All Chapters of Claiming His Queen : Chapter 171 - Chapter 180

"...Dario is here, Lily." Alessia flung the towel on the counter, "Anabelle remains, so we wait."Her excitement was apparent in how she paced and exclaimed every high note.Once in a while, when it nears the festive season, Alessia finds herself filled with the holiday spirit, and the worst happens: she calls close friends and family for dinner, and while they eat, we sweated it out.On New Year's Eve, we were lucky to have Rune and still would this easter if I had a way to reach him, but not only did I have no idea where he was, I was also getting scared.This time, not many people were coming over, just Anabelle and Dario, and if Claudine decided to sit quietly, maybe she would.I smiled, shaking my head, withholding from reminding her that she and Dario were divorced.The hustling and bustling in the kitchen were beginning to slow down as the only thing remaining was the cranberry cake chugging in the oven.On a typical day, I would have my throat filled with moans, pouring out at

Although he whispered, it echoed in my ears, leaving me frozen in my spot, wondering if what I heard was false and if this was just another dream I had weaved in my subconscious."Don't just stand and stare." he closed the gap between us, "I don't care about anything as long as it's close to you; what do you want? white picket fence? A house in the woods? A barn or a library?" he caught his breath, "I only want you Lily, just you."I could feel his hands creeping up to my face, cupping my chin, "We could live here, away from the heat of Italy. Want more kids? We'll make them. I've lived all of my life for you, every bit of it since the day you left me bleeding."My eyes filling wasn't the reaction I wanted nor expected, the knot tightening in my stomach and chest, the sting in my palm, and the heaviness in my throat.He interlocked his fingers with mine, raising to his face and pressing his lips against my knuckles. "I can't live one more week without you. You complete me, Lily. You s

Tugging at my pajama waistband, I looked around at the dimly lit room. It was evening, and I was already back from the library, already in woolen pajamas and ready for a quiet evening with my thoughts.A few hours ago, I was at the Cafe with Cade, and he didn't mince words. He spoke without reservations, letting everything out.I stayed quiet, watching him try to pull his emotions together. Emotions that mainly consisted of frustration and puzzlement gave me the idea that it wasn't long ago that Dario broke the news to him.“You're still in love with him, Lily, as much as you don't want to be and maybe just as much as you want to stay dead.”Clasping my hand in front of me, I asked, “Does Alessia know about this?”“No, not yet, Dario emphasized on not telling her.” looking at me one last time, Cade picked up my hands and pressed his lips on my knuckles. “I will miss you. A lot.”Then he dropped it back and left the table. And I continued to stare ahead, seeing blurs and drowning in th

LILYThe noise of glass shattering to bits had my lids snapping open, and as I reached out to touch Adler, my heart thudded wildly, seeing I was alone.I touched his side of the bed and found it still warm. At the same time, another crash hit my ears, sending me scrambling out of bed and yanking open drawers, looking for the pistol I knew he always had with him.When I found it sitting pretty in the bedside table drawer, my hands trembled as I grabbed it, feeling the weight of its familiarity. Memories seared into my thoughts, **'Right?"****"Right..."**I gasped and swallowed, feeling the urge to throw the weapon out the window and fling myself into harm's way, but then—a couple of gunshots echoed through the house, and loud grunts reached my ear—Adler was there.Cold fear rippled down my spine as I flung open the door, the chaos downstairs growing louder, making it hard to breathe. With my finger on the trigger, I prepared for my second kill.But reaching the top of the stairs, I

He figured he was in a potential war zone when he entered the dark room. Shutting the door quietly behind him, he hoped to catch her silhouette standing around.But assisted by the dull bedside lamp, he noticed the outline on the bed first and sighed; she had gotten so tired of waiting she had damned her sultry promises of, 'See you tonight, baby' and crawled to bed.She was probably exhausted from the sightseeing she had pressured Rune to go on with her, leaving him in the house constantly looking out the window, hoping to catch the first sight of her returning...It became evident that he had been approaching it incorrectly as their laughter preceded the arrival of Rune, whose hands suggested he had been working outside, assisting Lily, whose flushed face hinted at his persistent teasing.Adler caught a loud sigh threatening to escape; he was just as tired; the dent he and Rune left in their struggle had needed a lot of repair, and he was just as happy to get his hands moving, unawa