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CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX: BRUNO FILIPPO.
Last Updated:
2025-01-12 20:35:39
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AXEL’S POV:The flashlight’s beam cut through the dimness, revealing rows of neatly stacked bags, each meticulously labeled. I opened one, inspecting the dried herbs within. They were fragile, their leaves a unique shade of deep green with veins that shimmered faintly under the light. This plant was rare—found only in the most remote corners of the world. Its value lay in its potential, though few knew the extent of it. Satisfied, I exited the container, stripping off the gear and tossing it aside. Bruno stood a few inches away. His short, stout frame seemed to expand, taking up more space than his actual size warranted. His broad shoulders and barrel chest strained against the seams of his tight-fitting shirt, giving him a faintly menacing appearance.His overbearing presence was suffocating. The faint scent of his overpowering cologne further amplifying his already overwhelming presence. His very proximity was almost unbearable. I hated it. “Everything’s in order,” I announced
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AXEL’S POV:The door creaked slightly as I pushed it open, revealing a modest bathroom. I clicked the door shut behind me and leaned heavily against it despite the sting in my legs. My chest heaved as I exhaled, eyes darting over the bathroom's simple layout. The tiles were spotless, gleaming under the soft glow of recessed lighting. A simple shower stall stood in the corner, its glass door streak-free. On the counter beside the sink, neatly folded towels and small bottles of shampoo and body wash awaited me, their clean, floral scent a reminder of how desperately I needed them. Stripping off Axel's jacket, I tossed it onto the floor and grabbed the new toothbrush sitting on the counter. For the first time in what felt like days, I allowed myself the luxury of slowness. Each stroke of the toothbrush over my teeth was methodical, each swish of mouthwash a small victory. I even took my time flossing, savoring the strange normalcy of it. The shower beckoned next. Stepping under the
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AXEL’S POV:"You missed a spot," Avery muttered, her audacity stretching as she reached up with her small, trembling hand. Before I could react, she brushed at the edge of my eyepatch, her fingers skimming the streak of egg that clung there. The slap came before I even registered my own movement, a crack that reverberated in the room. She staggered, clutching the edge of the bed for balance, her lip now split and bleeding. Crimson beads welled at the corner of her mouth, and she swiped at them with the back of her hand, glaring up at me with those fiery, rebellious eyes. Damn her. She knew exactly how to push me to the brink, poking at corners of my patience I didn’t even know existed. I wasn’t one to raise my hand to women—if punishment was needed, my men handled it. But Avery was different. Something about her grated against every carefully maintained wall I had, stripping away my control until all that remained was untethered rage. I ran a hand through my hair, exhaling. I hadn
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AVERY’S POV: I had always prided myself on being a woman of will and persistence. A survivor. But the moment Axel Blackwood stepped into the room, covered in splashes of blood, his pupils blown so wide they swallowed the light, I felt my resolve wither. He looked like something out of a nightmare. His white shirt was ruined, stained in dark patches, and his hands—God, his hands were dripping with it. I didn’t want to know whose blood it was. Bile surged up my throat, and I had to swallow hard to keep it down. Still, I forced myself to stand, my movements stiff and unsteady. His presence had always been oppressive, but now? Now, it was deadly. "Avery, you will make that appearance tomorrow," Axel said, his voice eerily calm, as if he hadn’t just returned from whatever act of horror he’d committed. "You will act like my trophy wife at several events tomorrow. The priority, however, is for you to make a statement with your appearance." I stared at him, stunned by the audacity.
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AVERY'S POV:There was always more to Axel Blackwood. He was a maze of secrets, each one more shocking than the last. But this? This was the mother of them all. Laurent was his father. Chase, his stepbrother and Zora, the witch, his stepmother. Which meant Axel was the true firstborn. The rightful heir to everything Chase thought belonged to him. I wanted to confront him. Badly. And for once, I felt like I actually could. Probably because I was three bottles deep into a very fine wine. Maybe four. My head was fuzzy, my limbs light, and my courage… well, let’s just say it was making some very questionable choices. Ryan didn’t seem to care. He stood in the corner, arms crossed, his gloved hands tucked beneath his sleeves as he watched me with his usual unreadable expression. He had long since stopped trying to take the glass away from me. "Let's go," Axel’s voice disrupted my thinking.I barely had time to blink before Devon was at my side, steadying me before I could make a compl
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AXEL’S POV:I turned slowly, my eyes narrowing with sorrow and steely determination. "Oh, I almost forgot to mention—the missing piece. Laurent is my father. And Zora... she was the one who orchestrated the plan to have both my mother and me killed."Memories rushed back in, reminding me why I became a kid who grew into an adult haunted by nightmares. "he tailed my mother and me until she found us. Zora paid a truck driver to crash into our lives. She's the reason I lost my eyes. They made it look like an accident, covering up her ways."I detailed everything that happened on my birthday to him. "I survived, but my mother wasn't so lucky. Everyone was against us – my mother was just a low-class maid, and Zora came from a family that was meant to rule. But once I got my resources and money, I dug up all these details and vowed to take down every one of them."Ryan's chest rose and fell with a slow, deliberate breath. His voice was barely above a whisper when he finally spoke as if he w
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AXEL’S POV:Ryan was there to bitch around.Typical. Yes, I trusted him—hell, he was my second in command. But there were lines, boundaries between what I carried alone and what I shared. Some things rotted better inside me. But lately, keeping him in the dark felt less like protection and more like betrayal. If I shut him out again, I wouldn’t just be undermining his position. I’d be spitting on our friendship.Before he could even part his lips, I cut in. "I know you're about to ask what the hell is going on." Leaning against the wall, arms crossed tight over his chest, Ryan narrowed his eyes like he was staring down a puzzle missing half its pieces. "That's right. Make it make sense, Axel. Why the obsession with the Grayson empire? Why put her in charge? And why the hell risk exposing our intel like that? You know better. Now we’re a damn target." I turned away, walking to the floor-to-ceiling windows. Afternoon sunlight poured through, casting long shadows across the floo
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The enmity between us was thick enough to choke on—and I could feel every single eye in the room pinned on our collision. My voice cut through the tension like a razor. "You're not my mother. As a matter of fact, I don’t think you’re even a mother. Which mother sleeps with her son-in-law?" My words thundered over the murmurs. "I should've known something was awry all those times you and that radical went on 'business trips.' They were nothing but excuses—a time and place for your adultery. You deserve to be skinned alive and tossed into a hole with the wolves. You’re a filthy whore." Before her venom could settle, she spat back, voice dripping with rage, "Just because some man is in your life, you think you're untouchable? Avery, I'll destroy you." Her threat barely had time to echo when a deep, authoritative voice interceded. "At least you got one thing right—she’s untouchable." I turned slowly toward the source, and there stood Axel. His eyes burned with fury, and his
THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX: CUTTING TIES.
