The Dark Wives: A Vera Stanhope Novel Novels & Stories

It was unbreakable for a reason. “So, how many of them are here?” “They call themselves the dark daughters,” Owen said with a wince. “I have seen only Orna and Tymeria and another woman, but I think there are more. They talk of the powers they lost… it sounds horrible, Vera. If they had gotten the crown…” Owen shuddered and I winced, feeling guilty all over again. Dark daughters. Of course. Bloody bitches sound like a horrible horror movie title. “Any idea?” I looked up at my mate and he sighed. I saw Blaine and the others kicking the door to the cells open, one by one.

For just a second, I caught a glimpse of pain flickering across his face before it vanished behind his usual icy facade. "The wedding's next month," he said. "Nora needs a bridesmaid." Nora Hunter. The girl who had shown up out of the blue three months ago, 20 and all sunshine with her blonde hair and blue eyes, clueless about the shadows in the world. Francis had welcomed her into the mansion, showered her with jewels, and paraded her around at every high-society event. Francis kept whispering sweet nothings to me, even as he was gearing up to marry someone else.

> "I'm the cold, detached wife. I'm the emotionally unavailable physician who spent more time in the trauma bays than in her own home. I was entirely too focused on my own career advancement to notice a lonely, neglected husband." Thelma looked utterly crushed. The absolute silence that followed was all the confirmation I required. I nodded slowly, the pieces of the puzzle locking into perfect alignment. The script practically wrote itself. The highly successful, unyielding female doctor; the busy, neglectful mother; the tragic, cast-aside husband who simply fell into the arms of a warm, supportive young woman. You could almost hear the whispers spreading through the manicured lawns of River

He picked it up, eyes scanning the pages under the moonlight. The words hit him hard: “The detective slammed me against the bookshelf, his thick fingers plunging into my dripping cunt while his other hand choked my throat…” A soft voice came from behind him. “Still breaking the rules after all these years, Kane?” Kane spun around. Vera stood in the doorway wearing nothing but a thin black silk robe, she lit a cigarette with steady hands, the flame lighting up her piercing green eyes. “You…” Kane narrowed his eyes. Something about her felt familiar, but the memory stayed just out of reach.

“It’s about time. He needs to be kept on a tight leash, so he knows his place. Who does he think he is?” “Krystal wears the pants in the house. She built the business from scratch and grew the empire to what it is today. What’s wrong with having a couple of flings on the side? Instead of keeping the issue behind closed doors, he rocked up here and confronted her over the issue.” Amid the scuffle, I was kicked to the ground. Then came a bottle of wine, emptied onto me. “It’s only right to chill him out a bit.” Bottle after bottle of red wine was poured over my head, and I was utterly drenched and humiliated.

“She’s nothing but a thief who sought after another’s crown. A parasite preying on a sleeping god.” If I had cared about the packs politics bullshit, they would have tasted my wrath for what they did to her. But my war isn’t with them. My war is with her, the sleeping beauty on my bed. A shark knock suddenly rattles the heavy oak door. I dart my gaze forward, my brow knitting in irritation. “Come in” The door opens and Vera walks in. For the first time in decades, her expressionless face holds a faint, rigid tension. “There’s an issue, Master Vane.”

She turned the pages faster, her heart hammering against her ribs as she searched for the anomaly—the specific warning Elias had dropped before leaving the suite. There it was, nestled at the bottom of page thirty-two. Section 12: Restricted Domestic Access. The Wife shall have full, unrestricted access to the primary living quarters, dining halls, and managed grounds of the Thorne Estate, subject to standard security protocols. However, under no circumstance and at no hour shall the Wife enter the East Wing library after midnight. Failure to comply with this restriction constitutes an immediate material breach of contract, resulting in the instantaneous freezing of the Vance Global debt fac

Without thinking about the desperate measures I might have to take, or the mistakes I have already made, I replied immediately, “Yes!” “I will be your contract wife and so be it!” After I replied, everything was blurry. I was losing myself and I had no control. I couldn’t help it, I saw myself falling to the width of the mansion floor. Everywhere was pitch dark. Was this the end? I didn’t understand what was going on, but I was deeply sorry for Valerie. Even when she did him badly at some point, I had no right to cross the lines of getting married to her ex-fiancé.

She hurried over and opened it. However, as soon as the apartment door swung open, Vivian was startled to see Veronica standing there. What was even more unexpected, without a word, Darwin's lawful wife slapped Vivian hard across the right cheek, causing the woman to scream in pain. "Veronica!" Darwin exclaimed upon witnessing Veronica's deliberate slap across Vivian's face, causing his girlfriend to stumble backward. "What's gotten into you?!" he shouted, standing in front of his wife. "What's gotten into me? What are you doing here? Did my previous warning mean nothing to you? Or do you want me to provide concrete evidence of your activities?"

Iris allowed allowed Luca to pull her back and she finally dropped her finger. “It’s good to see you too, Vera. We came to see you” She turned her attention to Vera, a scheming smile on her face. “Murderer?” Stephen asked instead, finally pulling himself back together enough to pin her with a glare of his own. “Yes. Your wife here is a cold-hearted murderer. Aren’t you?” Iris asked Vera. “What nonsense accusation is this?” She shrieked but not enough to hide the way her body shook with nervousness. Her eyes frantically darted around as she tried to pretend like she wasn’t affected by the accusations flying out of Iris’s mouth.