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Chapter 26
Last Updated:
2025-03-25 21:35:56
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Signed to Suffer, Destined to Love Chapter 27
Silvia wished she could have a lock on her room door to prevent people from entering whenever they wanted. What prompted this thought? She was trying to dry off after Rebecca had splashed water on her.She was thankful it wasn’t smelly water. Knowing the new Rebecca, she could have gone to invest in nasty things just to get revenge against the woman she thought was sleeping with her precious boyfriend. It seemed like she was still more afraid of offending Ralph than venting out her jealousy.As Silvia stood drying herself in front of her window, arms and legs spread wide like a star, Donna suddenly burst into her room. In that moment, Silvia felt certain she had never looked more foolish in her life—even more so than when she had been beaten. “What…are you doing?” Donna’s excited entry had reduced into a half-concerned, half-baffled whisper. Silvia couldn’t blame her. Not everybody had the unique opportunity to be woken up with Ralph’s girlfriend’s special care treatment.“Airing out
Last Updated : 2025-03-27Signed to Suffer, Destined to Love Chapter 28
"Silvia, he said softly, his voice dangerously even, "why does it always have to be you?"Silvia and Donna each whirled back, their eyes widening as Ralph stood at the entrance, his expression a mask of stern disapproval. The remnants of his earlier outburst were still evident in the tight traces of his face, causing Silvia’s heart to sink. She was already soaked and in trouble; now she was caught slacking off.“We… we had been just discussing the, uh, laundry schedule,” Donna stammered, her eyes darting nervously between Ralph and Silvia.Ralph’s gaze shifted to Silvia, his eyes narrowing. And you? What do you have got to say for yourself?”Silvia swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. “I… I was simply explaining what happened this morning, sir. To Donna.”“Explaining the way you found yourself on my mattress?” Ralph’s voice became dangerously low.Silvia’s cheeks flushed. “It wasn’t intentional, sir. I… I think I sleepwalked.”Ralph raised an eyebrow, his skepticism palpable. “Sleepwal
Last Updated : 2025-03-28Signed to Suffer, Destined to Love Chapter 29
Silvia’s tears dried the moment she got into her room, drying up as quickly as they fell. She had learned that Rebecca derived a twisted satisfaction from her suffering, and so Silvia had cultivated an ability to cry on command—a haunting skill born out of necessity.The walls seemed to compress on her, adding to the feeling of isolation as she closed the door. Dealing with the suffocating weight of solitude, she wondered if maybe she could vanish absolutely by just staying there long enough.It took two to play the game Rebecca wanted to play, and if Silvia refused to play it with her, there was nothing she could do to force or frame her. She would ask for locks from Ralph to totally block away Rebecca totally, and if he asked why, she would say it was to curb her sleepwalking. Something was different about Ralph, ever since her forced three days of hunger, he had been less brutal towards her, and she hoped to use that to her advantage. Silvia was kind, but not stupid. She wanted to
Last Updated : 2025-03-29Signed to Suffer, Destined to Love Chapter 30
Silvia held her cheeks and looked at Ralph, observing the anger on his face. To Ralph, though, she couldn’t look any less like Alexander than she did at that moment. However, the look in her eyes held something he had never seen before.Sometimes, his brother would look at him with such hatred as well. He rarely looked at him kindly, aggrieved that the world had given him a brother, even as he bullied him. Ralph knew that deep down, the reason it felt so easy to punish Silvia so badly was because she looked the most like the man he hated and loved in equal measure. His brother was a good person but a terrible brother. He had always supported Ralph's decisions and took care of him when others were watching. However, when it was just him and Alexander, Ralph realized the truth. His beloved brother regularly ensured that Ralph had no friends and remained isolated. According to Alexander's philosophy, if Ralph couldn't show affection to his older brother, he shouldn't be able to do so
Last Updated : 2025-03-30Signed to Suffer, Destined to Love Chapter 31
