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Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Stand-In Vampire Wife Who Walked Away: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

12 Kabanata

Chapter 1

Elena's POVIt hit me only then, far too late.Why James had looked at me with such heavy sorrow the very first time we met.Out in the hall, the woman with tear-bright eyes stood in her torn dress, gazing at my husband like he was the only thing in the world to her.And I, with the cuts on my wrist still open from the turning ritual, had to keep my head clear through the pain.I saw it with my own eyes.That woman had my face.A minute ago, he had been frowning over the cuts on my wrist. Now he wasn't even looking at them."Vicky… is it you? It's really you. You're alive—"James, who never lost his composure, had a catch in his voice.I looked at her. I looked at him. Cold went through me from scalp to feet, and the pain in my wrist went numb."I came back… do you still want me?"Vicky had seen my face too. She asked the question carefully, like a child afraid of the answer."James…"I reached for his hand on instinct, the way I always did when I needed to feel safe.It was happening

Chapter 2

Elena's POVI shut myself in the bedroom and tried to calm down. My head was full of static.Every corner of this room held memories of him and me.Our wedding night. A thousand-plus nights of marriage since, all of them spent here.Yesterday he had still been holding me, soothing me to sleep.Today, a woman with my face had walked through the door.They'd been lovers ten years ago. James had never gotten over her death — in three years of dating and marriage, he'd never once taken me anywhere near the sea.All of it, because of her.He had only ever fallen for me, married me, because I reminded him of her.I looked at my face in the vanity mirror, and something inside me broke. I dropped to the floor and gagged.I didn't want to think any further. I couldn't stop.They were downstairs right now. What were they saying? What were they doing? I didn't know.I was the wife. I was the one with a ring. And I didn't even have any standing to call them out.She'd been there first. It was that

Chapter 3

Elena's POVThe next morning, I got up early, pretending nothing had happened.I put on the pale blue robe James liked best and made breakfast, the way I always did.I hadn't slept. The shadows under my eyes were awful.But I didn't know any other way to face this.The toaster popped. I plated everything and set two breakfasts on the table.James came down a few minutes later than usual. Vicky was right behind him.They hadn't come from the same room.A small, stupid wave of relief went through me. Then I despised myself for it.James looked uncomfortable.He saw the shadows under my eyes. The guilt was right there in his face. He started to say something.Vicky smiled and slid into the chair next to him."Thank you, Elena.""James told me last night you cook beautifully.""I appreciate the special treatment."She'd taken my seat. She sat there easy, like she was the lady of the house.I gripped the hem of my robe. I stared at James, willing him to say something.He didn't.My eyes bur

Chapter 4

Elena's POVI knew this would put James in a hard spot.I knew, too, that the reason he'd asked for a divorce so quickly was that he wanted to spare me more pain.But he should have remembered something about me. I keep my word.A promise made stays made. I don't take it back.I had sworn to walk through this life with him. I wasn't going to give that up overnight.Three years dating. Three years married. None of those memories were fake.I'd been with him long enough. I refused to believe there hadn't been a single moment when he'd actually loved me — me, not the resemblance.I remembered every step he'd taken to win me over. Every night and day he'd treated me like I was something precious. How was I supposed to walk away from that?Our marriage had been registered with the Council of Elders. As long as I refused to sign, James had no legal grounds to remove me.I'd chosen the most foolish way to fight, just so he'd be forced to face what he really felt.I wanted to keep believing he

Chapter 5

Elena's POVAfter that night, my body started to feel strange.It was small at first. I tired easily. I'd get dizzy without warning.I told myself it was the stress. Or aftereffects from the interrupted turning. I didn't think much of it.It got worse. I started losing focus at work. I couldn't even finish basic sketches.One morning at the studio, I'd been on my feet for less than half an hour when my vision went black.My assistant panicked and told me to go home.I didn't argue. I took the day off.On the way back, I stopped at a hospital.The irony of it. I was pregnant.The child we'd wanted for three years had finally come — right when its mother had stopped being loved.For half a second I thought: maybe with a baby, James won't go through with the divorce.Then I shoved the thought down.I wasn't going to be that woman. The kind who chains a husband to her with a child.He had picked me once because of someone else's face. Was I really going to let him stay because of a child n

