All Chapters of A Kiss For Every Bruise : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

160 Chapters

The Curse Unveiled

Author's POV Adrian Salvador’s jaw was tight as he watched Gwen lie on the treatment table. Her small body trembled with each prick of the acupuncture needles, and her breath came in shallow, uneven gasps. Doctor Lao Liang moved with quiet precision, his calm presence a tether against the storm raging in her mind. Each motion of Liang’s hands was deliberate, guiding her through the de-hypnosis, threading a fragile path between memory and madness.Adrian’s eyes flicked to Kai, the dark practitioner, who was restrained but radiated a dangerous arrogance. Even bound, the man’s eyes glimmered with hatred and defiance. Yet Adrian knew that Kai was indispensable because the Gu worm embedded deep in Gwen’s body could only be removed by him. That cursed parasite had fed on her energy for five long years, ensuring that any attempt to regain her memories would trigger catastrophic consequences.Adrian’s fists clenched as he watched Liang’s hands move over Gwen’s pulse points. Every muscle in h

Mixed Emotions

Gwen’s POVI was happy. Truly happy. My memory had returned, and with it, the man I had loved with every fiber of my being stood beside me, fighting for me, refusing to let the world erase me again. Adrian’s presence was steady, his hand warm around mine, his voice a quiet anchor amid the storm of my fractured mind. I clung to him, allowed myself a moment of fragile peace, and for a fleeting second, I believed the nightmare had finally ended.But as I snuggled deeper into his embrace, the truth hit me like a hammer to the chest. My breath caught. My mind recoiled. For five long years, I had been sleeping with another man, Mason. The man who had strangled me, broken me, who had torn every piece of my dignity and stitched it into his own warped obsession. The man whose hands I had allowed on my body, whose lies I had believed, whose cruelty had become my reluctant companion.The weight of it crashed over me. I felt dirty, filthy even polluted. Every fiber of my being wanted to scream, t

The Distance Between Us

Adrian’s POVI waited outside the bathroom door, my arms crossed, jaw tight, every muscle in my body taut with conflicting emotions. The sound of running water and muffled sobs reached me in waves, each one a reminder of the years she had been stolen from me, of the horrors she had endured under Mason’s hands.I wanted to storm in, sweep her into my arms, promise her that I would never let anything harm her again. I wanted to assure her that no past touch, no lies forced upon her, could ever diminish what she was to me, what she had always been. She my fiancee, my love, my Gwen. But even as that desire burned in me, another voice, sharper and darker, whispered through my mind. She was with another man. Five years. And every day, he touched her. He held her. She even got pregnant for him even though she then lost his child…The thought was like fire against my ribs. I clenched my fists, trying to force down the rage, the disgust, the aching jealou

Fate And Healing

Gwen’s POVI sat on the edge of the hospital bed, my hands clasped so tightly that my knuckles ached. The room was quiet, the kind of quiet that presses down on your chest until every breath feels heavy. Adrian stood near the window, gaze distant, fists loosely at his sides, as if he were holding back a storm that wanted to spill over.Doctor Liang’s voice broke the tension, calm and unwavering. “Healing is not a straight path,” he said, walking slowly between us, hands clasped behind his back. “Both of you have endured wounds that time alone cannot erase. Pain and trauma… anger and guilt… they need tending. But they can be tended, if you allow it.”I swallowed hard, the weight of his words pressing on me. I wanted to believe him, but the memory of Mason, of Camilla’s cruelty, of the five years stolen from me… it clung to my skin like soot, and no matter how deep Adrian’s steady presence was, I couldn’t shake it.Adrian’s voice was

A Bond Preserved

Gwen’s POVThe soft tap of tiny footsteps announced Kayla’s approach. She had always been brave for her age, but there was an innocence in her gaze that tugged at something deep inside me. Doctor Liang knelt to meet her eyes, the corners of his mouth turning into the faintest smile.“Kayla,” he said gently, “do you want your real mommy and daddy to be together?” The question hung in the air, delicate and weighty. Kayla’s eyes widened for the briefest moment, as if she had been waiting for someone to ask. Then she nodded vigorously. “Yes! I want my real daddy… and mommy! I want to stay with them!” Her little voice was firm, almost defiant, but there was a quiver beneath it that made my chest ache.I felt my heart constrict. For four and a half years, she had been calling the wrong man “daddy.” Mason. That name alone made bile rise in my throat. The man who had hurt both her and me, who had broken her tiny body and filled our lives with fear… and s