AVERY’S POV: As I stepped away from the murmuring crowd, the soft click of my sunglasses slipping into place was like a switch, switching off voices and opinions that threatened to consume me. The opulent room, with its lavish furnishings and subtle scent of old money, seemed to fade into the background as my mind began to reel. The question that had been bothering me finally boiled to the surface: why was Axel, the puppeteer, pulling the strings with such leniency? Oh my god, it was like he was setting me up or something! Axel had always been a master manipulator, but this was on a whole different level. He had basically handed me the keys to Grayson, a company he had funneled millions into. It was just... too easy. Axel wasn't exactly known for his altruism. He was enjoying this particular drama. There had to be a catch, right? But what if I had just been paranoid? What if he had really wanted to keep to his words. Ugh, my head had spun just thinking about it. I felt like a pawn
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AXEL'S POV:The more I tried to run from this little, 4-foot-8-inch woman, the more she dragged me in. Trapped me. Like gravity itself had shifted and Avery was now the center of it all. I've sat at tables with men who built empires and women who could make nations bend. But none of them ever made me pause. None of them ever made me watch the way Avery did. Tonight, power looked good on her. Too good. The way she stood behind that podium, shoulders square, chin tilted slightly upward as if daring the room to challenge her—God, it was magnetic. The chandeliers above across the room couldn’t outshine her. Arms folded across my chest, I observed her every move with rapt attention. She exuded power—elegant yet unyielding—and it was as if the entire room had shrunk in comparison to her presence.A grin tugged at the corner of my mouth. I already knew she was going to turn this room inside out. And when she greeted Chase with, “Hello, ex-husband,”—just like that, I knew the game w
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AVERY'S POV:I couldn’t keep still. Every nerve in my body vibrated, adrenaline pulsing under my skin. My heart pounded so loudly it practically echoed in the back of the limousine. I kept telling myself to calm down, but that was impossible. This was it. All night, I’d gone over the documents Axel left for me. I read every word. Every clause. Every line that spelled out the downfall of my enemies especially Chase. And by morning, my decision was easy. Now, dressed in the designer outfit Axel had picked out, with diamonds on my wrist and revenge in my heart, I knew exactly how today would end—no matter what the headlines said. Because the headlines... God, the headlines were a joke. "Grayson Empire Bounces Back!""Astrid Grayson Saves Husband from Ruin!""Power Couple of the Year!" I nearly rolled my eyes. We pulled up to Grayson Empire’s headquarters. The press swarmed the front entrance. Cameras flashed nonstop. Reporters barked out questions as if Chase was some war he
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AXEL’S POV: Sea would one day ask for my already dying heart, and I wouldn't hesitate to give it to her. First, she asked for a baby brother or sister while we cooked yesterday. And today, just as I settled into my home office to review the documents from my lawyers concerning the Grayson empire—my gift to Avery—Sea walked in with her usual sunshine. After wrapping her little arms around me in greeting, she made her requests. “Daddy, let’s have a family day today. I want to spend time with you and Avery. Also… I don’t like being far from Avery. I need to be close to her,” she said, pouting slightly. “Could you get her to move closer to us? Maybe into the empty room next to ours?” It was impossible to deny her. So here I was, already dressed and heading out to meet them by the car. The shock on Avery’s face when she spotted me was satisfying. No one had expected me to tag along, and I kept our security detail minimal—Devon, Baron, and five others. I didn’t want Sea to feel o
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AVERY'S POV:I lay on my bed, staring at the cracks in the ceiling, trying to make sense of it all. My throat still ached from Axel’s grip, the phantom sensation lingering like a cruel reminder. But the pain wasn’t just physical. It was in the way he’d looked at me—as if I had crossed a line that could never be uncrossed. I had taken this too far. Letting myself get comfortable in a world that wasn’t mine. I should have known better than to call Sea my daughter, even as a joke. Even as something that felt natural in the moment. But it wasn’t natural. None of this was. The flour fight, the laughter, the warmth of sitting at the dinner table like a family—it had all been an illusion. And I had let myself sink into it too easily. Like a fool. Axel wasn’t the kind of man who softened, and I had been stupid to forget that. I’d let his presence seep into my thoughts, let the accidental brushes of his touch unsettle me. And for what? A fleeting warmth that was never meant for me? For