Silvia woke up…lighter. The air was cool on her skin, and the sun had just the right degree of warmth. Birds never sang at her window because of where it was creepily positioned but Silvia could swear she heard birds chirping.The moment she opened her eyes, her first thought wasn’t about pain or hunger, it was about the fact that she wasn’t starving.She had opened her mouth, been stupid, the reckless-impulsive-asking for death kind of stupid, and yet here she was, very much alive, still in possession of all her limbs, and, miraculously, not locked in a basement somewhere.She was breathing.Silvia pulled the blanket over her face, smothering the strange, half-delirious laugh bubbling up in her chest. If Rebecca had her way, Silvia would probably be dead. But Ralph had let her go.More than that, he let her eat.It was such a ridiculous thing to be excited about, but Silvia had spent too much time in this house to not understand the weight of it. Ralph Spade did not forgive. He did no
Last Updated : 2025-03-31Signed to Suffer, Destined to Love Chapter 32
“Absolutely not”.Rebecca's jaw dropped in disbelief as if it might just unhinge and fall.“What did you just say?” she asked, voice eerily calm.On the other end of the phone, Ralph barely sounded interested. “I said absolutely not.”Rebecca’s mind struggled to process this information. “Not?”“Not.”Her ears rang. “I—”“And before you ask again,” Ralph continued, clearly exhausted, “you are not moving in. In fact, I don’t want you stepping foot in this house for at least a week.”Silence.A week?A week?!She gripped her phone tighter as if sheer force could squeeze some sense into Ralph’s head. “Ralph, darling,” she tried, keeping her voice syrupy sweet, “be serious. This isn’t a joke baby.”“I am.”“No, you’re being ridiculous.”“Rebecca—”“I am the love of your life.”“Debatable.”“I am—” She sucked in a sharp breath and stuttered. How dare he say that to her?! “Ralph. You need me there.”“I really don’t. You’re extremely useless here, you make my staff more incompetent than they
Last Updated : 2025-04-01Signed to Suffer, Destined to Love Chapter 33
Ralph stared at the phone like it had insulted him. Honestly, it had.Twice in one day. Twice. First Rebecca, now his uncle. He had never once regretted the existence of 21st century technology more than he did at this exact moment.Clearly, it was time to get a new burner phone.He let it ring, briefly entertaining the idea of throwing it across the room and pretending he had suddenly become deaf. Maybe he could claim he had gone off the grid. But then the ringing stopped only to immediately start again.Ralph exhaled sharply and answered.“Ralph,” came his uncle’s voice, a deep, measured tone that somehow always carried a quiet weight of authority, even when he wasn’t trying.Ralph pinched the bridge of his nose. “Uncle Burke?”There was a pause. A pause Ralph recognized well. The kind of pause that meant his uncle was about to say something he wouldn’t like.“How is Silvia?”Ralph’s eye twitched.His grip on the phone tightened as he processed those three cursed words. Of all the th
Last Updated : 2025-04-02Signed to Suffer, Destined to Love Chapter 34
Ralph leaned against the door frame, crossing his arms as he held up the DNA test kit. She turned to him, brows raised in curiosity. His voice was clipped all business. “I need a sample of your DNA.”The pan slipped from her fingers, clattering into the sink.Ralph froze.She stared at the DNA test like it was a live grenade.She hesitantly stepped forward, remaining silent as she stared at the kit in his hands. Her expression was unreadable, showing no surprise but clear confusion.Of course, she wouldn’t be. She never seemed surprised by anything. Like some quiet little idiot who had already resigned herself to whatever nonsense the world threw her way.He hated that.Ralph took a measured breath, shoving that irritation down. “Swab your cheek,” he ordered, holding out one of the sterile cotton swabs.She obeyed without a word, taking the swab and running it along the inside of her cheek before handing it back. She was as meek as ever, her movements small and precise like she was
Last Updated : 2025-04-03
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Signed to Suffer, Destined to Love Chapter 64
