My Reborn Admirer Wins Over My Heart (Oriana) novel Chapter 19

**He Returned to Break and Own Me and for His Queen**
**Chapter 19: Doubt**

The priest’s voice was barely above a whisper, yet the weight of his words hung heavily in the air. “It wasn’t an accident. It was intentional.”

Luna blinked in disbelief, her mind racing to process the implications. “What do you mean?” she asked, her voice a mixture of confusion and concern.

Grant’s expression shifted, the shadows in his eyes deepening as a thought crystallized in his mind. His voice, low and gravelly, resonated with an unsettling certainty. “She came herself to handle it, didn’t she?”

Luna’s surprise morphed into a sly smile, a flicker of realization igniting within her. “Oriana? How could she? She wouldn’t—”

The priest and the nun exchanged glances, their silence serving as a tacit acknowledgment of Grant’s assertion. In that moment, it became clear to him: Oriana had taken it upon herself to remove the very protection she had fervently prayed for on his behalf.

A sudden thought pierced through Grant’s mind like a bolt of lightning. He fished out his phone, fingers trembling slightly as he opened the chat thread with Oriana.

This was a woman who had never once left his messages hanging; her responses were always prompt, often accompanied by playful reprimands about his tendency to vanish for hours. Yet now, for over ten days, her silence had been deafening, an icy void that gnawed at him.

And yet, despite her cold demeanor, she had ventured to Fortine Mount without uttering a single word to him. She had confronted his charm alone. The nagging guilt twisted in his gut; he had promised to be there with her. How could she now act so irrationally?

Without uttering a word, Grant turned on his heel, a storm brewing within him as he made his way to the exit.

He called Oriana repeatedly, his heart racing with urgency, but each attempt met with an empty void.

Once he was behind the wheel, frustration surged through him, and he slammed his hand against the steering wheel, the sound echoing in the confined space. Gripping his phone, he dialed Alaric.

“Has she had any contact with Micah since?” he demanded, his voice sharp and cold, slicing through the air.

Before Alaric could respond, Grant’s tone cut in like a knife.

Luna, who had hurriedly settled into the passenger seat, felt her heart race, a sense of dread creeping over her.

Alaric paused, momentarily taken aback. He misinterpreted Grant’s urgency as a request for the next message in their ongoing conversation. “No, I’ve been monitoring. No contact. Grant, is everything okay?” he asked, concern creeping into his voice.

“Keep watching her,” Grant commanded, his tone leaving no room for argument as he abruptly ended the call. He pressed the accelerator down, the car lurching forward with a surge of speed.

“Grant, you’re driving too fast! I’m scared,” Luna exclaimed, panic rising in her voice as she clutched her seatbelt, her perfectly made-up face losing its color.

But Grant was deaf to her pleas, his focus solely on the road ahead, the engine roaring in response to his racing thoughts.

A heavy sense of jealousy simmered within Luna, intertwining with her fear as she witnessed Grant’s fury, all directed towards Oriana.

After Oriana’s return from Fortine Mount, she had resolutely ignored all of Grant’s attempts to reach her.

—

By the time Oriana finally stepped through her apartment door, the clock was nearing midnight.

She had intended to return to her dorm, but the curfew had slipped past her, leaving her with no choice but to head home.

“No! I didn’t!” Oriana protested, desperation seeping into her voice. “I went to Lockwishe with Zara. Grant, don’t let your filthy suspicions cloud your judgment!”

“Then why hide it from me? Why ignore my calls?” His voice was hoarse with disbelief, each word laced with hurt. “Oriana, did you forget the promise from three years ago?”

Her heart sank as his words echoed in her mind.

Three years ago?

Her lips quivered, memories flooding back. “Three years ago, in that leaky, cheap apartment, we made a pinky promise to rely on each other, to face everything together, no matter how hard it got.”

She lifted her chin defiantly, her gaze icy as she challenged him. “And you? You lied to me, using ‘work’ as an excuse to ditch our promise, then went to Fortine Mount with Luna, hiding the fact that you would deal with the charm I had prayed for. I only did what you were planning to do. How dare you take it out on me?”

“Grant, the one who broke the promise three years ago first was you.”

For a fleeting moment, Grant, who had been a tempest of fury just seconds before, froze mid-breath at her words.

The air thickened between them, their ragged breathing the only sound breaking the silence.

Then, the shrill ring of her phone shattered the tension—it was Zara.

Oriana glanced at the screen, taking several deep breaths to steady herself before answering. “Zara, are you home yet?”

“I’ve been home for a while! I was just about to tell you—you left your cardholder with me. I’ll get someone to bring it over tomorrow.”