Chapter 6

James's POVThe moment Elena left, something in me went dry and dead.The divorce was processed quickly — suspiciously fast, even.I barely saw her.Every document, every step, was handled by her lawyer.She didn't show up.No questioning, no stalling, no window for me to take any of it back.It was as though she really didn't care anymore.After that day, I never saw Elena again.She vanished from my life completely. As if she'd never been there at all.…Vicky stayed.This was the life I had pictured a thousand times.I'd thought once she came back, everything would settle into place.It didn't.For the first few days, she was the woman I remembered.She leaned against me, soft and warm, talking quietly. There was that hint of dependence I'd missed.But things started shifting.She got short with the staff, demanding."Do I really need to say it twice?""I don't like the smell. Make it again."That high, untouchable tone wasn't one I knew.I stood off to the side and watched, and som

Chapter 7

James's POVAfter that night, I barely went back to the manor. I'd lost any kind of routine. Without meaning to, I started turning up in places where she might be.The café she used to go to. The studio she had collaborated with. The street where she always bought her fabric and supplies. I went to all of them. I even stood for a long time outside the gallery she had once mentioned in passing.She wasn't anywhere.It was as though the city had swallowed her whole — no trace, no thread, no direction to follow.For the first time, I understood. When she had said she would disappear from my world, she hadn't meant it as a threat or a test. She had meant it.The realization shook me.I had assumed she wouldn't really go.Even after she signed those papers, even after the words she'd said, I'd told myself she would stay in this city. She had built her life here. I'd thought she wouldn't be able to leave it.I had underestimated her resolve.She had left me no opening at all.It was late whe

Chapter 8

Elena's POVThe day I left James, I didn't look back.I didn't take anything with me. Just one suitcase.I had already given him back the pendant.Walking out, I touched my throat without thinking.It was empty.The wind hit my collarbone. I noticed the cold.That was when I understood I'd gotten used to it being there.Used to it enough that it would take time to stop missing it.I didn't go straight to a new city.I went, first, to where we'd met.The terrace at that gala.I stood there a long time.The night wind came down off the height, cool. The lights of the city spread out in the distance, like a quiet sea of stars.That year, I had stood on this same terrace.Alone.He had walked over and started talking to me.In that moment, I'd taken it for fate.Looking back now, it had been a farce.I gave a small laugh. I didn't stay long. I left.Some places aren't worth lingering in.Stay too long, and you only embarrass yourself.After that, I went to the seaside town.It was the plac

Chapter 9

Elena's POVShe set my coffee cup down on the desk like it was hers.I stood in the doorway, and every other thought in my head went out. The instinctive sense of danger flooded everything else.I stepped back. My hand went toward my phone.She saw it. The corner of her mouth lifted. "Try it."There was nothing playful in her voice. "Call the police. Or shout for someone outside."She tilted her head toward the door. She gave the people in the corridor a contemptuous glance."I promise you, the second any of them walks in, I'll kill every person in this building.""And then I'll pin all of it on you."She glanced at my face. She gave a small, mocking shrug."You and I have the same face, don't we?"My fingers stopped moving.She walked closer. The perfume on her was thick enough to turn my stomach.I forced myself level. I held her gaze. "Why?" I asked, plain. "I agreed to the divorce. I left him. You got everything you wanted."There was a pause in her face. Not hesitation — something

Chapter 10

James's POVBy the time I got to the wasteland, the fire had lit up half the night sky.The truth was, I'd known something was off the moment Vicky left the manor that day.The perfume on her was heavier than usual, thick enough to make my head ache. And she had specifically told the staff to talk me out of going anywhere.I didn't stop her. I followed at a distance.The moment I saw her arrive at the door of Elena's studio, I knew. None of the unease I'd been carrying for weeks had been my imagination.Vicky had been lying to me.That perfume of hers had been covering her own scent. It had been jamming my ability to track Elena.That's why I hadn't been able to find her. Not because Elena had vanished without a trace. Because Vicky had blocked every road that led to her.I followed her out to the wasteland. From a long way off, I caught the smell of lamp oil.The next second, the fire went up.My chest seized like a fist had closed around my heart."Elena!"I went in like a madman.Th

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