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121: The Clock is Ticking
Last Updated:
2025-02-06 23:34:12
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Till Betrayal Do Us Part: Ex-Husband, Ex-Heartbreak 122: Three Villains Working Together
Estella’s POVPain.It dragged me awake, sharp and radiating from my skull, pulsing down my spine. My head throbbed like someone had driven a nail into my skull. My body felt heavy, weak. My wrists were raw, tied behind me with something rough that dug into my skin.I blinked, my vision slow to clear.Darkness.Not complete, but close. A single flickering lightbulb buzzed above me, casting shadows across the damp concrete walls. The air was thick with the scent of mildew, rust, and something rotten.A bad fucking sign.My pulse hammered.The last thing I remembered—Diane. On the floor. A voice behind me. Mia.And then—blackness.I tried to move, but the ropes around my wrists burned. My ankles were tied too, the chair beneath me creaking with every shift of my weight. My breathing came fast, uneven.Where the hell am I?Memories slammed into me.Benjamin. The last time I was in this exact position—tied, helpless, the weight of a man’s body crushing me down while Alejandro watched, una
Last Updated : 2025-02-07Till Betrayal Do Us Part: Ex-Husband, Ex-Heartbreak 123: The Three Villains Working Together II
Estella’s POV The blade hovered over my skin. Just a whisper away. Mia tilted her head, watching me like prey, the tip of the knife tracing slow, lazy circles against my collarbone. “You know,” she murmured, eyes gleaming, “I’ve never actually skinned a person before. But there’s a first time for everything, right?” She pressed down. A thin, sharp sting—just enough to make me flinch. I clenched my teeth. I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of screaming. Instead, I forced out a shaky breath, locking my gaze onto the other threat in the room. Helena. She was leaning against an old rusted desk, legs crossed elegantly, watching like this was all a mild inconvenience. She had changed. Gone was the woman who once paraded herself as Valdez royalty, the untouchable queen. Now, she looked unhinged. Her dress was perfectly pressed, but the way she sat—the way her nails drummed against the desk, the wild amusement in her eyes—made her seem unpredictable. She was bored
Last Updated : 2025-02-08Till Betrayal Do Us Part: Ex-Husband, Ex-Heartbreak 124: What They Want
Estella’s POVA massive figure stepped in first, shoulders broad enough to block most of the doorway. He carried a heavy duffel bag in one hand, dropping it onto the floor with a dull, metallic thud.Something inside clanked. Metal on metal.Then, Claudia walked in.A breath lodged in my throat.I hadn’t seen her in a long while , but she looked exactly the same. The same sleek blonde hair. The same perfectly tailored black jumpsuit. The same red lips curled into that signature smirk. Like she hadn’t spent the last few months running for her life.Her gaze landed on me, sharp and calculating.“Oh,” she drawled. “So she’s awake.”A slow, creeping anger burned through me. Of course she was here. I let out a short, humorless laugh. “Why am I even surprised you’re in this too?”Claudia’s smirk widened, smooth and condescending. “Miss me, darling?”My stomach twisted.This woman tried to destroy my life.She paid a journalist to drug me and fake photos like we had sex, hoping Alejandro wou
Last Updated : 2025-02-08Till Betrayal Do Us Part: Ex-Husband, Ex-Heartbreak 125: The Breaking Point
Alejandro’s POVThe second the voice crackled through my phone, every muscle in my body went rigid.“Alejandro,” Mia’s voice purred through the line. “So nice of you to pick up. I was starting to think you didn’t care about your wife.”“Who the real fuck are you?” My voice came out deadly quiet, low and controlled, but the rage beneath it was a live wire, sparking and ready to ignite."Your wife screams beautifully." Her words dripped with satisfaction. "Want to hear?"My jaw locked, teeth grinding so hard I thought they might crack. “Mia,” I said her name like a curse. “If you touch her—”“Oh, I’ve already touched her,” she interrupted, her tone mocking. “And let me tell you, she’s not as strong as you think. A few slaps, and she’s already begging.”A sharp crack echoed through the phone, followed by Estella’s cry—raw, pained, and fucking gut-wrenching. It hit me like a bullet to the chest, and I nearly doubled over. My free hand clenched into a fist, nails digging into my palm hard
Last Updated : 2025-02-09Till Betrayal Do Us Part: Ex-Husband, Ex-Heartbreak 126: The Message