The transformation in Ralph's personality bled over from within the bounds of their love relationship; it crossed over into his business as well. The forceful, resolute businessman Silvia had admired was now waffling, looking for Rebecca's opinion on even the most minor decisions. Rebecca, an opportunist to her core, exploited this flaw, inserting herself into every facet of his business.Boardroom conferences, previously Ralph's domain, now included Rebecca by his side, offering uninvited advice and inserting her opinion at will. The other executives, initially shocked by her ungraceful return and at her assertive nature, learned with little effort that going against her meant going against Ralph, who was still very much incapacitated. A chill of gray spread through the ranks of professionals, complaints regarding Ralph's use of Rebecca muttered behind closed doors.Silvia, relegated to the role of silent onlooker, would occasionally overhear fragments of conversation between Ralp
Signed to Suffer, Destined to Love Chapter 63
The silence of Burke's despair and inability weighed heavily on Silvia. Even his fleeting friendship had been a whispered acknowledgment of the truth Rebecca so tirelessly concealed. But beyond their quiet, the party continued, muffled in its glittering pretense. Each metallic laugh, each artificial compliment, was another ripple of despair flooding Silvia's beach, steadily eroding what little remained to her.At a later hour, flushed with triumph and several glasses of champagne, Rebecca nudged her way through a throng of people to Silvia, pilfering glasses from an empty side table. Her eyes flashed with mischievous delight."You know, Silvia," she slurred somewhat, her tone had lost its sharp bite behind its pretended jollity, "you almost look like you belong here—if one squints, and conveniently forgets you're on the payroll." She added a dry laugh at the end of her remark.The lively chatter around her faded into a dull hum, intensified by Rebecca’s probing questions."Maybe you
Signed to Suffer, Destined to Love Chapter 62
The ensuing weeks descended into a stifling routine for Silvia. The mansion that had stood as a communal sanctuary now became a gilded cage. Ralph was still blind to everything, his gaze fixed on Rebecca with an unsettling blend of need and adoration.Buoyed by her unchallenged command, Rebecca began exercising her power with greater assertiveness. She would summon Silvia with a snap of her finger, ordering her with a flick of her wrist. The silk garments that once flowed over Silvia now fell over Rebecca's frame, a quiet, visual reminder of the life that was deceptively taken from her.She was meticulously polishing the great piano in the music room one afternoon, a job she used to delight in doing, often humming a little melody to herself as she cleaned when Rebecca and Ralph entered, speaking in soft, conspiratorial tones."The Duniq gala is this week, sweetheart," Rebecca told him, her possessive grip on Ralph's arm. "All has to be perfect. I want Silvia to coordinate all the de
Signed to Suffer, Destined to Love Chapter 61
The days folded into weeks, every one a dull routine of polishing, cleaning, and serving. Silvia glided through the great house like a ghost, her footsteps silent on the marble, her gaze down. Ralph's disinterest was a weight to her, a stifling shroud of sadness. Rebecca's insults, once razor-edged and cruel, were now an aching throb, a reminder of her diminished station.In reflective surfaces, she would see snippets of her past: a beautiful perfume bottle on a vanity she once shared with Ralph, a picture on a bookshelf showing them both laughing and untroubled on their wedding day. Every reflection was a splinter from a broken mirror, a painful reminder of her vibrant, happy life snatched away.Hope, obstinate emberlike, smoldered and went out. The unaccommodating impossibility of penetrating Ralph's amnesia, and Rebecca's remorseless coercion, appeared an insuperable obstacle. He often looked at her with polite insensitivity, a foreigner in his house, as Rebecca smiled at him, vi
Signed to Suffer, Destined to Love Chapter 60
The sun was setting.The opulent foyer of the mansion was uncomfortable for Silvia. Recently, she'd dusted these sparkling floors as Ralph's maid, not a wife now. The marble was cold on her knees now as she erased an evanescent stain from it, her nostrils flaring at the pungent cleaning agent. The odor was a harsh reminder of a life left behind: one of drudgery and suppressed resentment.Wearing one of the silk robes belonging to Silvia as an act of appropriation, Rebecca was in the doorway, her half glass of champagne in her hand. Her quick, calculating gaze passed over Silvia with unguarded amusement."Seriously, Silvia," Rebecca slurred, mixing her amber drink in its glass, "you're far too sloppy. Mr. Spade is a perfectionist. Don't you recall?"The jab hit close to home. Mr. Spade. The formality was a barrier between them, an obstinate erasing of their closeness. Her knuckles gripped the scrub brush tightly."Yes, Miss Wilson," she replied flatly, anger no longer flowing through
