Just Before My Wedding: Trapped By My Ruthless Boss novel Chapter 100

Chapter 100

KISAREL

The whole place felt wrong, but not in a way I could point to.

“Careful,” Jace murmured, holding my elbow as if my bones were made of cheap glass. “Slowly, baby. Sit here.”

“I can sit by myself,” I said, but my voice came out too tired to make the protest useful.

“I know you can.” He guided me anyway, lowering me onto the couch like I might fall apart if the cushions touched me too roughly. “But let me take care of you for once.”

I sat back, trying not to wince as a dull ache moved through my limbs. The hospital had cleared me to leave after hours of observation, but my body still felt borrowed, as if someone had taken it apart and put it back together without checking if every piece belonged.

Jace crouched in front of me and removed my flats before I could

“Jace, you don’t have to-”

“I want to.” He looked up at me with red, tired eyes. “Please

bring m

me on every little thing.”

Guilt pricked at me.

He looked genuinely shaken. His hair was still a mess from the hospital, his shirt wrinkled, his jaw shadowed with stress. He had stayed beside me, fed me, spoken to the doctors, signed forms, and brought me here himself, even though I had argued all the way from the hospital door to his car.

Anyone watching us would see a devoted fiancé.

But Elgin saw something else.

He stood near the entrance with his hands in his pockets, and his eyes following Jace’s every movement with a calmness that did not hide enough of his dislike.

He had not said much during the drive. Maybe because Jace had talked enough for everyone, or because Elgin knew if he opened his mouth too much, his dislike would step out with claws and weapons.

Jace lifted my legs carefully onto the couch and placed a folded throw pillow beneath them.

“Are you cold?” he asked.

“No.”

“Hungry?”

“No.”

“Do you feel dizzy?”

“No, Jace.”

He touched the back of his fingers to my forehead, then my cheek. “You’re still warm.”

“I’m fine.”

“You were in the hospital, Arel.” He took my hands in his. “Someone poisoned you. You’re not fine.”

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16:46 Fri, May 22 d

Chapter 100

I kept quiet.

M

The room blurred for a second, not because I felt faint, but because I was tired of being watched from all sides. Tired of Jace’s worry. Tired of Elgin’s suspicion. Tired of my own heart asking for someone who had no right to be asked for.

“I’ll get your things settled upstairs,” Jace said.

My eyes returned to him. “Okay-

He bent and kissed my forehead. “I’ll be right down.”

He took my small overnight bag and went upstairs.

Elgin waited until his footsteps faded before moving closer to me. He sat on the edge of the armchair nearest the couch, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

“Be careful, Cherie.”

I rubbed my thumb over the hospital band still wrapped around my wrist. “You’ve said that five times.”

“And yet, look at us. Still in the house of a man I do not trust.” His eyes moved briefly toward the stairs. “Clearly, repetition is my only weapon left.”

“You don’t trust many people.”

“I trust fewer when they smile and act too nice.” His voice stayed low. “And I still don’t trust Nessa, even though she sent flowers, and the ‘Get well soon. I was so scared when I heard. Please let me visit.’ card. Very soft. Very sweet. Very, ‘please open the door so I can study the room.

I smiled. “Elgin.”

“What? I am being kind. I did not call her a monster who is waiting to show her claws, did I?”

I gave him a look.

He lifted both hands. “Fine. I thought it. I did not say it.”

Seeing Nessa’s gifts had stirred complicated in me, but I might just be overthinking things.

She had texted too, ask,

breathe properly.

if

thin

she could come by later, saying she needed to see me with her own eyes before she could

“She texted me,” I said quietly. “She wants to visit.”

Elgin’s mouth tightened. “And?”

“I told her she could come.” I shrugged.

“Wonderful!” he exclaimed with a sarcastic grin. “Perfect. Let us invite every questionable person in your life into one room. Should I call Mr. Stark, too? Maybe your fiancé can prepare tea, Nessa can bring poisoned pastries, and we can all hold

of hands while I lose the remaining years

my life.”

My pulse jumped at the mention of Oceans, but I brushed it off.

“You’re being dramatic again,’ I shook my head.

Jesus. Arel” He threw his hands in the air. “Between Nessa, Jace, and Mr. I Own the Building You Breathe In tell me–who would you like me to eliminate first? I am not above violence. I am simply above getting caught.”

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16:46 Fri, May 22 M.

16:46 Fri, May 22 M

Chapter 100

I stilled.

It came again, and I lifted my gaze to see what it was.

Jace’s phone was on his side of the bed, facedown near the lamp.

For a few seconds, I only looked at it.

It was none of my business. At least, that was what I told myself first.

Then my mind betrayed me by gathering all the little things I had tried not to notice since we arrived. The locked drawer beside his wardrobe. The way he had stepped out twice to take calls, lowering his voice the moment he left the room. The way his phone never stayed screen-up anymore.

Maybe I was being paranoid.

Maybe Elgin’s warning had gotten into my head.

Maybe everything felt suspicious because I was exhausted, medicated, and emotionally torn in too many directions to trust my own instincts.

But the phone beeped again, and my curiosity beeped along with it.

I sat up slowly, my body protesting the movement.

44

The bathroom door was still closed. Steam curled beneath it, and Jace was still humming faintly.

I looked back at the phone.

‘Don’t do it…

But I reached for it anyway.

My fingers trembled as I turned it over, and the screen lit.

I saw a notification that looked so plain and ordinary that it took dropped.

my

mind a second

to

understand why my stomach had

F.H

My brows narrowed.

Fred Harry?

That should be it. Shouldn’t it?

My grip tightened around the phone as I read the part of the message that the locked screen allowed me to see.

‘F.H.: The attorney confirmed. Six weeks. Keep her happy until…’

That was all. It wasn’t enough to make me feel like a cold thread was pulling through me.

But why the hell did I still feel that way?

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