Alejandro’s POVRaúl was already on his laptop, fingers flying over the keyboard, trying to track their location. My eyes were locked on the screen, my muscles coiled so tightly it felt like my own skin was suffocating me.“Anything?”Raúl didn’t look up. “They’ve already wiped it.” He kept typing, checking signal reroutes. His jaw ticked. “They knew exactly what they were doing. The call bounced through multiple servers. It’s fucking useless.”I clenched my jaw so hard I thought my teeth might crack.They had covered all their tracks.They had planned this perfectly.My knuckles ached from how hard my fists were clenched.Everyone in the room stood frozen, waiting for me to explode. They knew. They all knew they had failed. Failed to protect her. Failed to see the threat right under our noses.The door burst open and Rodriguez, the chief perimeter guards, stumbled in. His face was ash-white, hands trembling. Good. They should be all be fucking terrified. They’d failed. And I wasn’t k
Last Updated : 2025-02-09Till Betrayal Do Us Part: Ex-Husband, Ex-Heartbreak 127: Buried Alive
Estella’s POV I wake up choking on dirt.The first thing I registered was the weight pressing against my chest, my arms, my legs. I tried to move, but the pressure pinned me down. I couldn’t breathe. My lungs screamed for air but every time I try to inhale, dust fills my mouth, my nose, my lungs.My mind struggled to catch up.Why couldn’t I move? Why couldn’t I breathe?Then it hit me.I was underground.A violent panic shot through my body, sending me into a frenzy. I thrashed, my fingers clawing at the dirt, but it was like fighting against an avalanche. The more I struggled, the tighter it closed around me, the weight pressing harder.My heart slammed against my ribs.I was buried alive.I opened my mouth to scream, but the earth poured in, filling my throat, choking me. I coughed violently, pain ripping through my shoulders.Think, Estella. Think.I forced myself to stop thrashing, to stay still long enough to figure out what the hell had happened.Hours EarlierThe phone call w
Last Updated : 2025-02-10Till Betrayal Do Us Part: Ex-Husband, Ex-Heartbreak 128: The Devil's Den
Alejandro The text came at dawn. An address and two words: Come alone."I don’t know but this is suicide." Enrique's knuckles were white on the dashboard as I gunned the engine down the private road. Ancient oak trees created tunnels of shadow, perfect for an ambush. Perfect for making bodies disappear.The mansion loomed ahead – a crumbling Victorian monstrosity. Paint peeling. Windows like dead eyes. The kind of place nightmares called home.My hands wouldn't stop shaking on the wheel.They could take my money. My company. My fucking soul. I’d trade it all to get her back.It wasn't even a choice."Something doesn't feel right." Enrique scanned the grounds. No guards. No security. Just three cars parked out front like this was a fucking dinner party.I checked my gun. "Stay out of sight."“Boss—”“Stay back,” I muttered. “I go in alone.”Enrique grabbed my arm. “If you die in there, she dies too.”I wrenched my arm away. “Then keep your ass alive and do what you do best.”Without a
Last Updated : 2025-02-11Till Betrayal Do Us Part: Ex-Husband, Ex-Heartbreak 129: The Hunt
Alejandro Blood dripped from her wounded arm, soaking the floor beneath her, but she didn’t seem to give a fuck.She tilted her head back, that sick, twisted grin still stretching her lips. “Kill me,” she rasped. “Go on, do it.”I pressed the barrel of my gun against her temple. She wasn’t even flinching.Her eyes were wild and unhinged. There was no sight of fear in her eyes.“I don’t care about dying,” she whispered, her breath coming out in sharp, pained gasps. “You think you’re scaring me? I’m not scared. I’ll go straight to hell and meet my brother. Benjamin is waiting for me.” Her grin widened, her body trembling from blood loss. “ But you? You’ll be miserable. Till you die. Because you’ll never—” she choked on a laugh—“you’ll never know where she is.”My jaw locked.She wanted this. She wanted me to put a bullet between her eyes and take the satisfaction of knowing I’d never find Estella.I’m not letting that happen.I shifted the gun, grabbed her injured arm, and dug my thumb
Last Updated : 2025-02-11
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Till Betrayal Do Us Part: Ex-Husband, Ex-Heartbreak Epilogue: The Secrets We Keep
