All Chapters of The Bride They Sacrificed: Reborn To Love And Kill: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

The living room had descended into chaos once more. “How could you do this without telling us?” “Do you even understand what this means for the family?” “This is reckless... completely reckless!” “Lucian, say something!” Elara stood there, rooted in place, her ears ringing as the noise pressed in from every direction. It felt suffocating, like being trapped underwater while the surface drifted further and further away. She could barely tell who was speaking anymore. All she knew was that every word, every look, reminded her how out of place she was. Tap! Tap!! Tap!!! The sharp, unmistakable sound of a cane striking marble cut through the chaos. The room fell into silence again. “Enough, everyone! Where are your manners?!” It was the kind of command forged by decades of being obeyed without question. Grandma Hale straightened where she sat, her back impossibly straight for someone of her age, her cane resting firmly against the floor as if it were an extension of her wil

After Elara’s declaration, after her quiet but unshakable confession of love to Lucian’s family, the living room seemed to lose its ability to breathe. No one spoke. Instead, everyone looked at one another, their expressions flickering between disbelief, confusion, and awe. It was as if they were all silently asking the same question: Did she really just say that? Elara sat there, her hand still entwined with Lucian’s, her shoulders squared even as her chest felt painfully tight. Inside, anxiety coiled and twisted, threatening to rise to the surface and betray her calm exterior. She could feel her heart pounding loudly in her ears, each beat a reminder that she had just bared her soul in front of people who held power over her future. She tried to plaster a smile on her face. But it wasn’t easy. Her lips trembled slightly as she forced the expression to stay in place, hoping, praying, that no one noticed how close she was to unraveling. The room felt too large, too b

Downstairs, Lucian’s family finally sat together, though none of them truly felt settled. The living room, usually a place of comfort, laughter, and routine, felt off now. For a long moment, no one spoke. They all sat there, on couches, armchairs, perched on the edges of seats, staring at nothing and everything at once, each lost in their own version of what had just happened. Lucian was married. Not engaged. Not planning. Not thinking about it. But fucking Married. It was Lisa who finally broke the silence, because of course it was. She leaned back against the couch, crossing one leg over the other, a mischievous glint in her eyes that didn’t even try to hide how entertained she was by the entire situation. “So,” she said casually, tilting her head as if this were just another ordinary family discussion, “how do you think about my acting?” Everyone turned to look at her. Lisa grinned wider, clearly enjoying the attention. “Did I scare her more than I should have?” she conti

Lucian guided Elara into the bathroom with a hand resting lightly against the small of her back, as though he were afraid that if he let go, even for a second, she might disappear, dissolve into the surreal haze of the day they had just lived through. The word wife still echoed in his mind, foreign and intimate all at once. The bathroom door closed softly behind them, and for a moment, neither of them spoke. The bathroom was spacious, almost unnecessarily so. It stretched outward in a way that felt like a bedroom, designed to overwhelm rather than merely accommodate. Soft golden lights glowed above a wide mirror framed. The mirror reflected a space that felt more like a luxury suite than a private bathroom. It was as though no one had ever truly bathed inside it. To one side stood a glass-enclosed shower, thin trails of condensation sliding downward like remnants of a memory. Plush white towels were folded neatly on a rack, aligned with care, pristine and unused, as though wai

Elara had just returned from the bathroom. She pushed the door open softly and stepped inside the bedroom with careful, almost hesitant movements. Her hair was still damp, loose strands clinging softly to her neck and brushing against her shoulders, the faint scent of shampoo trailing behind. Even though the dress she wore covered her completely, modest and simple, it was not revealing in the slightest, there was something about her presence that immediately altered the atmosphere of the room. Lucian felt it the moment she stepped inside. He looked up. And then, he stopped looking away. His gaze fixed on her as if drawn by something beyond his control. The woman standing there, quiet and careful, was his wife. In his bedroom. In his life. And the reality of that simple truth settled deep in his chest, heavy and overwhelming in the best possible way. Elara noticed his gaze. Of course she did. She had always been perceptive, too perceptive sometimes, and she could feel