All Chapters of The Wife He Never Married: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

DANTEBy the time I ended the call with Enzo, the yacht suddenly felt too quiet, a few minutes ago, June had been curled against me, warm and soft and half asleep, her hair spread over my chest while the ocean rocked us gently. I had been thinking about dragging her back under me the second the sun came up, about kissing her awake and keeping her in bed until noon, about pretending the rest of the world didn’t exist for one more day.Now all I could hear was Enzo’s voice in my ear, the warehouse is gone.’Not raided, not emptied, just up and gone.I stared into the darkness beyond the bedroom windows, jaw tight enough to crack a tooth. The yacht swayed beneath us, the water outside black and endless, but all I could see was that building, the restraints on the table and the surgical equipment. The place where I found her drugged and tied down like an animal waiting to be cut open.My hand slid over June’s back automatically, palm flattening between her shoulder blades as if touching h

DANTEI left this house when I was eighteen and I never spent another night here again… not once.Not after the locks on the doors, not after my father decided that a son was just another thing he owned and Angelo decided cruelty was a talent worth sharpening. Even when the old man tried forcing me back, even when he had men drag me into this place and lock me in my room like I was still a child he could break, I always found a way out through a window, a service door or a guard stupid enough to underestimate how badly I wanted to leave.I always got out and after the last time I escaped, I swore I would never come back.Yet there I was, driving through the black iron gates like I hadn’t once promised myself I’d rather bleed out on the pavement than step foot in this place again.The mansion stood ahead of me in all its polished ugliness, too grand, too clean and too full of memories I would have gladly set on fire. The lights from the front windows glowed warm against the evening sky

DANTEDark streaks. What the fuck is that? I moved toward it and at first I thought it was oil because the ground was filthy enough for it, but the closer I got, the more the color changed under the fading light. Too dark in some places. Brown-red in others.Blood… dried up ones. “Rafael,” I called.Both of them came over.Enzo crouched beside me and stared at the streaks. “Well,” he said softly. “That’s charming.”The trail disappeared beneath what looked like a concrete slab shoved awkwardly over part of the ground and it wasn’t enough to hide it well, but it was enough to make it look accidental.Rafael crouched too, brushing debris aside. “There’s a seam here.”We all saw the hatch at once, concrete set into the ground with a metal ring handle nearly buried beneath dust and rubble.Enzo stared at it. “Tell me that’s not where I think it goes.”I wrapped my fingers around the ring and pulled but the hatch didn’t budge.Rafael moved in without a word and grabbed the other side. Tog

JUNEI left his office with the file in my arms and a knot of tension settling between my ribs.I didn’t go back to the floor immediately, instead, I headed straight for my father’s office, his door was half open but I knocked against the frame anyway.He looked up from the chart in his hands and his whole face changed the second he saw me. It had been doing that a lot lately like every time he looked at me, part of him was still checking that I was in one piece.“There’s my girl.”I stepped inside and shut the door behind me. “You’re worrying again.”“I’m a father. It’s in the job description.”I smiled despite myself and dropped into the chair opposite his desk. “I’m okay, Dad.”He studied my face for a minute too long. “You say that every time.”He hummed like he didn’t fully believe me, then set his pen down. “Fine. I’ll stop worrying.”“You won’t.”“Of course,” he agreed easily. I laughed under my breath and held up the file. “The dean just gave me this.”He reached for it, I pa

JUNE“I’m sorry, doctor, but you need to come now. The police are already here.”My throat tightened. “Police?”But the line had already gone dead. I stared at the screen long after it went black, my own reflection staring back at me with wide eyes and sleep-creased skin and a face that no longer looked like mine.No, no, no. That didn’t make sense.The surgery had gone smoothly. It had been difficult, yes. Delicate because one wrong move in a procedure like that and everything could have gone to hell, but it hadn’t. I had checked everything twice, triple checked even. I had gone over the vitals, the bleeding, the closure, the pressure, the response and I had even planted those tiny cameras in the operating room because my father’s warning had sat in my head all day.My feet hit the floor before my mind caught up, I changed in a blur, dragged on jeans and a sweater, shoved my hair into a loose knot with trembling hands. I didn’t wake my father, I stood outside his room for a second,