Five Years LaterEstella had insisted on having the windows open despite the doctors' protests—she needed to breathe something other than antiseptic and fear."Almost there," The matron encouraged from between her legs. "One more big push, Estella."Alejandro's hand was nearly crushed in her grip as another contraction seized her. The twins had decided to arrive three weeks early, sending them rushing to the hospital in the middle of the night."You're doing amazingly," Alejandro murmured against her temple. The entire pregnancy had been classified high-risk from the beginning.Estella bore down with a primal scream, feeling the first baby slide from her body."It's a boy!" The matron announced, lifting the wailing infant for them to see before placing him on Estella's chest.She touched her son's dark, wet hair. "Hello, little one,"The moment of joy was short-lived. The monitors beside her bed began beeping erratically."Blood pressure dropping," a nurse called out.The doctor in ch
Till Betrayal Do Us Part: Ex-Husband, Ex-Heartbreak 216: Almost Home
The following weeks were filled with medical tests, therapy sessions, and small but significant milestones.Three weeks after waking, he took his first unassisted steps, gripping the parallel bars with so much intensity as he forced his atrophied muscles to cooperate. I watched from the sidelines, heart in my throat, as he pushed through pain that would have stopped a lesser man."Fuck," he growled through gritted teeth when his legs threatened to give out halfway through. "I'm not stopping."His physical therapist—a no-nonsense woman who'd quickly learned to match his intensity—nodded approvingly. "Two more steps. You can do two more."He did three before collapsing into the wheelchair afterward with sweat pouring down his face."Next time I'll do ten," he promised, breath coming in harsh pants.I handed him a towel, leaning in to whisper, "Watching you fight like this is incredibly sexy, you know."His exhausted laugh was all the reward I needed.By the six-week mark, he was walking
Till Betrayal Do Us Part: Ex-Husband, Ex-Heartbreak 215: Two Months Later, Still Yours
When we broke apart, I rested my head on his shoulder, breathing in his scent beneath the antiseptic hospital smell. "Don't ever scare me like that again," I whispered."I'll try not to make a habit of getting stabbed in the heart," he replied dryly."This isn't funny, Alejandro." I lifted my head to meet his gaze. "I thought I'd lost you. I thought our daughter would grow up without her father."His expression sobered. "I know. I'm sorry." He squeezed my hand weakly. "How bad was it?""Bad," I admitted. "The knife nicked your heart. You lost so much blood... They weren't sure you'd make it through the first surgery." My voice caught. "And then you didn't wake up. Days turned into weeks, and you just... stayed asleep.""I'm sorry," he repeated. "For putting you through that. For not being there for you and Arielle.""You're here now," I said. The door opened quietly, and we both looked up to see Dr. Matthews returning, accompanied by a neurologist I recognized from previous consultat
Till Betrayal Do Us Part: Ex-Husband, Ex-Heartbreak 214: The Sixty-Second Day
Two months laterThe hospital room had become my second home. The nurses knew my schedule better than I did—when I'd arrive each morning with fresh clothes for both of us, when I'd step out for coffee, which chair I preferred to sit in while reading aloud to Alejandro's unresponsive form.Sixty-one days of talking to someone who couldn't answer. Sixty-one days of watching for the slightest movement of an eyelid or the smallest twitch of a finger. Sixty-one days of hope slowly eroding into something that felt dangerously close to despair."The medical journal says coma patients show increased brain activity when family members speak to them," I said, turning the page of the medical text I'd been studying obsessively. "So I'm going to keep talking, even if I'm starting to repeat myself."Alejandro remained motionless. They'd removed his breathing tube last week when he started breathing on his own—a positive sign, Dr. Matthews had assured me. But his consciousness remained locked away,
Till Betrayal Do Us Part: Ex-Husband, Ex-Heartbreak 213: One-Sided Conversations
"Aunt Eleanor," I gasped, shocked to see her. In the chaos, I'd almost forgotten she'd been injured in the initial car crash where Arielle was taken."You look worse than me," she said weakly, attempting a smile that turned into a wince.For some reason, it was the sight of her—battered but alive, just like the rest of us—that finally broke through the numbness I'd been hiding behind. The tears came suddenly and violently, sobs wrenching themselves from my chest as she wheeled herself closer, reaching out with her good arm to pull me against her."I was so scared," I admitted between sobs. "I thought we were all going to die. I was scared history was going to repeat itself self. And this time Arielle, Alejandro—""But you didn't," she reminded me. "You saved them both."I shook my head, glancing at Alejandro's still form. "I didn't save him. He's still—""Fighting," Eleanor cut in. "Just like he always has. Just like you have."I cried until I had no tears left, letting go of the fear
