All Chapters of The bride's stand-In: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

When they finally arrived back at the mansion, the heavy, oppressive silence that had clung to the car ride seemed to follow them inside. Evelyn felt as though she were walking through a fog, each step weighted with the horror of what had just transpired. Her body was still trembling, her thoughts scattered like fragments of broken glass. The images of masked gunmen, the cold, calculated way Michael had handled the situation—it all replayed in her mind like a never-ending loop.She barely registered the grandiose interior of the mansion as she was led upstairs. The towering walls, the gleaming marble floors, and the opulence of it all felt so distant, so detached from the raw fear coursing through her veins. The servants were swift and efficient, almost too quick in their haste to tend to her. They didn’t ask questions, just led her to her room and helped her into bed.Her heart still raced, her skin clammy with sweat, and the faint taste of metal lingered in her mouth. She had barely

After Michael’s departure, the house felt even more suffocating. The stillness of the mansion pressed in on Evelyn, every corner of the large estate filled with opulence but also a sense of emptiness. She needed space, a break from the tension, and so she decided to wander. Her footsteps echoed softly on the marble floors as she moved down the hallway. The mansion was massive, each room seemingly more lavish than the last, but the grandeur only added to her sense of isolation. The walls were adorned with paintings that seemed to stare down at her, their expressions frozen in time. Some were dark, moody portraits, others bright landscapes, but they all seemed disconnected from her reality, as if they belonged to a different world entirely. She passed by rooms she hadn’t yet explored, their doors elegantly carved, leading to places she could only imagine. The house was like a maze, one she hadn’t yet figured out. The heavy silence enveloped her, and she instinctively moved to a window

The world skittered to a halt. Evelyn’s body was paralyzed again. This always happened when she heard this name. When it came to that man, her fear always got the better of her.“Princess!” the maid grabbed onto her shoulders and had to shake her firmly for her to come back to her senses.Evelyn whipped her head to look at Michael, clenching her fists to stop her fingers from shaking. She could not show him this cowering side of her anymore. Unlike her, who was almost being rendered useless by her panic and fear, Michael was calm and unbothered as he leaned there, his position not moving from before. She opened her mouth to speak but shut it close again even before a word managed to get past her lips.She was about to beg him to take her away. She wanted to tell him they should leave this place together or at least have him just escort her out of the palace to a safer place that Brandon could not reach. But then she remembered—she could not ask anything from this man. She must not beg

Evelyn had finally arrived at a certain hotel near an airport.She was being extra careful and had chosen an average hotel instead of going for a high-class one, as she knew that most of the luxury hotels all over Dalenn were owned or closely connected to Brandon Haze. Evelyn also knew there was a high possibility that Haze might have already mobilized all his men to be searching through the airport to spot her. So, she did not dare go straight there even though she badly wanted to leave the country as soon as possible.An hour ago, Evelyn had stopped their car midway during their escape and took a cab by herself. Her maid and bodyguard had protested, but Evelyn had told them that she did not trust any cars that were from the palace. She was quite confident that they would have been bugged and a tracker might have also been planted somewhere in the car. That was how insane Brandon Haze was!So here she was right now, checking herself into an average hotel, pretending to be another tou

Evelyn didn’t hesitate to take the coat from Lucas, the red-haired man who had been standing beside Michael like a silent shadow. As she slipped the heavy fabric over her shoulders, its warmth wrapped around her, shielding her from the unsettling cold that seemed to have settled in her bones.She turned her gaze to Michael, wanting to say something, perhaps to thank him for coming, or maybe to apologize once more for what she had done. But before she could utter a word, he was already moving, his strides long and purposeful as he walked ahead without sparing her another glance.Biting her lower lip, Evelyn gave Lucas a quick nod of gratitude before rushing after Michael, her bare feet barely making a sound against the polished hotel floor. The coat was far too big for her, the sleeves slipping past her hands, but she clutched it tightly around herself, not just for warmth but for security.She caught up to him just as he reached the elevator. He stood still, waiting, his back straight