Signed to Suffer, Destined to Love Chapter 59
Silvia was assaulted like a slap in the face by the antiseptic smell of the hospital room, utterly contrasting to Ralph's warmth just hours previously. Warmth that was now nothing more than an illusion, an apparition only by way of memory of what was now gone in the screams of skidded tires and breaking glass.Rebecca's grin grew wide, like a snake uncoiling in triumph. Her words oozed syrupy sweetness, every line a planned stab in Silvia's belly: "I told you, sweetheart. He knows whose side is next to him."Silvia found her voice, though her voice shook. "Ralph, it's me. Your wife. Silvia." She took a step closer, her gaze locked with his vacant eyes, hoping for a flicker of recognition, a spark of her beloved husband.He furrowed his brow, a wrinkle of confusion tracing its way across his face. "Wife?" He used the term as though it was unfamiliar, his tone coarse. He looked at Rebecca with a silent questioning gaze. Her other hand gripped his more firmly. "Don't strain yourself, m
Signed to Suffer, Destined to Love Chapter 58
Silvia’s heart was in her throat, pounding so hard she could feel it like a tolling bell behind her ribs . The call of doom had come from a hospital nearly an hour away from the mansion, not even the one closest to him. That alone had sent a spike of dread through her chest, but what followed was worse.Ralph had been in an accident. And she had been the last person he communicated with.She barely remembered the ride over. Everything felt like it was moving too fast and too slow at once. The world outside the window had blurred by, all while time inside her seemed frozen. Just this morning, they’d been together. Just this morning, he’d kissed her forehead and said he’d try to come back early. He’d promised. Who knew he wouldn’t even get to the airport let alone, Chicago?Fate was a fickle bitch.The sterile scent of antiseptic filled the air as she rushed through sliding glass doors, each step heavier than the last.The doctor who met her didn’t sugarcoat the diagnosis, and it hit
Signed to Suffer, Destined to Love Chapter 57
Silvia woke up to Ralph’s nose buried in her neck. With a small laugh, she squirmed underneath him, warmth still lingering from sleep. “Where are you going?” Ralph tutted and tightened his arms around her.She blinked once, then again, realizing his belt buckle was digging slightly into her hip. She glanced down. He was wearing dark slacks and a tucked shirt, his cufflinks already fastened. His tie hung loose around his neck like an afterthought. Ralph was fully dressed. Of course, he was. It was so like him to rise early, get ready, and then come back to bed to hold her one last time.She had woken up in his bed more times than she could count, and the times she had in the recent days were so light and happy that she could nearly forget what it had been like, all those months ago, to wake up here sore and tense, with his sharp words still ringing in her ears.The first two times had been filled with insults, pain, and humiliation. She’d been drenched by a gallon of water, drowned
Signed to Suffer, Destined to Love Chapter 56
Silvia leaned forward, her other hand on his chest so that she could sense the thumping of his heart. "That is what you are doing now, though," she told him. "Each child who is treated there, whose family is assisted there—you're saving that boy over and over." Ralph's hand went up to rest over hers, grasping it tightly against his chest as if grounding himself. "It doesn't seem like enough." "It never will." Silvia agreed. "That is the very reason we persist. We continue building. We struggle on." "We," he said. "Yes, we," Silvia confirmed right away. "Your wars are mine now. Remember?" There was a ghost of a smile on his lips. "I made the same promises, I believe." "For better, for worse. For richer, for poorer." She had inserted the last one herself, but it had sounded necessary—a recognition that their journey would have its darkness as well as its light. Ralph breathed deep, his breathing unsteady. "I don't know how I can rationalize any of it," he said. "My mother wa
