man whose death had shaped every decision she had made since.The man whose name had become both a wound and a weapon.Alive.He looked older.That was the first thing she noticed.His once-dark hair was now streaked with silver. His face had grown thinner, sharper. There were deep lines around his eyes that hadn’t been there when she was seventeen.But his eyes were the same.Grey.Cold.Familiar.They were her eyes.“Dad?”The word barely left her lips.Her father looked at her without answering.Seraphina took one step forward.Then another.Lucien immediately moved toward her.She raised a hand.“Don’t.”He stopped.For once, Lucien obeyed without question.Seraphina kept her eyes on her father.“You’re alive.”“Yes.”“You let me believe you were dead.”

“Your mother is waiting for you.”Victor Hale’s voice echoed through the underground chamber.Seraphina stood completely still.For one terrible second, everything around her seemed to disappear.The flickering emergency light.The distant sound of boots.Matteo’s weapon being raised.Even Lucien standing beside her.All she could hear was Victor’s final sentence.She wants you to know why she chose me over your father.Her mother.Victor.Her father.Lucien.Every name was tangled together in a history Seraphina had spent years trying to understand.And now she was beginning to fear that understanding it would destroy her.Lucien stepped in front of her.“Stay behind me.”Seraphina grabbed his arm.“No.”His eyes moved to hers.“Seraphina.”“I said no.”“There are armed men coming through that tunnel.”“I don’t care.”“You should.”She stared at him.“My mother is alive.”“Yes.”“You knew.”His silence was answer enough.Her fingers tightened around his sleeve.“How long?”Lucien loo

The explosion sent a wave of heat through the warehouse.I hit the floor hard, Lucien’s body covering mine before I could even understand what had happened.Dust filled the air.Glass shattered somewhere above us.Men shouted.Gunfire ripped through the darkness.For a few seconds, I could hear nothing except the pounding of my own heart.“Seraphina.”Lucien’s voice cut through the chaos.I opened my eyes.His face was inches from mine.“Are you hurt?”I shook my head.“No.”His eyes searched my face anyway.“Are you sure?”“Yes.”Only then did he pull himself up.“Stay down.”I grabbed his sleeve.“My father.”“I know.”“He’s still inside.”“I’ll get him.”“No.”Lucien looked at me sharply.“You’re not going anywhere.”“I’m not leaving him.”“You don’t understand what is happening.”“My father has been missing for ten years.”My voice cracked.“I’m not losing him again.”Something changed in Lucien’s expression.He knew he couldn’t stop me.He reached for my hand.“Then stay beside m

The message stayed on Lucien’s phone for several seconds.Neither of us spoke.I could hear my own heartbeat.Your real mother is waiting for you.I read the sentence again.Then again.It didn’t make sense.My mother had been dead for twelve years.At least, that was what my father had just told me.I looked at him.“Who was that woman?”He didn’t answer.“Dad.”His eyes lowered.“I don’t know her real name.”My stomach tightened.“You expect me to believe that?”“I expect you to understand that I was afraid.”“Afraid enough to lie to your own daughter for twelve years?”His face crumpled slightly.“Yes.”The word came out broken.I stepped away from the bed.“You told me my mother died.”“I believed she did.”“Then why did that woman know things only my mother could know?”My father closed his eyes.“Because she had access to her memories.”The room went silent.Lucien moved closer.“Explain.”My father looked at him.“Years ago, Black Veil wasn’t only about predicting behavior. It

The rain had stopped, but the city still looked as though it had been crying.Seraphina stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, watching droplets slide slowly down the glass. Behind her, the room was quiet. Too quiet.Lucien had been silent for nearly ten minutes.She could feel his eyes on her, but she refused to turn around.There had been a time when his silence terrified her.Now, it simply made her wonder what he was afraid to say.“Seraphina.”His voice finally broke through the silence.She closed her eyes.“What?”“I need you to look at me.”A small, bitter smile touched her lips.“You always say that when you know I won’t like what you’re about to tell me.”“I know.”She turned.Lucien stood several feet away, his jacket discarded over the back of a chair, the sleeves of his shirt rolled to his forearms. He looked exhausted. Not physically.Emotionally.For a man who had spent years making everyone believe he was untouchable, there was something painfully vulnerable in his eyes