Todos os capítulos de HE MARRIED ME FOR REVENGE : Capítulo 11 - Capítulo 20

Olivia sat alone in her childhood bedroom, the door locked and the curtains drawn against the night. The house around her was silent. Downstairs her mother had finally fallen into an exhausted sleep; the only sound was the faint ticking of the old wall clock in the hallway. The sealed envelope lay open on the desk in front of her. Beside it rested the silver key. Olivia’s hands trembled as she carefully unfolded the first handwritten page. Richard’s familiar handwriting slightly uneven from age and illness brought an immediate ache to her throat. Tears blurred the ink before she forced them back. She began to read. “My dearest Olivia… if these words have reached you, then I couldn’t tell you the truth myself.”The letter opened with an apology not for the divorce, not for the illness that had brought them to the hospital, but for the years of silence. Richard wrote that every secret he had kept was meant to protect her. He told her, with quiet firmness, not to blame herself for

Olivia stood frozen in Richard’s study, one hand still raised toward the slightly crooked painting. The silver key, the pocket watch, and the folded letter rested in her bag on the desk behind her. The sound of the front door unlocking downstairs sent a sharp spike of fear through her chest. Her mother was upstairs resting. They were not expecting anyone. She moved quickly. The pocket watch and Richard’s most recent note disappeared into the inner pocket of her jacket. She stepped away from the painting and toward the study door, heart pounding so hard she could hear it in her ears. Footsteps climbed the stairs with steady purpose. The door opened. Lucien stood in the doorway. For a split second Olivia’s fear turned into pure anger. The man who had ended their marriage with cold precision was now standing in her father’s house as if he still had the right to walk through any door she occupied. “What are you doing here?” she demanded. Lucien’s expression remained contro

Olivia stood beside Richard’s hospital bed, the single name he had whispered still echoing in her ears. Lucien. She turned slowly toward the glass. Lucien stood outside the room, his expression already shifting from concern to something closer to shock. He asked what Richard had said. Olivia did not answer at once. Instead she looked him full in the face and asked the question that had been forming since the moment her father’s lips moved. “Why would my father be afraid of you?” Lucien insisted he did not know. Olivia reminded him that Richard had already warned her never to trust anyone from the Ashford family. Now he had spoken Lucien’s name with fear in his eyes. Whatever fragile trust she had begun to rebuild collapsed further. Lucien did not defend himself with anger. He only said, quietly, “If your father believes I’m dangerous, then I need to know why.” The doctor interrupted them. Richard had fallen unconscious again. Outside the ICU Olivia drew a clear line.

Olivia and Lucien returned to the Carter home after the call from her mother. The house felt unnaturally quiet the moment they stepped inside. Olivia called out, searching every room. Her mother’s phone still rested on the dining table. Her handbag sat beside it. But her mother was nowhere to be found. Fear rose quickly. Olivia moved from room to room, calling her name with increasing urgency. Lucien checked the doors and windows. There were no signs of forced entry. Then Olivia noticed a single photograph lying on the dining table. It showed her mother holding her as a newborn. On the back, in careful handwriting, were the words: “You should have told her years ago.”Olivia realized her mother had expected this confrontation and had prepared for it. Hours later her mother finally returned. Olivia confronted her at once. She demanded to know who Victor Ashford had been to her, why Richard knew him, why her birth date appeared in Richard’s hidden records, and why everyone h

Olivia stared at Lucien after the phone call ended. The possibility that Victor Ashford could be connected to her birth felt almost impossible to process. The room around them seemed too small, the air too thin. She asked the question directly, voice low and unsteady. “Could your father be my biological father?” Lucien was visibly shaken. He told her they did not know that yet the damaged report proved nothing conclusive. Olivia’s anger rose at once. Everyone kept telling her to wait while the truth remained hidden. She asked whether Lucien had known anything about her before they married. He swore he had known nothing about the paternity test. Olivia did not fully believe him. The silence between them carried years of unanswered questions. Lucien examined the damaged laboratory report more carefully. Something important stood out. The document contained no final result, only the request for testing and the identification of the person who had provided the sample. The actual