Todos os capítulos de The Substitute Bride: Capítulo 21 - Capítulo 30

Adrian pressed both hands against the wound, blood slipping between his fingers no matter how hard he pushed. “Dad. Stay with me.” Charles’s eyes opened halfway, unfocused, searching for his son’s face. “What did you and Richard discover?” Adrian said, voice cracking. “Dad, tell me.” Charles’s lips moved. No sound came at first. Then, barely audible, “Don’t trust…” “Don’t trust who?” Charles’s eyes rolled back. His hand went slack in Adrian’s grip. “No. No, stay awake. Stay with me!” Adrian shouted for security, for anyone, his voice tearing through the house until footsteps came running from every direction at once. The police arrived within the hour, and the study filled with people who weren’t family, gloved hands photographing the shattered window, the angle of the glass, the trajectory of the shot. A detective sat across from Adrian in the hallway, notebook open. “Walk me through it again. What was your father saying, right before the shot.” “We were having a conversa

Police still lined the entrance where Charles's hospital wing had been sealed off, badges checked twice before anyone was let through. Adrian and Claire slipped past a checkpoint of officers as they left, reporters shouting questions from behind a taped barrier, cameras flashing against the dark. Adrian's phone buzzed as they reached the car. He glanced at it out of habit. Knight Holdings shares down eleven percent in overnight trading. He shoved the phone back into his pocket without a word. There wasn't room in his chest for that tonight. * * * The second hospital was smaller, quieter, though reporters had already found their way here too, a handful of them camped near the entrance with cameras aimed at every car that pulled up. Claire pushed through the doors ahead of Adrian. "Richard. Where is he." The nurse checked her screen. "He's stable, out of surgery." "What happened to him." "There was a car accident," the nurse said. "The vehicle went off the road. Your father sus

Eleanor came rushing through the hospital doors, her heels clicking fast against the floor, already scanning the corridor for someone to point her toward Richard's room. "Where is he? I need to see my husband." Claire stepped into her path before she could get further. "Mom. Wait." "Claire, not now." Eleanor tried to move around her. "I need to see Richard." "He's stable. Sedated. He's not going anywhere in the next five minutes." Claire held her ground. "I need to ask you something first." "Whatever it is, it can wait." Eleanor's eyes kept darting past her, toward the corridor, toward the room she hadn't set foot in all night. "It can't." Claire's voice hardened. "Why does he think I'm dead?" That finally stopped her. Eleanor's eyes filled with tears, but she quickly looked away. "He's confused. The injury. The doctor said—" "He was confused before tonight too." Claire stepped closer, blocking the path completely now. "He's been hiding something for sixteen years, and

Claire woke to sunlight cutting across the sheets, and for a moment she lay still, aware of the unfamiliar warmth of another body beside her before she let herself remember why. The memory came back slowly at first, then all at once, and with it came a heat of shame that spread through her chest before she'd even opened her eyes all the way. She had let this happen. She had walked down that hallway last night and climbed into his bed, into everything they had promised each other this marriage would never become. She eased herself out from under the sheets carefully, trying not to wake him, and reached for her robe where it had fallen sometime in the night. If she could just get to the door before he stirred, maybe she could pretend this had all happened to someone else. "Where are you going." She froze with her hand already on the doorframe. Adrian was awake, watching her from the pillow, his voice still rough with sleep. "I shouldn't have come to your room last night," she said, k

Adrian was already moving before the man on the phone had finished giving him directions, the room, the hospital's location, the words blurring together as he pushed past the door and into the hallway. He tried Claire's number the second he reached the elevator. It rang through to nothing. He called again. Still nothing. He stood there for a moment, the elevator doors sliding shut around him, and felt something close to real fear for the first time since this had all started, not the exhausted, managed fear of the last few days, but something sharper. Claire had left him less than an hour ago. She'd been fine. She'd told him it was just a hospital, nothing to worry about, and he'd told her to be careful anyway, and now she wasn't picking up her phone at all. The drive felt endless. He kept running Marsh's questions over in his head without meaning to, who knew his father would be at the house that night, who knew Richard would be traveling, and somewhere around the fourth mile a ne