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Chapter 27
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Mr. Devilish's Substitute Bride Chapter 28
VALERIAThe following day, I woke up to the sound of constant knocking on my door.After dawdling for a while, I groggily got out from bed and walked over to open the door. Seeing it was one of the housekeeping staff outside, I asked as I leaned my head on the door, "What is it?""Good morning, ma'am. Sir asked me to call you down from breakfast."The moment I heard her say that, all hints of sluggishness immediately disappeared from my face and I stood upright to ask in surprise, with a tinge of joy that not even I had noticed mixed in my voice."He is back?""Yes, ma'am", The female staff replied politely with a faint smile on her face."Oh... then, tell him to give me a few minutes.""Okay, ma'am. I'll relay your message to Sir", She bowed slightly and subsequently turned around to go.Suddenly, I remembered that I still didn't know her name and stopped her."Wait. I still don't know your name?"She was obviously stunned for a moment there as she stood still for a while. Then, she
Mr. Devilish's Substitute Bride Chapter 29
VALERIA Ater we were done with breakfast and the staff came over over to remove the dishes from the table, I looked at Zane who obviously still had no intentions of standing up and asked in puzzlement, "Aren't you going to work?" However, instead of answering my question, he gave a mystifying instruction. "Why don't you go and get dressed?" Not quite understanding what he meant, I asked with deepening confusion, "Get dressed? For what?" But then, after asking, I thought of something and looked at him in surprise, "You wouldn't mean I should get dressed for the banquet, right? But I thought you said it was in the evening? Or did I remember it wrong?" "No, you didn't. I just want to take you out to play", Zane said in reply. "Take me out to play? What does that mean?" What answered me was a chuckle full with amusement, "What do you think it means? The literal meaning of course." "I know how stuffy it must have been to be forced to stay here all alone, without a single familiar p
Mr. Devilish's Substitute Bride Chapter 30
ZANEWhen someone had tried their best to satisfy another person, even giving up things they love in the process only to realize that it wasn't worth it in the end, it was inevitable to feel uncomfortable.Just by looking at the expression on Valeria's face, I knew that that was her exact state of mind at this particular moment.She asked me how I knew. Well, it was in the investigation report my men had submitted before I approached her.In there, were photos of her participating in various adventure sports - skateboarding, rock climbing, bungee jumping and even motorcycling! But there was one thing common to those photos.The twinkle in her eyes. It was the telltale sign that she loved those particular sports but strangely enough, I discovered that that was the only and last time she had ever done anything like that.However, after coming into contact with her family as well as herself, I understood why.At first, I judged her as being silly for giving up something she loved for
Mr. Devilish's Substitute Bride Chapter 31
ZANE A few hours later, both Valeria and I returned back home feeling tired but fulfilled. As we both headed upstairs, I stopped her to say, "You should take a shower and maybe take a quick nap while you are it. I asked the stylist team to come over in about an hour later to help you prepare for the event tonight. So, make sure you get a good rest while you are it."Valeria hurriedly nodded to my words and while seeming like she didn't even want to spend another second here, she continued trudging towards her room. I couldn't help but smile on seeing that thinking to myself that she probably didn't even hear what I just said clearly, judging by how weary she looked. Well, it truly had been one hell of a hectic day but she definitely had her fun, didn't she?, I mused to myself on remembering how crazy she had played today, trying every type of adventure/extreme sports the club had to offer.In fact, if I hadn't stopped her, she had even wanted to sign up for bungee jumping and other
Mr. Devilish's Substitute Bride Chapter 32
VALERIAMore than an hour later, I woke up feeling hungry and subsequently got out of bed in a half-dazed state with plans to head downstairs and find something to fill my protesting stomach with.However, I had only managed to walk a few steps from the door of my bedroom when I came face-to-face with Inid, the household staff I had recently acquainted myself with."You are awake, ma'am. I was just on my way to check up on you." She said upon seeing me.Immediately, all traces of dazedness vanished from my face as I asked in confusion, "Check up on me? Why?"Then I was told that it was because the stylist team was already waiting for me downstairs.'The stylist team?' Oh, yeah.Now, that I think about it, Zane seemed to have mentioned something about a stylist team earlier on, but owing to the fact that I was too tired and all I had in mind at that particular moment was just to have a good sleep, I ended up not paying much attention to it."So, they are downstairs right now?" I asked
Mr. Devilish's Substitute Bride Chapter 33
VALERIAAround quarter to six, the time the banquet will officially start, the car me and Zane was in came to a halt in front of the only six-star hotel in the country, Azure Hotel.Almost immediately, a uniformed valet walked over to open the door for me, while the driver did the same for Zane. After stepping out of the car, I waited for him to come to my side and took the initiative to put my hand in the crook of his arm before heading into the hotel.As we walked, I didn't forget to say to him softy, "Hey, don't walk too fast unless you want to embarrass us both. I am still not used to these heels, you see."Unsurprisingly, I heard a chuckle coming from him but deliberately acted like I hadn't heard it. Well, he can laugh at me for all I care.Meanwhile, the moment we stepped into the lavishly decorated hall, I could feel gazes of different kinds falling upon me - curiosity, envy, jealousy, hatred...This was exactly why I hated this kind of events - the fact that some unfamiliar
