Lahat ng Kabanata ng Married To The Devil I Betrayed: Kabanata 81 - Kabanata 90

Elena barely slept.Not because of fear this time.Because everything between her and Lucian felt different now.The kiss had changed something fundamental between them. Not dramatically. Not loudly.Worse.Quietly.Like a locked door inside both of them had finally opened after years of pretending it did not exist.And now she could feel it everywhere.In the memory of his hands against her face.In the way her body still reacted when she thought about him.In the terrifying realization that she had kissed him back without hesitation.Not out of loneliness or confusion, but because she loved him.The truth of it sat heavily in her chest long after dawn spread pale light across the apartment windows.By the time Eli wandered sleepily into the kitchen, Elena was already dressed and making coffee.“You’re awake early,” she said softly.Eli rubbed one eye.“You too.”She smiled faintly.“Couldn’t sleep.”He climbed onto one of the kitchen stools quietly before glancing toward the living

Nobody spoke for several seconds after the video stopped.Rain drifted softly beyond the balcony while the glow from the tablet screen illuminated Eli’s face in pale light.Elena felt her heartbeat everywhere.In her throat.Her chest.Her hands.The image frozen on the screen seemed unbearable now. A younger version of herself laughing freely while Lucian stood beside her with a softness she had not seen in years until recently.And his hand -God.His hand resting against her stomach so naturally.So protectively.Eli looked from the screen to Lucian again.Then slowly toward Elena.Not confused anymore.Thinking.The silence itself became dangerous.Elena stepped forward first and reached for the tablet gently.“I forgot that was there.”Eli let her take it without resistance.But he kept looking at Lucian.Not casually, carefully.Like he was seeing him differently now.Lucian held his gaze evenly even while tension coiled hard beneath his ribs.The resemblance had always been the

The apartment felt unfamiliar the next morning.Not physically.Nothing had changed in any visible way. The same pale morning light filtered through the windows. The same coffee machine hummed softly in the kitchen. Elena still moved around the apartment in oversized sweaters when she had not slept enough, and Lucian still arrived earlier than necessary under the excuse of “security coordination.”But something underneath it all had shifted.Silence carried weight now.Eli entered the kitchen already dressed for school, backpack hanging loosely from one shoulder.“Morning,” he said.Too calm.Too polite.Elena immediately noticed it.“So somebody finally decided sleeping was a good idea?”Usually he would have smiled at that.Today he only shrugged faintly and reached for a glass.Lucian watched him carefully from beside the counter where he was scanning messages on his phone.“You want breakfast before we leave?”“I’m not really hungry.”Another thing that was unlike him lately.Elen

Morning arrived softly, wrapped in silver rain and the distant hum of traffic below the apartment tower, but nothing about the atmosphere inside the penthouse felt soft anymore.It felt careful.Like everyone had become aware of cracks spreading beneath their feet and had unconsciously started stepping lighter because of it.Elena stood near the stove stirring oatmeal she knew nobody would properly eat while trying unsuccessfully to stop watching Eli from the corner of her eye. He sat at the kitchen island scrolling absently through something on his phone, his expression calm in a way that no longer reassured her.That calm frightened her now.Because it wasn’t innocence anymore.It was restraint.Lucian entered a few minutes later after finishing a security call downstairs. The tension in his shoulders eased slightly the moment he stepped into the kitchen and saw Eli sitting there. Elena noticed it instantly.So did Eli.“Morning,” Lucian said, setting his phone beside the counter.“

The apartment felt different the next morning.Not louder or lighter.Just unfamiliar in a strange, delicate way, as though the truth spoken the night before had quietly rearranged the atmosphere itself.Elena noticed it immediately the moment she stepped into the kitchen.Eli sat cross-legged on one of the dining chairs in mismatched pajamas while absentmindedly pushing cereal around his bowl. Across from him, Lucian stood near the coffee machine scrolling through overnight security updates on his tablet, though Elena could tell from the way his attention drifted every few seconds that he wasn’t truly reading any of it.He was watching Eli.Not obviously, instinctively.Like his mind had not yet fully adjusted to the fact that he no longer needed to hide the attachment forming between them.Eli looked up first when Elena entered.“Mom, do we have strawberries?”“In the fridge.”He hopped off the chair immediately and padded toward the refrigerator while Lucian moved automatically at t