The Substitute Bride of the Scarred Billionaire Heir

Chapter 6

Word Count: 927 | Released on: Today at 17:38

her dress a flimsy barrier against the sudden, bone-deep chill that had nothing to do wi

was no closet to search, no dresser to open, no bed to collapse onto. Just

he hall. The same room Arthur had called hers. The same room she had just esca

eath c

her things from Dereck

ppeared down the corridor. No one knocked. No one ask

e had thrown out e

ll handbag she'd carried with her: her phone, her wallet with its twenty-seven dollars, and a small, hand-stitched sachet filled with a blend of herbs she'd m

gilded cage, with nothing b

wisted with rage. She heard the sound of her dress tearing. She curled up on t

en the first sound came from

, inhuman sound of pure agony.

ht on the settee, her

ll. Followed by a heavy thud, as if a piece of furniture had

knob. Was this another one of his c

ugh to see Arthur Finch rushing past with another man carrying a medical bag. They disappea

from inside, she slipped into the hallway and crept closer, keeping one hand braced

chaos. A lamp was smashed on the f

ad as if trying to keep it from splitting apart. His whole body was wracked

comprehend. This wasn't the cold, calculating man from

him with a syringe. "Mr. Ca

t with a savage swipe of his arm. The syrin

e a slight, resigned shake of his head

eing replaced by a strange, unsettling emotion. It was shock, but it was also

exhaustion and a deep, weary sadness. He saw her s

with him?" Ala

left him with more than just scars. Severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. And an insomnia so profound h

al scars on his face, the hidden pain she'd glimpsed in

bag. The familiar, calming scent of lavender and chamomile

ep breath, her knuckles white as she clutched the sach

t safe!" the do

ocked onto hers. He bared his teeth, a low, warning growl rumbling in hi

Chapter End

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The Substitute Bride of the Scarred Billionaire Heir

Cassandra Romance

“I woke up naked in a stranger's bed aboard the Seraphina, a luxury yacht drifting across the Atlantic. My head was splitting. My dress was torn on the floor. Bruises bloomed across my skin like proof of a crime I couldn't remember committing. Before I could even scream, the cabin door burst open. My father stood there with my boyfriend behind him, leading a swarm of reporters with flashing cameras. "I have no such daughter. From this day forward, Alaina Romero has nothing to do with the Snyder family." My father disowned me in front of the world. My boyfriend looked at me like I was filth and ended everything without asking a single question. I had been drugged, framed, and destroyed in one night. When I tried to throw myself into the Atlantic, my stepmother stopped me. Not because she cared. She needed me alive long enough to take her precious daughter's place in an arranged marriage. If I refused, she would cut off my dying mother's life support. That was how I became the bride of Dereck Carlisle, the billionaire heir everyone whispered about but no one dared to face. They said he was disfigured. Violent. Half-mad. A monster locked away inside his family's grand estate. He hated me before we even met. His family treated me like a stain on their name. The servants mocked me. His relatives tried to humiliate me. Someone even tried to scald me with boiling tea. I had lost my family, my reputation, my education, and my future. They thought I would break. But then I saw the monster no one else saw clearly. Dereck Carlisle, shaking in the dark, trapped inside the agony of severe PTSD. I didn't run. I threw him the handmade herbal sachet my mother taught me to make, and for the first time in years, his demons went quiet. They locked me in a cage and called me a pawn. Fine. I would survive their cage. Then I would make every last one of them regret underestimating me.”