Mr. Devilish's Substitute Bride Chapter 34
VALERIAJust as I was about to get down to reading, I saw a shadow fall over me. Assuming it was Zane, I immediately switched off the screen of my phone and looked up while wondering to myself about how he had managed to return so soon.However, it wasn't him that I saw after looking up, it was an unfamiliar woman instead.The said woman was wearing an off-shoulder bling-bling black dress(don't ask me the brand 'cause I sincerely have no idea)¹ and was looking down at me haughtily.I couldn't help but feel irritated by that look of hers, however I managed to suppress my emotions when I thought of how I still didn't know what her purpose for coming here was."How may I help you?" I asked politely.The woman didn't answer me immediately. Instead, she gave me a once-over first off, which only managed to fuel my growing annoyance and right after, she posed a bewildering question, "You feel very proud of yourself currently, don't you?"Not quite understanding what she was getting at, I res
Mr. Devilish's Substitute Bride Chapter 35
ZANE'I have been careless.'That was my first thought after Matt, my driver broke the news that we were being followed.As the leader of the biggest mafia organization in the country, AMETHYST, I have never been short of enemies (both internal and external) who aimed to take my life. For this reason, I never went anywhere without my convoy of bodyguards following right after me.But today, I had made a decision very uncharacteristic of me.Why?Because apart from the fact that I was being considerate of the fact that Valeria still didn't know of my identity as a mafia boss, I also didn't want to cause too much ruckus at Mr. Carson's birthday banquet.It was a form of respect to an ally.A loud bang sound suddenly brought me back to my senses.At the same time, the driver, Leo also spoke out, his voice cold as he suddenly swerved the car."They are aiming for the tyres, sir."After humming to show I heard him, I gave Valeria one last glance and then said to him."When I count to three
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Mr. Devilish's Substitute Bride Chapter 43
VALERIALater, in the car.Yes, I wasn’t able to win against him in the end. Or to be more specific, he didn’t even give me a chance to.From the corner of my eyes, I could see him wearing a serious expression as he scrolled through his tablet.‘He looks really good in glasses…’Before my thoughts could drift further along that path, I snapped back to reality with an inward yelp.‘For goodness sake, Valeria! Is now really the time for your nymphomania to act up?’Regardless of the suffocating awkwardness in here that was getting increasingly impossible to ignore?Seriously!?After giving myself a good scolding, I sat upright and thought, ‘No, I can’t let this go on.’I have to do or say something! Anything!So, without fully processing the thought that suddenly popped into my mind, I found myself blurting out, “I plan to move closer to school—I have an apartment there.”‘What the h*ll was I saying?!’ I screamed internally after a belated reaction.However, after calming down, I realize
Mr. Devilish's Substitute Bride Chapter 42
VALERIAAfter a good night’s sleep, I got up from bed early, washed up in preparation to start my first day as a college senior—yes, the seemingly never-ending summer break became officially over yesterday.Speaking of which, I would have forgotten all about it if Chris and Andy hadn’t given me a call and sent a message one after the other to remind me yesterday’s morning.I tend to forget about stuff like that, they said, and that, if I were to be honest with myself, was nothing but the truth.I, indeed, have always had trouble keeping track of events, holidays and even my own birthday--like I know and keep the date at the back of my mind, but on that particular day or the day before, I always manage to forget about it for some reason. Thinking of how the duo had made a tease bet on our gc to see whether I’ll still remember by today, I shook my head and smiled to myself.Following after, I gathered my thoughts, looked at the items spread out on the bed and tried to see if I had miss
Mr. Devilish's Substitute Bride Chapter 41
ZANEValeria was avoiding me.If I had only been suspicious before, now I was certain.Today marks the third day of which I have seen neither hide nor hair of her. Of course, this wasn’t that unusual in her case considering how I have been witness to her staying cooped up in her room for days, neglecting to eat while working on her music.Eventually, I had to step in and personally deliver her meals to her room.However, when I asked Arlo about her yesterday, I was told she usually comes down to eat breakfast after I leave for work.If that doesn’t make it glaringly obvious that she was avoiding me—especially when it had become the norm for us to eat breakfast together—I don’t know what will.But let’s say that the first and second day were nothing but coincidences; today happens to be the third day, so I will verify in person whether it's indeed a coincidence or a deliberate avoidance, like I suspect!With this in mind, I gave my chauffeur a call, instructing him to drive-off and ret
Mr. Devilish's Substitute Bride Chapter 40