Till Betrayal Do Us Part: Ex-Husband, Ex-Heartbreak 212: The Silence That Hurts Most
I must have dozed off despite my determination to stay awake, because the next thing I knew, someone was gently shaking my shoulder."Estella? Can you hear me?"I forced my heavy eyelids open to find Raul standing over me, his face lined with worry. Clara hovered behind him, her eyes red-rimmed."Raul," I croaked, my throat dry. "Alejandro?""He's out of surgery," Raul said. "It was touch and go for a while, but he made it through."Relief made me dizzy. "He's okay?"Raul and Clara exchanged glances."What aren't you telling me?" I demanded, suddenly fully awake.Raul sighed. "The damage was extensive. They repaired what they could, but... he's in a coma, Estella.""A coma? For how long?""They don't know," Clara said gently, stepping forward to take my hand. "All they said was the next 48 hours are critical."I struggled to sit up, ignoring the pain that shot through my body. "I need to see him.""You need to rest," Clara countered. "You're no good to him or Arielle if you collapse."
Till Betrayal Do Us Part: Ex-Husband, Ex-Heartbreak 211: Between Life and Death
"BP's still dropping," one of the paramedics called as they loaded Alejandro into the ambulance. "We need to move!"I climbed in after them, collapsing onto the bench seat as the doors slammed shut."Arielle," I suddenly remembered, panic clawing at my throat. "My daughter—where is she?""Already en route to Memorial," one of the paramedics replied without looking up from Alejandro. "She's stable."That small mercy gave me the strength to stay upright as I watched them work frantically to keep my husband alive. They'd cut away his shirt completely now, revealing the full extent of his injuries. The wound in his abdomen wasn't as deep as I'd feared, but the chest wound—it was a different story altogether."Left hemothorax," the paramedic muttered. "Need to decompress."I watched in horror as they inserted a large needle between Alejandro's ribs. Blood gushed out immediately, filling a collection bag."What's happening?" I demanded."Blood's filling his chest cavity, compressing on his
Till Betrayal Do Us Part: Ex-Husband, Ex-Heartbreak 210: To the Death
He yanked the makeshift blade free and shoved Alejandro toward me with such force that we both crashed onto the wooden planks of the dock. I barely registered the pain through my ankle as I caught Alejandro's limp body."No, no, no," I sobbed, cradling him against me. His eyes fluttered, struggling to focus on my face as blood bubbled from his lips."Est...ella," he managed, each syllable a battle."Don't talk," I begged, pressing one hand against the stomach wound while frantically trying to stem the bleeding from his chest with the other. It was too much—too much blood, too many wounds.Marco staggered to the boat, his own strength clearly waning. He tossed the bloodied metal shard into the water and began fumbling with the ropes that secured the craft to the dock. His movements were clumsy, his injuries making the simple task laborious."Pressure," Alejandro whispered, his voice so faint I barely heard it. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, staining his ashen lips crimso
Till Betrayal Do Us Part: Ex-Husband, Ex-Heartbreak 209: Blood for Blood
We dove behind a heavy chest of drawers just as the explosion tore through the room. The blast was deafening, sending splinters of wood and plaster raining down on us. Dust filled up the air in the room.Through the ringing in my ears, I heard movement—Marco is making his escape in the confusion. I struggled to my feet, eyes stinging from the dust, and saw a shadow moving toward the far windows."Alejandro," I croaked, pointing.He was already up, blood trickling from another cut on his temple where debris had struck him. Together, we staggered through the devastated room toward the windows.Marco had reached what appeared to be a balcony beyond the shattered glass. As we emerged into the clean night air, I saw his plan—a rope, hastily secured to the balcony railing, leading down to the ground below. Near the edge of the property, barely visible in dark of the night was a small dock with what looked like a speedboat tied up."Stop!" Alejandro shouted, raising his gun.Marco turned, hi
