All Chapters of Married To The Devil's Heir : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Ivy bolted upright before her mind caught up with her body, scrambling backward into the shadows along the wall, heart slamming so hard against her ribs she could hear it over the approaching footsteps, the torn scrap of blue fabric still pinched between two fingers where she'd forgotten to let it go. There was nowhere to hide in the narrow corridor, no alcove, no doorway except the one she'd been forbidden to enter, and every second she hesitated shortened whatever lead she had, the option of retreating back toward her own room already closed off by distance alone.She pressed herself into the deepest pocket of shadow the dim wall sconce couldn't reach, holding her breath, watching the far end of the corridor where the footsteps grew louder, unhurried, confident in a way that told her whoever was coming didn't expect anyone else to be awake at this hour, moving with the careless ease of someone who belonged wherever they were going, someone with far more right to be wandering this h

"Put it down, Ivy. Now." Sable's voice carried none of its usual warmth, stripped down to something flat and controlled that Ivy had never heard from her before, not once in all the weeks since her arrival. Ivy stood frozen in the doorway of the shrine room, the framed photograph still clutched in both hands, Rosalind's guarded, gray blue eyes staring up at her from the glass like a mirror she didn't understand yet. "Who is she," Ivy demanded, refusing to lower the frame despite every instinct screaming at her to comply, her voice steadier than she felt given how hard her hands were shaking around the glass and the frame it protected. "Tell me who this woman is, Sable. Tell me why she has my eyes." "You need to put that down before someone else sees you holding it." Sable stepped closer, hands raised slightly, the gesture of someone trying to calm a spooked animal rather than confront an enemy, her eyes darting nervously toward the far end of the corridor as though expecting compan

"Get everyone out of this room except security. Now." Kade's voice cut through the chaos still swirling around the shattered window, guards clearing broken glass, a medic checking Ivy's arms for cuts she hadn't noticed until the adrenaline started fading. Marcus barked orders into his radio, coordinating a full sweep of the property, while Kade stood rigid near the window frame, the note still clutched in his fist. "I want the tree line searched again at first light," Kade said, voice clipped and controlled despite the fury radiating off him, every word measured even as his hands stayed clenched at his sides, knuckles white against the fabric of his ruined shirt. "I want to know how a shooter got close enough to hit this window twice without anyone spotting him sooner." "On it." Marcus relayed the order immediately, then hesitated, glancing toward Ivy before lowering his voice, choosing his next words carefully as if unsure how much she should hear. "Sir, there's something else. Th

"Tell me about Rosalind, before someone interrupts us again." Ivy caught Kade in the hallway outside his study, blocking his path with a directness that made him stop mid stride, papers still tucked under one arm, clearly headed somewhere important. He glanced at the two guards stationed nearby before answering, lowering his voice. "Not here, Ivy, not right now." "Then where. You keep saying not here, not now, and somehow the conversation never actually happens, day after day." Ivy crossed her arms, refusing to move aside. "I found a shrine to a dead woman who shares my exact eyes, Kade. I think I've earned an answer that isn't a postponement." Kade's jaw tightened, and for a moment she thought he might actually give her something, some real piece of the truth she'd been chasing for days. Instead, one of the guards stepped forward, expression apologetic but firm. "Sir, apologies for interrupting. Mr. Cross senior is asking for you. Says it's urgent, about the staff report."

"A woman just handed me this folded note and walked away quickly before I could even ask who had sent her." Ivy stared down at the folded note the seamstress had slipped into her hand during a routine dress alteration, heart already racing before she'd even had the chance to open it fully. She waited until the woman had fully left the room, then unfolded the paper carefully with unsteady, nervous fingers. Old bookshop on Fifth Street. Two hours. Come alone. Marco. She read it through twice, weighing the risk against the pull of finally getting real answers instead of half truths delivered in stolen minutes before someone always interrupted. Kade was locked in meetings with Vincent for most of the entire afternoon, security stretched thin covering the ongoing investigation into the shooting. If she was ever truly going to slip away unnoticed, this was going to be the window to do it. Two hours later, Ivy stood in the dim, dusty back corner of a secondhand bookshop three streets from