VALERIAIn the days that followed, Madeline did as she promised and came to me multiple times to ‘continue’ from where we left off our prematurely interrupted conversation.She was a persistent one, honestly.One time, I remember asking why it had to be me or rather, our group of mavericks.Her answer was, “You guys seem really cool to me, and it made me want to get to know you better.”To the adult me, such words would barely have made an impact, but for teenagers obsessed with the word ‘cool,’ it was everything!It doesn’t matter how mature a teenager was, being called or known as one of the cool guys was simply the ultimate compliment.So it was hardly surprising that I quickly threw caution to the wind and allowed her into our small circle of friends. Of course, the annoyance from Jack’s constant threats/demeaning words, in addition to my twin sister, Vanessa’s passive-aggressive ‘persuasion’ couldn’t be omitted as contributing factors.When I came back to my senses later on, I di
Mr. Devilish's Substitute Bride Chapter 39
VALERIAUntil a little over a decade ago, the Hales weren't exactly considered a top-tier aristocratic family in Meteor City because then, the prominent and well-known ones were just three — the Baltimores, the Astors and the Roosevelts — in no particular order.In short, we call them “THE BAR.”On the other hand, we could, at best, be considered the unofficial fourth along with the Morgans — Andy's family.Of course, this was just my dad's personal thoughts.Thoughts that I have come to understand were nothing but a product of his inflated pride considering how wide the gap between our families and THE BAR was at the time.That being said, whether it was due to coincidence or not, each of these five families had children in Grade 6 Class A, and just like every other aristocratic school, hierarchy existed among the students.The children of THE BAR, for example, were an exclusive and close-knit clique while the rest of the students had only two options; either become their sidekicks w
Mr. Devilish's Substitute Bride Chapter 38
VALERIANot knowing when I finally fell asleep, I woke up to find myself in total darkness and immediately panicked.As someone who suffered from fear of the dark, I always made sure to leave the nightlight on regardless of whether I was yet to fall asleep or not.‘So how could it possibly be this dark?!!!’ I thought to myself in agitation as I groped around trying to find the direction where the bedside table was.As I did this, I also wondered if the nightlight might have gone out due to a dead battery but this possibility was instantly ruled out by me. For no other reason that I might forget any other thing, but the one thing I would never do is charging my nightlight — that was just how important it was to me.All of a sudden, I stopped groping all around as I realized something strangeI seemed to be standing?And that was not all, I no longer seemed to be in my bedroom either because if I was, how was it possible that I haven’t bumped into anything except empty air after all th
Mr. Devilish's Substitute Bride Chapter 37
ZANESurprisingly, the faces of the two men showed visible signs of struggle the moment they heard the question but upon thinking of the fact that they were likely ex-military men who had been through rigorous training, it became a matter of course.However, if it was that easy to overcome the effects of the serum, it wouldn’t be as rare and pricey as it currently was. Sure enough, their pitiful struggle only lasted a few seconds following which the drug took control and made them answer mechanically.“We actually have no idea who the other party is since he placed the order through the dark web, but judging from how inexperienced and easily led around he was during our chat, we guessed that he was likely a newbie to the platform.”“At first, we really had no plans to take the order because not to mention that the commission he offered was laughable, the fact that even top-tier mercs steered clear of any mission related to Mr. Harrison had long made us at the bottom rungs wary.”“But
Mr. Devilish's Substitute Bride Chapter 36
ZANELong after Valeria left, I sat alone in the study with a lot of thoughts running through my mind.It wasn’t until I heard a ‘ding’ sound that I came back to my senses. Picking up my phone, it was Mason who had sent me a message.[They have been brought over]Upon reading this, the look in my eyes immediately turned cold.I almost forgot that I was yet to hear an explanation for what happened today. Because of them, the dark part of my life which I wasn’t ready to tell Valeria about almost got exposed in advance.Well, since they were gutsy enough to do so, they’d better be ready to face the consequences for I always make sure to repay a favor tenfold!With this thought in mind, I stood up and walked over to the bookshelf and turned the mechanism slightly following which the bookshelf slid to the side to reveal a narrow entrance which was just enough for one person to pass through.After reaching the end, there was a door with a biometric scanner right beside it. I calmly placed m
Mr. Devilish's Substitute Bride Chapter 35
ZANE'I have been careless.'That was my first thought after Matt, my driver broke the news that we were being followed.As the leader of the biggest mafia organization in the country, AMETHYST, I have never been short of enemies (both internal and external) who aimed to take my life. For this reason, I never went anywhere without my convoy of bodyguards following right after me.But today, I had made a decision very uncharacteristic of me.Why?Because apart from the fact that I was being considerate of the fact that Valeria still didn't know of my identity as a mafia boss, I also didn't want to cause too much ruckus at Mr. Carson's birthday banquet.It was a form of respect to an ally.A loud bang sound suddenly brought me back to my senses.At the same time, the driver, Leo also spoke out, his voice cold as he suddenly swerved the car."They are aiming for the tyres, sir."After humming to show I heard him, I gave Valeria one last glance and then said to him."When I count to three