Bruises You Cannot See

Adrian Doctor Liang’s words stayed with me long after he left the room. Healing is not spontaneous. Healing is a choice, made again and again, even on the days it hurts to breathe.I stood by the window, my reflection faint against the glass. Gwen lay curled on the hospital bed behind me, her body turned inward, as if folding herself smaller might erase the past five years. The room smelled faintly of antiseptic and lavender, the nurses’ attempt at comfort, but nothing could soften the truth now clawing at my chest.She remembered everything. That should have brought relief, closure or even peace. Instead, it shattered her. And God help me, it rattled me too.I had imagined this reunion a thousand times over five long years. I had imagined her tears, her confusion, even her anger. What I had never imagined was this hollow, haunted silence. The way she scrubbed her hands raw in the bathroom earlier. The way she avoided my eyes, as if looking at me made the weight heavier rather than l

The Kind Of Love That Stays

AdrianKayla did not play the way other children did. That thought came to me slowly, uncomfortably, as I watched her from the doorway. I noticed it the way you notice something being off before you can name it, like a wrong note in a familiar song. Every time one toy tipped over, she gasped softly and hurried to set it right, glancing up at me as if waiting for something worse than disapproval.She sat cross-legged on the carpet, back unnaturally straight, shoulders drawn in as if taking up too much space was a punishable offense. Every toy was aligned with careful precision, stuffed animals facing forward, blocks stacked evenly, colors sorted. Everything was perfectly sorted, almost too perfect for a four year old child. She paused often, glancing up at me, checking my expression before continuing. Not to share but to measure.“Daddy?” she called softly. “Yes, sweetheart.” “Am I doing it right?” There it was again. My chest tightened. “There’s no right or wrong way to play.” She no

The Silence Between Love

Gwen I watched them from the doorway without announcing myself. Adrian sat on the couch with Kayla curled against his chest, one arm loosely around her small frame. She was asleep, properly asleep, not the shallow, startled rest I was used to seeing in her. One of her tiny hands was fisted into his shirt, as though even in dreams she needed reassurance that he was still there.Adrian had not moved in a long time. He stared down at her with an expression I had never seen on any man before, not awe exactly, not sorrow alone, but something fragile and fierce all at once. His jaw was tight, eyes rimmed red, as though he were holding himself together by sheer will. And suddenly, quietly, something inside me loosened.For the first time since my memories returned, not the false ones, but the real ones, my chest did not feel like it was collapsing inward. I leaned against the doorframe and let myself breathe. He loves her, I thought. Not in the way people said they loved children. Not as an

The Ground He Would Not Cross

Author’s POVHe stopped at the border. Not because he was unwelcome. But because some thresholds mattered too much to be crossed lightly.Adrian stood beside the car as the gates of the Cruise family territory came into view, iron and stone softened by generations of wealth, power, and grief. Gwen sat quietly inside, hands folded in her lap, her posture composed but fragile in the way only someone holding themselves together by will alone could be.He opened the door for her. She looked up at him, searching his face as though measuring this moment against a thousand possible disappointments. “This is as far as I go,” he said gently. She nodded. She had known. Still, knowing did not make it sting less. “I meant what I said,” he added, lowering his voice. “No matter what you decide. No matter how long you need. I’ll be there.”Her lips trembled before she mastered them. “Even if I choose differently?” A thousand means of control had been beaten into him growing up. Power, territory and

The House That Forgot Me

Gwen’s POVI had imagined this moment a thousand times. Coming home. Walking through the grand iron gates of the Cruise estate, breathing in the familiar scent of old cedar trees and polished stone, hearing my mother’s voice before I even stepped inside. In my mind, home had always been safety, a place untouched by Mason, untouched by blood and fear and broken bones.However, reality greeted me colder. The gates opened slowly, mechanically, like they were uncertain whether I belonged inside them anymore. The driveway stretched ahead, pristine and immaculate, but it didn’t stir recognition in my chest. It felt staged. Preserved. Like someone had frozen the estate at the moment of my death and built walls around the memory.I stepped out of the car alone. Adrian had escorted me here, just as he promised, right up to the boundary line of Cruise territory, but he had not crossed it. Not because he did not want to. Because he respected my need to face this on my own. His last words echoed

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